How to run an international conference during a pandemic

During a humid October evening in Singapore, I found myself in a hotel bar. It was the night before a big gaming convention, and typically at these events, any nearby bars and restaurants are packed with developers, media, and other members from the industry.

This time I saw only a handful of people, and we talked about how remarkable it was to attend a conference again. But things were still far from normal. Most of us had just emerged from our rooms after a day-long quarantine while waiting for the results of a mandatory COVID-19 test. Even then, we still had to stay six feet away from each other due to a government mandate, which stipulated that only groups of two people could socialize in close proximity at a time.