It’s undeniable that the way conferences were before – big, sprawling events with lots of people packed together, networking and shaking hands – is not how they’re going to be in the future. One event I always like to attend each year is the CoMotion transportation-focused conference, but this year it switched from in-person to online. What does an online conference look like and how does it work? Our guest today helps explain it!
Intro
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Today I’m talking with Jonah Bliss
- Vice President of New Media and Marketing with CoMotion
- How they’re going to pivot with CoMotion
- How online conferences will work moving forward
Intro to Jonah Bliss
- Vice President of New Media and Marketing
- CoMotion News – streams select content online
- CoMotion Live – free this year!
- Has advised bike-sharing companies and more
CoMotion Miami
- Super excited about Miami and Latin America
- A lot has changed since then!
- Preserved many components of the in-person conference topics
- Miami is a natural nexus, along with aspects of Latin American transit
CoMotion Miami Themes
- Learning from Latin America
- Rebuilding transportation after COVID
- How to remake cities to be more equitable when it comes to transit
- South America has a robust last mile system
Rebooting the Mobility System
- Bringing people together
- Role of public transportation, especially in the time of COVID
- Seemed like public transportation would be something people should avoid – fear of transit
- More data is showing that’s not quite true
Infrastructure Changes Due to COVID
- Slow streets
- Bike lanes, more pedestrian walkways
- Socio-economic issue – especially slow streets
- Need more than just one panel about this topic – needs to be infused into the process
How is CoMotion Changing?
- Things have been changing rapidly – first it was pushed back, but situation evolved
- Now virtual event – actually has made it easier to bring in speakers
- Now the conference is more democratized – much of the conference will be free
- This is giving us time to step back and see what a conference should be like
Outro
- Big thanks to Jonah for coming on the podcast!
- Make sure to check out a few highlights from the conference, like the topic on the Curb (my panel!), Reimaging Urban Mobility for a Changed World, fireside chat with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Jimenez, and more
- Many of the conference topics are free, so make sure to check it out (links below)
