Tnano20
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Last update:   2020.11.16 (Monday) 18:57:35 EST.
Tnano20:
International Workshop on Nanotechnology
Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
October 5-8, 2020
Home Page:    https://nanoten.com/conf-org/Tnano20/

Results of the Workshop Survey

Thank you for providing your anonymous feedback about the Tnano20 workshop. For your information, I am listing the results that I have received so far. I will update the list with new input from participants.

1. Individual contributors.
Number of responses so far: 24

2. Value of Tnano20 to YOU.
Think of all real or virtual conferences you participated in during 2020. How many were there (N)? Average: 4.3
Among these, where would you place Tnano20 in terms of value to YOU?
("1" = "best"; N = "waste of my time") 		Average: 1.2

3. Scientific level of Tnano20.
How would you judge the scientific level of Tnano20?
("1" = "very high" to "5" = "unacceptably low") 		Average: 1.2

4. Organization of Tnano20.
What do you think about the organization of Tnano20?
("1" = "very professional" to "5" = "lousy") 		Average: 1.3

5. Best of Tnano20.
  1. [prius] Sincere conversation with journal editors.
  2. [PS] The respectful interaction about science, and the human aspects that play a role as well.
  3. [JL] Professional participants that are all willing to share their latest results.
  4. [meow] Nice selection of topics and speakers.
  5. [kylo ren] Tomanek stories, late night sessions.
  6. [Drump-2020] Small conference with ample time for questions and discussion.
  7. [YI] High level talks and good opportunity to see foreign friends, who are impossible to see now.
  8. [VP] Social hours, meeting with the PR editors.
  9. [Lucky] Ample time for informal discussions.
  10. [TY] One-man organizing but covering a diversity of topics and multititude of time zones, and meanwhile maintaining high level.
  11. [OB] Deep questions and honest criticism from participants.
  12. [Coffeeholic] Participants from all over the world.
  13. [Yellowturtle] The chairman's passion.
  14. [beardune] The newest experimental and theoretical progress of vdW layered materials.
  15. [DJT-47] Intelligent audience of physicists.
  16. [hh] So many experts.
  17. [savas] Seeing that nobody is sleeping during the talk.
  18. [Mighty Cthulhu] The scale, like a Gordon Conference; it felt fairly intimate, and there was good interaction, even though the meeting was virtual.
  19. [Andrii] Warm discussion on science and life.
  20. [EK] Good science.
  21. [PI] Everything was professionally organized. All respect.
  22. [zgk2000] Casual atmosphere.
  23. [Eric] Well organized! Top scientists, best research, old friends, new friends...

6. Worst of Tnano20.
  1. [prius] n/a
  2. [PS] Long hours of screen time.
  3. [JL] It is hard to accommodate the time from all around the world! I could only listen to several talks that were not performed in the midnight.....
  4. [meow] I am sometimes confused by the many time zones displayed.
  5. [kylo ren] Many zoom links
  6. [Drump-2020] Can't think of any.
  7. [YI] Timing was difficult to adjust for Japanese.
  8. [VP] N/A
  9. [Lucky] The usual hiccups for virtual conferences.
  10. [TY] Not possible to be involved in all the sessions.
  11. [OB] I would like to attend more talks, but I was not able to do so, because the time of many talks overlapped with my teaching schedule.
  12. [Coffeeholic] Hard to attend many sessions due to time-zone differences.
  13. [Yellowturtle] Talks at 1 a.m. (hence recordings are relevant)
  14. [beardune] It was difficult to attend every session due to the different time zones.
  15. [DJT-47] Way too many emails.
  16. [FX] N/A
  17. [savas] The schedule covers the whole day including the night.
  18. [Mighty Cthulhu] Clicking on multiple pages for Zoom links. This was a slight inconvenience, but it was there.
  19. [Andrii] All the technical problems. But they are usual for virtual conferences.
  20. [EK] n/a
  21. [PI] None.
  22. {zgk2000] None.
  23. [Eric] None.

7. Future conferences?
All responders so far replied that YES, they would be interested in a future workshop like Tnano20. (Wow!!)

8. Additional thoughts.
  1. [prius] It was really good. Should be continued!
  2. [PS] Virtual conferences are 'not my thing'. I did enjoy this one, and the participants, though. I learned a few things, and I was able to represent the APS - so it was useful in two ways. Thank you. [...]
  3. [JH] Thank you David! It is the most professional virtual meeting I have ever attended!
  4. [Drump-2020] It was a great conference. I am looking forward to Tnano21. It will be great if Tnano21 gives the choice between in-person and virtual participation.
  5. [ST] Many thanks for all your efforts in organizing T-nano single-handedly. This was a fantastic conference, the best virtual meeting I have participated in so far.
  6. [YI] As I wrote in another box, the timing should be one of the most difficult problems. Tnano20 was too special in terms of your retirement and [...], it is hard to compare with other ones.
  7. [VP] I was skeptical about the virtual conferences' usefulness and tried to avoid them as much as possible. Tnano20 proved that I was wrong. It can really be a delightful time spent. Thank you, David!
  8. [TY] Hopefully we can have one GTUnano in Tiblisi in the near future.
  9. [OB] I am very thankful to Professor David Tomanek for giving me the opportunity to participate in this conference and for the deep discussion after my talk.
  10. [Yellowturtle] A possibility for talks at 1am is to stream them again at 8am so you can manage the time difference. Make written questions that the presented can answer later on.
  11. [beardune] Probably more discussion on possible experimental and theoretical collaborations in future conferences.
  12. [FX] This is a great conference. I feel that the participants are the most important factor for any conference. David spent a lot of time and assembled a group of great speakers, which made this conference a great success.
  13. [savas] It is easier to have a single meeting ID for all talks, and an additional meeting ID for testing as a speaker ready room.
  14. [Mighty Cthulhu] Thanks for making this happen!
  15. [Andrii] It was really great. I like that the number of participants was not huge, so one could talk to everybody. I would be happy to have the recorded sessions to be available for all registered participants. Maybe it can be done by introducing an 'agree' checkbox during the registration process. Also, maybe, a smaller number of talks per day (and hence a longer workshop) will be better for everyone across all time zones to participate.
  16. [EK] Thanks for your hard work, organizing this wonderful international workshop.
  17. [PI] Everything about the conference was the best: organization, sessions, talks, etc. Being all organization on one person was certainly large job to do. Regarding eventual future conference of this type, sharing organization among some of us with already acquired David's experience in the organization would be much easier than when the whole organization is on only one person. In that regard I would prefer such a conference to remain with zero fee, which is especially important for people who come from poor countries or universities.
  18. [zgk2000] This form of workshop has a bright future.
  19. [Eric] Thanks for all the efforts, David! Hope to see everyone in Tnano 21!

What Has the Organizer Learned from This Survey?
  1. I am grateful to the participants and to God that Tnano20 has not turned out to be a disaster.
  2. More days with fewer lectures are preferred to fewer days with more lectures.
  3. Zoom access has to be optimized. How to make it simple while maintaining security from hacker attacks/zoom bombers?
  4. I do have Chat transcripts for every Zoom session. I can edit them to contain only scientific questions and can make them available.
  5. With a clearer view of what to communicate, the number of emails can be vastly reduced. Information may be posted on-line.
  6. Curiously, nobody mentioned that all talks were live, from wherever in the World, and not recorded and streamed later (like at other virtual conferences). This was hard on presenters. This was hard on the organizer. But I feel that THIS fact made Tnano20 stand out among other international virtual conferences.
  7. This does not solve the time zone problem.
  8. The alternative would be to record lectures and stream them. This would turn a workshop/conference to a TV show that can be viewed many times in the future. But: Can you discuss with your TV set?
  9. I have made recordings, primarily for myself. They can be made available. For this, I would have to know who requested access and ask all presenters for their consent.
  10. I really appreciate practical suggestions and help from anyone!