DISPLAY WEEK, ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR JUNE IN San Francisco and then delayed until August as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, will now take place as a groundbreaking online event during the week of August 3-7. The move follows other conferences, both within the industry and outside of it, that have gone digital to comply with restrictions on international travel and large group gatherings and ensure attendees’ safety. But for SID members used to an in-person event, what exactly would a virtual Display Week look like? According to Sam Phenix, the volunteer and conventions chair (online) for Display Week 2020 who is coordinating the transition to a virtual event, SID is working to incorporate all the elements that attendees have come to expect, such as specialized forums, networking opportunities, and exhibitor presentations, into an online experience. Details are still being finalized, but Phenix says exhibitors will have landing pages where they can promote their products or conduct webinars and hold private conversations with attendees just as they do at an in-person Display Week. SAM PHENIX, VOLUNTEER AND CONVENTIONS CHAIR (ONLINE) FOR DISPLAY WEEK 2020 SID is also exploring ways to capitalize on video conferencing technology to create the virtual equivalent of breakout sessions, regional meetups, and coffee breaks so that attendees can engage each other. “We'll build in mechanisms for people to interact beyond simply consuming content,” Phenix says. The lineup for a significant portion of the show, the technical symposium, will remain intact. It includes some 84 technical sessions consisting of 340 oral presentations, 231 poster sessions, and 94 invited papers. Even so, Phenix says, with the pivot to digital, SID has also identified opportunities to improve upon the traditional symposium experience. Certainly, an online event will be more accessible to the society's international members, who may have had budget or travel bandwidth issues with Display Week even before the pandemic. But the virtual program is also set to increase access to speakers and make it easier to take in significantly more presentations. Symposium sessions will be prerecorded, and though they'll be published according to a daily schedule, once they're uploaded, attendees can watch at their leisure, even after the week ends. “You often hear people say at Display Week ‘there are three talks at the same time I want to go to,'” Phenix says. “Now you can experience all the ones you want to see whenever you want. I think that's pretty exciting.” Phenix says a prerecorded format will also be a plus for presenters, who may not be professional speakers or may not be presenting in their native language; they'll be better able to rehearse and have more control over their talks. Organizers are also hoping to incorporate a closed captioning tool to help attendees parse information and look up terminology they do not understand before moving on to the next slide. To boost interactivity around the sessions—keeping in mind that viewers will be watching at different times—organizers are looking to make communication tools such as message boards available throughout the week so that attendees can post questions and comments that presenters would then respond to. That could allow for more discussion and feedback, particularly since long lines during the Q&A portion of in-person events sometimes discourage people from speaking up. Other types of content, such as virtual panel discussions and keynote addresses, will be a mix of prerecorded talks and a live Q&A. However, attendees in varying time zones will still have access to anything they've missed. The Business Conference—which is the largest of its kind in the world and is organized in conjunction with Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC)—is also expected to incorporate a mix of prerecorded and live content. For questions regarding event registration, see displayweek.org, and to stay on top of developments related to the conference, sign up for the site's e-newsletter. Moreover, rest assured that although the Display Week experience will look very different this year, “you will get even more value from this event,” Phenix says. “SID is fortunate to have hundreds of volunteers who are working hard to make the virtual event a major success so that SID, via the virtual Display Week event, can support our industry during this difficult time.”—Nicole Saunders.