AIIP 2021: Notes from the REMO trenches

By Kirsten Smith

It was near the top of the hour on April 16th, and I waited anxiously to see if my on-screen face would be yanked through a vortex to the next session, or if I would have to ‘walk’ there on my own.

Welcome to #AIIP21, the first virtual conference of the Association of Independent Information Professionals. After three decades of in-person meetings, 90 info pros were excited to gather, hear great speakers, and catch up with friends and colleagues.

One of the great strengths of our in-person conferences is face time with colleagues. When the Conference Planning Committee pivoted from an in-person to a virtual conference, the ability for meaningful video networking was a key requirement of our virtual conference platform, so AIIP hired Virtual Experience Design Agency to host the event.

The main networking site, on the REMO platform, was a birds-eye view of a standard looking meeting room, with tables spread around the area and advertising banners on the outside edges. I moved from table to table in the networking space by clicking on a vacant chair and poof – my avatar appeared at that table. As soon as you move on this platform, your camera and mic are activated, allowing you to join in conversation. You could see who was at which table by squinting at their tiny avatar (shout out to George Puro, who appeared as both Cookie Monster and the Mandalorian one day).

I bounced around a bit, chatting with new colleagues. “Everyone is incredibly friendly and proactively introduced themselves to me” noted non-member Jessica Baycroft. New student member Dawn Robuck added “…worth every penny of membership. The networking is amazing.”  

All that squinting wore me out, though. Friday morning conversations included many variations on the theme of “holy smokes, I was exhausted after yesterday” or “My eyes!”.

The experience wasn’t without glitches. Some folks struggled with internet issues. I couldn’t watch many of the member-introduction videos because the files were too large. Sometimes, after changing tables, the mic wouldn’t turn on. I could see the person and they could hear me, but our only method of communication was through the chat feature.

There were the occasional audiovisual faux pas. One member confessed to putting her feet up, hands behind her head and eyes closed while listening to a keynote, only to discover at the end of the session that her camera was on. “I was listening. I swear!”  Another member left her mic on in the networking area treating us to the sound of her eating lunch and taking phone calls.

Back to the vortex experience. For the keynote speeches and general announcements, everyone in the networking area was pulled into a webinar space involuntarily. But for sessions held on Zoom, it was our responsibility to hustle to that virtual space on time by clicking a link. It took a few sessions to get the hang of that. A couple of us were so intensely debriefing the talk by keynote speaker Micki Vandeloo, we missed the first ten minutes of Richard Hulser’s session on the “Next Normal.”  (I’m going to watch the replay, Richard – promise.)

I don’t know if this is common for other virtual conferences but, my gosh, we message a lot while a speaker is speaking. I mean A LOT. Did we do that in real life too? Were those chat threads saved?

At the end of a long day of Zooming, squinting, and sidebar chatting, the networking zone changed from a meeting room to a pub layout. We all grabbed beverages and hung out.

My conference experience ended Friday evening, hollering (via chat, of course) that Table 17 was cheated in trivia. Can’t wait to see what developments come with #AIIP22.

Kirsten Smith joined AIIP in 2014, the same year she became an independent info pro. She specializes in fact checking, book research and Canadian government records. This was her fifth AIIP conference.