In April 2010 the 13th Aegean conference (Kosmos) was to be held at the University of Copenhagen. Over a hundred participants were expected and the research community was looking forward to meeting up again.
However a volcanic eruption suddenly changed all that, as all air traffic in most of Europe was cancelled and only 7 participants were able to make it to Copenhagen.

It became one of the most interesting challenges (and greatest success stories) both for the conference organizers, and for the E-Learning and Media department (TMEDIA). In a couple of days the conference was changed completely and turned into an international online event. The conference ended up having close to a thousand participants instead of just over a hundred. Participants were following the presentations on a live stream, but also discussing and debating in the backchannel - and by popular demand the conference had to be extended from 3 to 4 days.

How can you take your conference online? And what are the implications and possibilities for your future conferences or online event?

That same week ITMEDIA organized another conference: UCLE, which mainly had participants who were present at the event - but a stream and a backchannel were available here too. So to put the learnings from the “pure online event” into perspective: This presentation will also compare the options for “blended events” where a conventional conference has an online side, and the technology is optional. What are the differences in use and attitude?