Four weeks have passed since the DataCite Member Meeting 2021. On September 21 2021, the DataCite Team, our members, and the PID community met virtually and discussed topics ranging from DataCite’s strategic visioning process, the product roadmap and metadata, to the world of PIDs. Leveraging the advantages of an online event, we shared the recordings and slides of the sessions one week later. Hundreds of views and downloads within just one month reflect a continuing interest in the DataCite Member Meeting.
In addition to making the meeting materials available, we have analyzed the event and were delighted to find that a total number of 412 attendees representing 234 institutions from 41 countries joined the sessions of the DataCite Member Meeting 2021 making it our biggest meeting to date. The attendance of members of the APAC region and the Americas showed the value of a global time zone friendly schedule. Beyond member sessions, we also organized three open sessions. We invited the global community of PID providers, service providers, and research institutions to present and discuss the opportunities of working with DataCite, new resource types, and the advantages that come along if an organization implements persistent identifiers properly.
Another part of the member meeting evaluation process was to gather feedback from the registrants in a follow-up online survey. The overall positive feedback by survey participants resonated with our impression of the Member Meeting. The majority of participants appreciated “sharing the experiences of DataCite members”, the interactive parts, as well as the accommodation of multiple time zones. Since most sessions were scheduled back-to-back, several people suggested leaving more time for discussion in order to improve future DataCite Member Meetings.
Due to the pandemic this year’s DataCite Member Meeting was the second consecutive virtual Member Meeting. One of the more interesting outcomes of the survey was that none of the survey participants wanted an “in-person member meeting” only.
As a member-driven organization, we thank all presenters and attendees for their valuable contributions, take your ideas to our hearts, and look forward to seeing you at next year’s DataCite Member Meeting!
