In this article, we reflect on two virtual workshops that we held during the ACM AutomotiveUI 2020 conference, where we aimed to provide participants an experience similar to in-person meetings, while at the same time making use of digital services for group collaboration. In particular, we elaborate on relevant differences, advantages, and disadvantages of virtual and physical workshops, discuss which important aspects of in-person meetings can be substituted with virtual activities (and which ones cannot), and how they might change collaboration in the future. Further, we examine the impact of virtual workshops on organizing committees who have to deal with issues of different time zones and durations of activities. The lessons learnt through organizing these events provide an outlook that could enrich workshop experiences for both scientific and educational purposes in the future.

中文翻译：

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大流行中的互动研讨会：虚拟空间的真正好处


在本文中，我们回顾了在 ACM AutomotiveUI 2020 会议期间举办的两次虚拟研讨会，我们的目标是为参与者提供类似于面对面会议的体验，同时利用数字服务进行团队协作。我们特别详细阐述了虚拟研讨会和实体研讨会的相关差异、优点和缺点，讨论了面对面会议的哪些重要方面可以用虚拟活动替代（哪些不能），以及它们可能如何改变未来的协作。此外，我们还研究了虚拟研讨会对组织委员会的影响，组织委员会必须处理不同时区和活动持续时间的问题。通过组织这些活动获得的经验教训提供了一个前景，可以丰富未来科学和教育目的的研讨会经验。