When I attend professional conferences for assistive technology and computing, I often find myself overwhelmed trying to “do it all” by attending all of the sessions for a given day, trying to run around the exhibit hall to meet everyone, and attending networking and post-conference events that can run late into the night. Even though I love attending these events, I often find that I’m setting myself up for chronic illness flares or not resting my eyes enough to the point I start to have trouble recognizing people or navigating familiar surroundings. The best way I can think of to describe is it that I am torn between feeling like I am pushing myself too hard to do things, and also that I am not trying hard enough and that I need to be doing more. Learning time management strategies has helped a lot, as has learning how to overcome “conference FOMO” (or fear of missing out) by finding ways to engage with content in a way that works for me. Here are my tips for attending professional conferences with chronic illness and how to take advantage of free online resources to maximize the conference experience while honoring the need for rest breaks.
Identify sessions that have livestreams available
Even though attending live keynotes and larger sessions can be a lot of fun, some of the events I’ve attended in the past featured strobe or flashing lights, limited seating, or lots of loud noises. Since these environments can serve as triggers for my neurological condition or make it difficult to focus on people talking, I’ve discovered it is much more manageable to attend these types of events via livestream from the comfort of my hotel room or another location since it’s easier for me to look away from the screen or adjust the volume when appropriate. Watching a livestream can also enable time for rest without missing out on valuable information, as I have more flexible seating options compared to sitting in a large conference room.
Related links
- Hotel Familiarization and Low Vision
- How I Talk To Professors About Photosensitivity
- Five Common Technology Behaviors That Hurt My Brain
Check if a talk has been recorded elsewhere
I told one of my professors how upset I was that I had to miss a talk I was excited about because I couldn’t be in two places at once, and they suggested that I search the title of the talk or the name of the presenter to see if it had been recorded elsewhere, or if the speaker had posted a recording/transcript on another website. I ended up finding a recording of the exact talk I was looking for, and I also found a summary of another talk I had missed that the presenter had shared with key takeaways and resources.
Related links
- How To Run Effective Web Searches
- Recording Video Lectures For Visually Impaired Students
- Options For Attending College Classes Remotely
Follow the conference hashtag
Many conferences have their own hashtag and social media platforms that organizers, presenters, and attendees use to share links to talks, resource lists, notes/summaries, contact information and profiles for networking, and other resources for extending conference topics into practice. This is something else that has been very helpful for catching details or sessions I may have otherwise missed, or accessing text-based content in large print sizes on my personal devices. Each conference typically has their own recommended platforms for attendees to follow along with— official conference social media pages are a good place to start.
Related links
Contact speakers to request more information
When I arrived to a popular conference session a few minutes early, I realized I was actually too late as the space was standing room only and it was difficult for me to understand what people were saying into the microphone. After the conference ended, I sent the presenter a message on social media sharing that I was sad to miss their talk and asked a question about the topic that I had wanted to learn more about. The presenter was incredibly kind and sent me the slides from their talk as well as a transcript, and answered the question I had originally sent as well. I’ve since done this multiple times and each presenter has been so gracious to share more about their sessions, as well as answer questions about their own work.
Related links
- Creating Take-Away Documents With Microsoft Office Sway
- How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
Look for a resource hub/document for the conference
I don’t know if this is common outside of education/technology spaces, but almost every conference I have attended has an unofficial resource hub/document that contains links to resources from talks, exhibit hall participants, and supplementary materials like slide decks, recordings, and sometimes transcripts for specific talks provided by presenters. These can typically be found under the conference hashtag, and may consist of a shared document hosted on a platform like Google Workspace or a hyperdoc on a digital bookmarking site like Wakelet. While these links are not typically promoted by the official conference social media page, they can often be found on attendee profiles.
I don’t have a preference for one platform over another, but I will say that having public Wakelet pages for conferences was very helpful when I was putting together resources for a school project and could easily refer back to app websites or other specific resources.
Related links
- Wakelet Accessibility Features For Low Vision
- Free Digital Bookmarking Tools For Low Vision
- Designing Accessible Documents With Microsoft Word
Reach out to companies after events
I couldn’t go to the exhibit hall at a conference as planned, but one of the resources provided for attendees was a list of exhibit hall booths with a list of contacts (usually names and emails) for the people who attended. This was helpful when I wanted to talk to provide feedback on a specific product, and I was able to get in contact with the appropriate person after the conference to discuss it further.
Search for virtual or hybrid passes
Some conferences provide options for attending conferences virtually, or a hybrid pass that allows for in-person attendance while providing recordings or livestreams for presentations and other conference materials. These are an amazing tool for dealing with conference FOMO, as I’m often not limited to a few short days of engaging with conference content or to a specific geographic location; I can spend more time engaging with sessions and am in control over how I access information.
One of my friends recently used this strategy when they purchased a virtual pass to a conference to attend sessions during the day, and then would attend in-person networking and a few other events at the actual venue.
More tips for dealing with conference FOMO
- Another strategy for organizing conference-related mailing lists and information is to create a forwarding rule or email alias specifically for professional events or one specific event. I talk more about this in How I Organize Emails In College With Low Vision
- This is more FOMO-adjacent, but one year I was all set to attend a conference in-person and ended up in the hospital the night I was supposed to leave for the event. Having trip insurance and a conference ticket that could be sold/transferred helped ease the financial burden associated with this ordeal; make sure to read through conference policies about cancellations if this could be an issue.
- Are you a presenter looking for strategies for designing accessible slides? Check out How To Create Accessible PowerPoints
Published October 9, 2019. Updated November 2024