The Future of Meetings in astronomy: reflections on lessons learned from TFOM

Over a hundred years have passed since the first IAU General Assembly, with many innovations in technology taking place over this time. With emerging technologies such as widespread internet, powerful portable computing, readily-available automation and affordable mixed reality, the possibilities for innovating the ways in which we meet to be more accessible, inclusive and sustainable are vast. We have only begun to scratch the surface of the future of interaction.

"The Future of Meetings" (TFOM) community of practice has been active since 2020 to experiment with these emerging technologies, seeking innovation both in the design of our interactions (online, hybrid and in-person) and in the ways of employing technology to do so more effectively. We will present an overview of our highlight activities over the last several years, with a particular emphasis on the innovations in astronomy communication that we have explored and demonstrated during this period.

We are now at a turning point in astronomy. As individuals and collective organisations, we have the power to choose a path forward that enables more distributed global voices than ever before to be part of our future astronomy collaborations while minimising the cost to our planet. A key goal of TFOM is to share our experiences and expertise in the hope that, with the relative ease of adoption of contemporary innovative technologies, others are empowered to choose the same path of "beyond being there" that we have.