A report on the first virtual PLDI conference
This is an incremental report providing insights for organizers of virtual conferences in the programming languages community.
The report documents the first virtual PLDI 2020 conference, detailing its format, logistical aspects, and attendee data on engagement and diversity, with analysis of positive and negative outcomes.
This is a report on the PLDI 2020 conference, for which I was General Chair, which was held virtually for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report contains: my personal reflections on the positive and negative aspects of the event; a description of the format of the event and associated logistical details; and data (with some analysis) on attendees' views on the conference format, the extent to which attendees engaged with the conference, attendees' views on virtual vs. physical conferences (with a focus on PLDI specifically) and the diversity of conference registrants. I hope that the report will be a useful resource for organizers of upcoming virtual conferences, and generally interesting to the Programming Languages community and beyond.