I'm in Boston, but guessing 13 speakers is a long time to be in an event space with a lot of students bused in from various schools. (1-on-1 or few-on-few can be better in-person, but remote works a lot better for talks.)
Also, Covid is going around the schools right now, and not everyone would let having Covid preclude a networking opportunity like this. Which would be a reason in favor of streaming (i.e., lower the incentive to make a lot of people sick). And also a reason some people would opt to watch the stream.
I'm in Boston, but guessing 13 speakers is a long time to be in an event space with a lot of students bused in from various schools. (1-on-1 or few-on-few can be better in-person, but remote works a lot better for talks.)
Also, Covid is going around the schools right now, and not everyone would let having Covid preclude a networking opportunity like this. Which would be a reason in favor of streaming (i.e., lower the incentive to make a lot of people sick). And also a reason some people would opt to watch the stream.