As I write this in early April, we are fresh off an invigorating 11th-Annual European Compliance & Ethics Institute (ECEI) held in Amsterdam. ECEI was an in-person-only gathering of more than 300 people representing 30 European countries, as well as many others. It was the largest ECEI we’ve ever held, and the excitement of being in person after missing out on this event for three consecutive years was evident.

ECEI was an excellent reminder of the virtues of in-person versus virtual events, oddly because of all the “problems” we had. For one, speakers sometimes lingered long after their sessions, occasionally interfering with the set-up for the next sessions—but that’s because the audience was so highly engaged that they had numerous questions and issues to address with the speakers after the sessions ended, and speakers patiently tried to address all of them.