[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times

Tue Feb 9 10:51:03 EST 2010

Yes, those are marketing methods that make a conference more attractive to
you and I am certain they are important to other people too.

But, how exactly do snacks, gossip, and bookmarks benefit your employer?  If
that is the *real benefit* of a meeting or conference, then how would an
employer justify the expense?

R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com

On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 10:27 AM, Gillian Wiseman <gwiseman at ci.waco.tx.us>wrote:

> 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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