Today and tomorrow is the 2008 Virtual Energy Forum. This free, online-only event features:
*Live streaming video presentations from energy thought leaders, including Leith Sharp, Director of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, and Mary Jensen, Keene State's Sustainability Coordinator.
*A virtual exhibit floor with booths from leading energy efficiency and renewable energy businesses as well as related nonprofits (including AASHE!)
*Live chat among attendees and exhibitors, with the opportunity to easily exchange contact information and collect materials in a virtual briefcase AASHE signed up as a partner on this event partly in hopes of reaching new audiences, but mostly to learn more about virtual events.  We share the concerns of many in our community about the emissions created by travel to in-person conferences and workshops, and we're intrigued by the potential to hold travel-free events. 

I've been poking around on Virtual Energy Forum today, and my sense is that while virtual events can provide a useful complement to in-person events, they aren't at the point where they can fully replace in-person events.  There's just something about being in the same physical place as hundreds of other people who working for the same goals - it creates a sense of momentum and excitement that is difficult for a virtual events to compete with.  Also, the most valuable part of a conference for me is generally the informal side conversations with other attendees and it's this networking piece that seems hardest to replicate virtually.  The Virtual Energy Forum has done a great job replicating the programmatic elements of the conference with high quality streaming videos that you can watch at your leisure, but the networking just isn't the same. None of this should be taken as a criticism of the Virtual Energy Forum.  We're all learning together after all, and I think what they've put together is really impressive.  It seems significantly closer to creating a "conference feel" than other things I've seen.   I give them a lot of credit of stepping up to help advance the virtual event field. If you have some time in the next day, please come by and check it out.  We'd love to hear your thoughts on this format.  Would you like to see more virtual sustainability events? What would you do differently, and what would you do the same?  Should AASHE 2010 be a virtual event?