[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times

[Gillian Wiseman]

Speaking merely as an attendee of many conferences, both local
workshops, state library association conferences, and national
conferences (CIL, ALA, etc...) the real benefit to ME from going to
conferences isn't the "meet the speaker" opportunity.

It is having snacks at a table in the hallway with three other
librarians from other states and cities, gossiping about how hard it is
to do "this" or overcome "that". It's the little things like bringing
bookmarks home for the teens and saying "I picked those with you in
mind". Or seeing a particular product in person, touching it and talking
to the vendor about a specific application I had in mind in my library. 

No level of videoconferencing will ever completely replace that; which
said, if I have to choose between NOT getting any conference, and
attending the programs online, I'll take online any day.

Gillian Wiseman
Electronic Resources Librarian
Waco-McLennan County Library
1717 Austin Ave
Waco TX 76701
254-750-5944
gwiseman at ci.waco.tx.us

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Jill O'Neill
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 7:28 AM
To: 'John Fereira'
Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult
times

Speaking as an event organizer, I am sure that most conferences are
seeing
shifts in a variety of ways. Certainly speakers require more
subsidization
of travel. Organizations don't send as many people to a single
conference as
they might have done five years ago. Costs are up in the hospitality
industry in terms of catering and that too may force associations to
re-evaluate traditional practices in supplying attendees. There are the
issues associated with technology (such as supplying wi-fi to
registrants). 

That said, one of the most frequently cited rationales for attending a
conference in a face-to-face setting is associated with the opportunity
to
meet the real person. Doing it online offsets limited travel, but
there's
nothing like shaking a hard in real time and in real space to cement a
connection.

So, John, I would suggest to you that conference attendance *will*
change
over the course of the next ten years, but we're not entirely done with
physical bodies gathering in a ballroom to discuss issues and celebrate
successes!

And while we're on the topic of attending conferences, this year's NFAIS
Annual Conference features speakers Clay Shirky, Lorcan Dempsey, John
Wilbanks, and Peter Brantley (http://bit.ly/5TOr1q). The venue is the
Hyatt
at the Bellevue in Philadelphia and the dates are February 28-Mar 2,
2009.
But the theme of the conference is what is most relevant to this
audience,
Redefining the Value of Information: Exploring the New Equation! 

Jill


Jill O'Neill
Director, Planning & Communication
NFAIS
(v) 215-893-1561
(email) jilloneill at nfais.org
 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of John Fereira
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 6:53 AM
To: a.j.p.van.den.brekel at med.umcg.nl
Cc: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult
times

a.j.p.van.den.brekel at med.umcg.nl wrote:
> International conference on emerging technologies in academic
libraries
2010 (emtacl10)
> 26-28 April 2010, Trondheim, Norway
> 
> This is a new international conference for academic librarians,
information professionals, academic staff, students, library system
developers and suppliers, among others. The conference aims to provide
answers to the following questions: What can academic libraries do to
address change? How can we adapt? Which technologies can/should/must we
use/create? (View the conference programme
> <http://www.ntnu.no/ub/emtacl/?programme>)

This looks like a good conference.  "Unfortunately" I'm going to be 
presenting a workshop at a conference in Montpellier, France on the 
28th. Feel my pain.

Actually, the real reason for responding (although I changed the 
subject) was that I was wondering how others managed to go to 
conferences such as these across the pond (for those of us in North 
America).

I've been on the planning committee for an open source organization 
(Jasig) conference for the past several years and the registration 
numbers for our upcoming and previous conference are way down.  Most 
institutions just won't foot the bill to send people to conferences. 
Over the past couple of years it seems that almost every conference 
announcement I see eventually has a "registration deadline extended" 
post so I suspect that conferences in general are getting lower 
attendance figures.


At my library I can essentially attend only one library funded 
conference a year (my attendance at one in Montpellier is being paid for

by an external source).  Do ya'll pay your own way to some of the 
conferences that you attend?  The Handheld Librarian conference last 
year and the one upcoming have set a pretty good precedent for how 
effective a virtual conference can be.  Is that the direction that we 
will be going?  While I made a lot of good contacts through the last 
hhlib, those face-to-face encounters just can be duplicated virtually.








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