Message from the President about ESJ68 in Okayama

To the ESJ members

A national state of emergency has been lifted with the observation that the new coronavirus infection in Japan is subsiding. However, there is little optimism that the situation will eventually subside, and experts agree that we should be prepared for the next outbreak. For this reason, it is proposed to adopt a "new way of life", such as avoiding the “Three Cs (Closed spaces, Crowded places, Close-contact settings)”, for quite some time to come.

The Ecological Society of Japan made the painful choice to cancel the on-site meeting at Nagoya, and distributed only the delegate meetings, the general meeting, and the award-winning lectures via online in this March. We think that our decision was wise decision as a result, which was made in early March, when the government and local government policies were still undecided and the movements of other societies were still unknown. However, it was shameful for us as the Executive Committee to not be able to provide members with a good opportunity to have on-site scientific discussions with each other.

As we have already announced in our newsletter, we have decided to hold the ESJ68 in Okayama online this year. Here's a little more about how it decided.

First of all, the Executive Committee absolutely wants to avoid canceling the conference for the second year in a row, so we decided to establish a "Task Force for the ESJ68 Management" (hereinafter referred to as the "Task Force"), which was approved by the Board of Directors. The ESJ meeting is an event with a high risk of infection spread because it involves the movement of more than 2,000 people from one prefecture to another, and the meeting itself is prone to create the “Three Cs” situation, so we had to explore the possibility of holding the meeting online in case of emergency.

The Task Force 1)was formed as a team consisting of the main members of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee and the Annual Meeting Organizing Committee, the Executive Committee of the ESJ, the Director in charge of the annual meeting, and the Secretariat in order to hold the ESJ68 in Okayama under emergency conditions, 2) aims to organize the issues necessary to hold the ESJ68 in Okayama, and 3) contributes to discussion and decision on matters necessary for the operation of the ESJ68 with reporting the implementation plan to the Board of Directors.

Task Force meetings were held online last May 14 and May 30 to determine the following policy.

1. At this point in time, we start to prepare to make the annual meeting fully online. The main reason for this is that it would be too much of a psychological and practical burden for both the planning and organizing committees to keep preparation for both on-site and online, or a hybrid meeting that has both elements, in which the cost would increase significantly. However, we will continue to discuss whether or not to retain the on-site element of ESJ68 in Okayama.
2. Conventional sessions such as oral and poster sessions, symposiums, workshops, and forums will be held without changing the framework, in anticipation of the possibility of on-site meeting again in the future. In cooperation with the Planning Committee, we will consider the way so as not to spoil the purpose of each session and to minimize the disadvantages while taking advantage of online, including the selection of the most appropriate tools for each session. For each presentation format, the necessity of video delivery and the possibility of both live (simultaneous) and on-demand delivery will be taken into consideration.
3. The Planning Committee will lead a discussion on how to ensure fairness in the judging of each presentation award and how to ensure that the judges are not overburdened by the online event, including the possibility of cancellation.
4. The planning and organizing committees will work together to seek what developmental possibilities are available for online corporate exhibitions, poster presentation by high school students (or wider high school presentation contests), public lectures, and banquet. In addition, novel ideas for collaborative projects such as eco-cups will be widely solicited.
5. As for participation fees, we will calculate the costs that can be reduced and increased by holding the event online, and make every effort to ensure that all members can participate satisfactorily.

I think it would be nicer if we can argue in the next March that the decision at this point in time was a "it was too much worried" or "you could have done it on-site”. However, it is expected that the post-Corona disaster will bring about various social innovations in the industrial and educational fields as well. Even if it becomes possible to hold the meeting on-site in the future, we are required to manage the meeting or the society, for some parts, by taking the advantages of online conference.

We positively view this meeting as a good opportunity for the ESJ to pursue the possibility of an online format as much as possible and to accumulate skills on how to organize the meeting with a view to social innovation in the near future. We would like to thank all our members for their understanding and continued support and cooperation in the future.

“Online meeting” sounds like an alternative way or plan B, which makes us feel negative, however, I look forward to your active commitment to create a future-oriented and novel framework of scientific meeting.

June 3rd, 2020
Takakazu Yumoto
President of the Ecological Society of Japan