On October 26, 2020, Postdoctoral Fellow Lissel Hernandez-Gongora [1] participated in the Forest & Livelihoods: Assessment, Research and Engagement (FLARE) [2] Twitter Conference. The mission of FLARE is to establish a Community of Practice that advances the state of knowledge of the intersection of forests and livelihoods. Lissel’s presentation [3] discussed REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) governance in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

The FLARE Network Twitter Conference presentations consisted of five tweets (280 characters per tweet). Each tweet was threaded together and included some supporting media. Each presentation was followed by a Q&A session with tweeted questions. Each presenter used the hashtag #FLARETC20 [4] and observers simply followed the hashtag to engage with conference presenters.

As a first time Twitter Conference participant, Lissel thought it was a great experience as it allows reaching a broader audience and making concrete remarks on the research results and conclusion. In the Covid-19 era, Lissel believes academic conferences following this format will gain popularity and she looks forward to engaging in other Twitter conferences in the future.