Ha ha .. that is what the conference requires. Turns out that there is research that shows that when you are reading paper printed on paper this 2-column format is good for readability and not wasting paper. Conferences still insist on this format even though most people print papers.

Now the good news is that these days, conferences have an accompanying video associated with the paper, and that may be a good place to start for many. That video will be published on the conference website (https://vldb.org/2022/) in about a week.

Thanks, will lookout for the video

(I tend to read most things on a screen and find two columns of small text tiring)

I read papers most of the time on phone and these two column papers are such a PITA to read lol