Professional societies can and should break the costly paradigm that a conference requires the physical presence of all attendees. A conference with a virtual attendance option can increase participation enormously while demonstrating how businesses around the world can reduce travel expenses. To encourage this change, we must begin by addressing the issue of paradigms and habits.

The travel and lodging paradigm

Waste (or muda in the Toyota Production System) becomes ingrained in human activities through habit, and the waste can be enormous. Henry Ford observed that farmers would carry buckets of water for years rather than install pipes or conduits to let it carry itself. Frank Gilbreth noticed that bricklayers would often bend over to lift each brick, and his introduction of a scaffold to deliver the bricks at waist level increased this trade’s productivity enormously. Frederick Winslow Taylor noted that many Bethlehem Steel workers used the same shovel to move iron ore and ash. The former application created loads that were far too heavy, while the latter meant that most of the workers’ labor went into moving the shovel itself.

 …