[Web4lib] Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times

[John Fereira]

Robert L. Balliot wrote:
> The topic was: Attending/Presenting at conferences in difficult times
>
> If attendees actually participate - such as deliver papers, conduct
> meetings, and contribute to the event in some recognizable way, that seems
> justifiable. 
Some interesting discussion so far.  It seems that the thread has forked 
somewhat to focus on a discussion of virtual vs. face-to-face 
conferences.  I hope that others will continue down that branch but I'll 
focus more on the gist of the original topic as I presented it.

In my case, in addition to limiting the number of library funded 
conferences to one a fiscal year, I didn't mention that,  some sort of 
participation beyond listening to a bunch of presentations is pretty 
much expected.  In the case of the Jasig conferences I have been on the 
planning committee and manage the conference web application for the 
last six of them but was not able to attend the last two due to budget 
constraints.   My management also recognizes the value of networking 
with others at conferences and the institutional recognition paper 
presentations  provide, but that isn't necessarily shared by those that 
hold the purse strings. 

So, not to pick on Gillian, but if things are so difficult for me, as an 
employee of an Ivy league University, how do you go about justifying 
attending "many conferences" as  a County Librarian.  


>
> Sadly, there are many, many libraries cutting materials budgets, staff,
> services, and hours while others snack on.
It' not just libraries either.  I'm not a librarian.  I'm a 
programmer/analyst/technology strategist that happens to work in a 
library (and have done so for 13 years).   Some of the conferences I'd 
like to attend are more technology based rather than library specific. 

Last October I attended Internet Librarian for the first time and was 
really glad that I had to opportunity to do so.  I  had a few hours to 
kill before heading to the airport on the last day so I stopped at the 
nearby watering hole that was kept busy with conference attendees 
throughout the week.  There were a couple of people sitting near me that 
I chatted with a bit but didn't recognize from the conference so I 
didn't "talk shop".  After awhile someone else came in and this person 
mentioned to them that she was in Monterey for this library conference, 
attended the first session, decided it wasn't for her, and spent the 
rest of the week shopping and hanging out at the beach.  
Uncharacteristically on my part I somehow managed to keep my mouth shut.

-- 
John Fereira
Cornell University
Twitter: @john_fereira
Google Wave: fereira at googlewave.com