Conferences / Symposia

'Way Overdue' Or 'Complete Waste Of Time'? What ATL Readers Think Of The Return To In-Person Events

Just in time for Legalweek, we bring you the musings of your peers.

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Large group of happy business people. Success.Next week, thousands of lawyers and vendors are expected to descend on midtown Manhattan for the annual Legalweek conference, to be held in person for the second time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We wanted to know: after three years of online meetings and virtual happy hours, how do people feel about attending events in person? Do they look forward to the opportunity to travel and mingle in real life or would they rather sit back and stream from the comfort of their own homes?

To find out, we surveyed more than 500 people, including attorneys in private practice, in-house counsel, law firm professional staff, legal ops professionals, government lawyers, academics, judges, and a handful of law students.

What we learned is that many — but by no means all — of you are ready and even excited to go to conferences again. “Bring it on!” urged one respondent. It’ll be “good to see real human beings.” Some believe a return to in-person events is “way overdue.”  

ReadyForLiveEvents2023

Others are more conflicted, prepared to show up but concerned about the COVID precautions: “It’s ok as long as health safety protocols and attendee reminders are in place.”

But nearly 25 percent of respondents told us, “No way.” They “do not feel comfortable attending live events” yet, viewing them as “a public health risk.”

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Another smaller group dismissed the need for in-person events at all, describing them as a “complete waste of time,” especially when “virtual options are more accessible and budget friendly.”

PlansToAttendLegalConferences2023

Here is a sample of the feedback we received.

Comfortable, happy to get back to it

  • “No concern at all. Earth to ATL: The world has moved on. If people don’t attend live events now, it’s because they don’t see the value, not because of COVID. Some folks will die in their basements. Their sad choice. I have traveled to Europe (x3) and the Middle East and 15 states in the past 3 years.”
  • “I could not possibly be more enthusiastic — they are brilliant!”
  • “Best way to learn and network.”
  • “Excited and grateful. I no longer attend conferences virtually because the ROI is negative.”
  • “Perfectly fine. I look forward to them. You get so much more time just to catch up with folks and talk about mundane things.”
  • “It is imperative to get back to live events. COVID is endemic and folks in certain categories might want to be careful, but otherwise we are back to live events, including jury trials.”

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Cautious, conflicted

  • “Worried about catching COVID but it’s nice to see people.”
  • “Mostly not interested unless it is in a place where they take health precautions seriously.”
  • “Fine, although I wish more people wore masks.”
  • “Frankly, nervous. Participants do not appear to be cautious. But with some I don’t feel that I have a choice but to attend in person.”
  • “Mixed. The event has to be important enough to assume the risk.”

Not comfortable

  • “Guarded. Unlikely to attend new conferences except virtually.”
  • “Not good. Someone always gets COVID.”
  • “It’s not safe and not worth the risk.”
  • “Not comfortable given lack of COVID mitigations.”
  • “You are only as safe as the dumbest attendee that is willing to say, ‘I’m not sick [cough, cough] I just have allergies.’ Then you are out of commission for 10-15 days or dead.”
  • “The worst idea ever. Too many people, too long of a day, and I can’t even do it in my pajamas.”

In-person events are unnecessary anyway

  • “I don’t like taking time away from family.”
  • “Little need for it. Virtual options are more accessible and budget friendly.”
  • “The pandemic completely exposed the farce that is traveling around the country and paying for lodging, expensive schmoozing meals, and endless in-person meetings when all it does is take you away from the work you need to be doing.”
  • “Even if I wanted to attend a live event, which I do not, law department budgets often preclude such attendance/travel.”

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