Hi @Abi Palmer-Greenwood
Thanks for getting involved in the discussion. I hope others will contribute too. I'm coming at this whole question from the perspective of a committee member for the North East (England) Branch. The benefits of online are considerable - as you say. But it seems to me that a reasonable approach (for the branches) would be to lift the current restrictions and allow branches to make their own choices about programming events. There will be a mix of approaches taken no doubt but I suspect that most will continue to hold at least some events online. There is also the opportunity to stream 'in-person' events as well although the branches would need support in this. In my experience most branch events incur minimal costs, so the worries around organising large scale events (such as the LI Conference) don't, I think, apply at the local level. There may be COVID-related guidance which needs to be adhered to, but I'm sure branches are capable of managing this.