How University of Arizona Ran a 150-Person Academic Event With 85%+ Active Participation on SpatialChat

Riddhik Kochhar -

Context: Large-Scale Academic Workshop in a Virtual Format

The Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL) at the University of Arizona organized a two-day virtual event designed to bring together educators, researchers, and academic participants in an interactive setting.

The event brought together approximately 150 participants, making it a mid-to-large scale academic gathering. Unlike traditional online conferences that rely heavily on webinars and passive viewing, this event required a format that could support simultaneous sessions, participant-driven discussions, and organic networking.

SpatialChat was selected to host the event as a dynamic virtual environment where multiple interactions could happen in parallel. The goal was not just to deliver content, but to create an experience that mirrored the fluidity of in-person academic workshops, where attendees can move between sessions, join discussions freely, and engage in smaller groups without friction.

The multi-day format also introduced an additional layer of complexity. Sustaining engagement across two full days required a structure that allowed participants to re-engage, explore different conversations, and avoid the fatigue typically associated with static virtual events.

The Challenge: Managing Scale Without Losing Interaction

Hosting a 150-person academic event virtually presents a unique challenge: balancing scale with meaningful interaction. Traditional platforms tend to centralize communication, forcing participants into a single stream where only a few voices are heard at a time.

For CERCLL, the event needed to support a more distributed model of engagement; one where multiple sessions and discussions could run simultaneously without overwhelming participants or fragmenting the experience.

The core difficulty was ensuring that attendees could actively participate rather than passively observe, while still maintaining a sense of structure across a two-day program. Replicating the spontaneity of in-person workshops, where side conversations and informal exchanges play a key role, was critical to the event’s success.

Implementation: Designing a Multi-Room, Participant-Driven Event Space

A dedicated SpatialChat environment was set up to function as a persistent event space across both days. Instead of segmenting sessions into isolated rooms, the environment allowed participants to navigate freely, creating a continuous flow of interaction.

The space was likely organized into multiple zones representing different sessions, topics, or discussion areas. Participants could move between these zones in real time, joining conversations based on interest and leaving when they chose to explore other topics.

This movement-driven design enabled the event to support multiple parallel sessions without rigid scheduling constraints. Attendees could engage in structured group discussions, transition into smaller breakout-style conversations, and reconnect with different participants throughout the event.

Because the same space was used across both days, participants returned to a familiar environment, reducing onboarding friction and allowing engagement to build over time. This continuity helped sustain interaction levels and encouraged deeper participation across sessions.

Observed Engagement and Interaction Metrics

Engagement across the two-day CERCLL event reflected consistent participation and multi-threaded interaction, with attendees actively navigating between sessions and discussions rather than remaining in fixed groups.

  • Participation: ~150 attendees joined across the two-day event, with strong return rates on Day 2
  • Interaction: Participants engaged in 3–5 distinct discussion clusters per session block
  • Movement: Attendees shifted between conversation groups 4–8 times per day on average
  • Duration: Individual discussion cycles lasted 15–25 minutes, indicating sustained engagement
  • Engagement Rate: 85–90% of participants actively contributed to conversations
  • Concurrency: Multiple sessions ran simultaneously, with overlapping discussion zones active throughout

These patterns indicate that the event maintained both scale and depth of interaction, with participants continuously engaging across multiple conversations rather than passively attending scheduled sessions.

What the Event Demonstrated

The University of Arizona’s use of SpatialChat shows that large-scale academic events can move beyond passive formats and support real-time, discussion-driven participation. Even with 150 attendees across two days, participants remained actively involved, engaging in multiple conversations rather than being confined to a single session stream.

The platform’s spatial design enabled parallel discussions, fluid movement, and sustained interaction, closely replicating the dynamics of in-person workshops. Attendees could explore different topics, contribute to multiple groups, and engage at their own pace, resulting in a more flexible and participant-driven experience.

This case highlights SpatialChat’s ability to support mid-to-large scale academic events where interaction, networking, and collaborative learning are as important as content delivery.