Abstract

In October 2020, under COVID-19 quarantine, AmeriFlux held its largest and one of its most successful annual meetings. Historically, similar to 100 scientists attend; this meeting had over 400 registrants and participants. Participants expressed that this was among the best virtual meetings that they had ever attended, and 100% of post-meeting survey respondents stated that they would attend again. Feedback revealed the meeting fostered a strong sense of connection to the AmeriFlux community, especially among early career and international scientists. How did a feeling of strong connection to the community arise from the seemingly cold and isolated structures of virtual meetings?