e-Rum2020: How We Turned a Physical Conference into a Successful Virtual Event

Authors

• Mariachiara Fortuna, Vanlog
• Francesca Vitalini, Mirai Solutions GmbH
• Mirko Signorelli, Leiden University Medical Center
• Emanuela Furfaro, University of California
• Federico Marini, Gutenberg University Mainz
• Gert Janssenswillen, Hasselt University
• Riccardo Porreca, Mirai Solutions GmbH
• Riccardo L. Rossi, Istituto Nazionale Genetica Molecolare
• Andrea Guzzo, Moxoff
• Roberta Sirovich, University of Torino
• Andrea Melloncelli, Vanlog
• Lorenzo Salvi, Comune di Torino
• Serena Signorelli, UBI Banca SpA
• Filippo Chiarello, University of Pisa

Date of this Version

12-2020

Document Type

Article

Citation

The R Journal (December 2020) 12(2); Editor: Michael J. Kane

Comments

Copyright 2020, The R Foundation. Open access material. License: CC BY 4.0 International

Abstract

The European R Users Meeting 2020 (e-Rum2020) was a conference that was held virtually in June 2020. Originally, e-Rum2020 had been planned as a physical event to be held in Milano. However, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the declaration of a nationwide lockdown induced the Organizing Committee to fully rethink the event, and to turn it into a live virtual conference. In this article, we describe the challenges that we encountered during the organization of e-Rum2020, and how wereacted to them. In doing so, we aim to provide future conference organizers with useful information on how to organize a successful virtual conference, and even to turn a physical conference into a virtual meeting on a relatively short notice.