CONGRESS 55
COVID “Curveballs”:
first-time hosting a virtual
congress during a global pandemic
Debbie Jewitt 1,2 , Freyni du Toit 3 , Ed Granger 4 ,
Ralph Clark 5 , Kevin Kirkman 6 and Erica Joubert 7
Current Addresses:
1
Conservation Research and Assessment, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, P.O. Box 13053, Cascades, 3202,
South Africa. E-mail Address: [email protected]
2
School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3,
Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa
3
dNA Solutions cc, 10 Church Street, Middelburg, 5900, South Africa
4
Themtek Environmental Consultancy, 10 Beaumaris Place, Dinsdale, Hamilton, 3204, New Zealand
5
Afromontane Research Unit & Department of Geography, University of the Free State, Private Bag X13,
Phuthaditjhaba, 9866, South Africa
6
School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
7
Grassland Society of Southern Africa, 10 Church Street, Middelburg, 5900, South Africa
The Grassland Society of Southern
Africa (GSSA) was established in
1965 with the aim of advancing
rangeland ecology and pasture management
in Africa. The GSSA is one of
the premier and respected professional
societies in southern Africa and represents
the interests of a diverse, multinational
cross-section of rangeland
practitioners, ecologists, policymakers,
emerging scholars, farmers and other
interested parties. The first meeting of
the Society was held at the Faculty of
Agriculture of the University of Natal,
Pietermaritzburg in 1966 and attracted
96 delegates. Since then the Congress
has been held annually. It is hosted by
a different province in South Africa or
a neighbouring country each year, to
facilitate the attendance of delegates
from different parts of southern Africa.
In July 2019 the Eastern Cape Province
was selected to host the 55th Congress
of the Society between 29 June and 3
July 2020. Planning for each year's Congress
begins a year before at the Annual
General Meeting of the Society, which
is normally held in conjunction with the
Congress. By February 2020 planning
was well underway to host our conference
at Mentorskraal in Jeffreys Bay.
The venue and funding were secured,
Congress tours were being planned,
and our scientific programme development
was underway.
In the first quarter of 2020, we were
aware of the COVID-19 pandemic playing
out, mostly in China and Europe,
but it had not yet impacted South Africa.
However, that changed on the 5
March 2020 when the first positive COV-
ID-19 case was confirmed in the country.
Shortly thereafter, the government
restricted the number of people who
could gather in one place to 50 people
and imposed travel restrictions. Since
our Congresses usually attract almost
200 delegates, the Council needed to
consider alternative options.
At a special Council meeting on 19
March 2020, the following four options
were discussed relating to hosting the
conference: (1) cancel the Congress,
(2) hold a virtual online Congress, (3)
host a hybrid event, or (4) postpone
the Congress. Consideration was given
to the Congress prestige, impacts on
the Society membership, financial impacts,
social impacts, impacts on the
Society continuity (e.g. the election of
office bearers) and the Annual General
Meeting (AGM). The Society also took
its mandate to disseminate scientific
information very seriously. This, along
with producing a journal (the African
Journal of Range and Forage Science),
form the Society’s most important function.
Council anticipated significant
hurdles with postponing the Congress
to later in the year as many other congresses
were being postponed leading
to possible congestion later in the year.
Further, the pandemic related disruption
to work programmes might inhibit
congress attendance e.g. changed academic
timetables might make it difficult
for academic staff to attend. Hosting
a hybrid event significantly increased
costs. After weighing the pros and cons
of each option, the Council elected to
hold a virtual online congress. Notwithstanding
the challenges which this decision
presented, it was felt that the benefits
of hosting the Congress were in the
interests of our members to further the
aims of the GSSA, allow members to
earn CPD (Continuing Professional Development)
points which are a statutory
requirement for professional scientists
in South Africa, and generate sufficient
income which is essential for the Society
to continue operating as a Non-
Profit Organisation. At this stage, we
remained uncertain as to what further
measures the government might put in
place to curb the spread of COVID-19
and the levels of restriction for the rest
of 2020. By 26 March 2020, the country
was placed under a hard lockdown for
05 Grassroots Vol 20 No 3 September 2020