About creating online conferences

13 Jan 2026

As readers of this blog know, I’m concerned about the negative aspects of the TCS conference system. In this blog post I argue for the creation of new online conferences.

The problems of traditional conferences

I have already written quite a lot about the issues of the traditional on-site conferences, which are at the core of our publication culture. There are two main issues:

• Environmental impact: Air travel for attendees results in a significant carbon footprint.

• Accessibility barriers: Visas, health issues, family responsibilities, and other constraints prevent many from participating.

Two natural ways to avoid these issues are: shifting to journal-based publishing and changing the way our conferences operate. However both approaches have issues.

The problems with journals

Shifting to a journal-based system is not a new idea: as early as the 2010’s the topic was debated in the Communications of the ACM and on academic blogs (see the takes of Moshe Vardi, Lance Fortnow and Boaz Barak.

Yet, little has changed since then. There are many reasons why people do not want to switch to journals:

1. Inertia: They are used to conferences, and any change demands effort and involve risk.
2. Meeting people is nice: People value the conference atmosphere and the live presentations.
3. Publications delays Journals have (much) longer reviewing periods.
4. Rankings Conferences are more precisely ranked, making them more valuable for CVs.
5. Accessibility Journals are often less open access than conferences.

One might argue that researchers should adapt: presenting journal papers at workshops, prioritizing journal reviews, and disregarding rankings. Yet, hoping for such a shift feels more like wishful thinking than a realistic expectation.

## The problems with reforming conferences

Another approach is to modify our conferences, for example by making them hybrid, having several hubs, or making them online every other year.

Until recently I was optimistic that this could happen soon. See this and that posts. But I’ve grown skeptical that this is the most effective path forward.

I now feel that conferences tend to be rather conservative. In a sense, steering committees see their main mission as protecting the conference, in particular its CORE ranking. Of course this makes a lot of sense, but it conflicts with other goals such as reducing carbon emissions and fostering a more inclusive community.

Establishing new online conferences

Online conferences offer low carbon footprint, greater access for more people without giving up on the familiar aspects of conferences (talk format, quick reviews, precise rankings, open access). Since it seems difficult to transition to this format for our established conferences, I argue we should start new ones.

I see two main challenges:

• Building credibility: Attracting high-quality submissions consistently and earning respect and good ranking.

• Making the event a success: Having a format that people like, without technical issues, and that replicates the informal networking of in-person coffee breaks.

But these challenges seem surmountable!