There have been a lot of character assassination's on prominent white men in the conference space by far left extremists. I wonder how much of his anxiety can be attributed to seeing colleagues go through that?
After seeing some heavily charged scenarios play out where it seemed like situations were grossly misinterpreted or expectations were wildly out of whack (none that I was party to, just as a bystander), I no longer do any kind of conference volunteering. I also no longer interact with anyone I don't know _very well_ outside of large groups.
Basically I limit my stranger-interactions to group lunches. Out of personal caution/safety. That also eliminates the only reasons to go to most conferences, so my schedule is a lot more open.
e.g https://twitter.com/skillsmatter/status/1168944236181557254