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Richard Harper

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Why do people attend Conferences?

Looking to better understand the motivators for attending a Conference and how that has changed over the years. Or has it?

Topics: Meetings and Conferences
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    Casey Christofaris 10+

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    Mar 7 2013: Time killer
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    Dorian Knus

    • +1
    Mar 6 2013: To get out of the office, break the routine, your company paid or you really like the subject...

  • edulover learner 10+

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    Mar 6 2013: Learning ,improving together,sharing with each other.

  • Gordon Barker 10+

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    Mar 5 2013: At Microsoft, we had a specific purpose for conferences (particularly the technical ones).
    You went to see technical presentations that you knew the least about.
    Most of the talks are introductory or intermediary at best. If you really wanted to babble in-depth with a subject matter expert, they are usually available for "roundtable discussions" between sessions and at lunch.
    The other reason to go to conferences is to network with people similar to yourself in other companies or other divisions (depending on the conference)
    Microsoft conferences are always someplace hot like New Orleans in July, or San Diego in July or Florida in July....so it sure ain't the scenery or the climate
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    edward long 100+

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    Mar 5 2013: In descending order of occurrence: #1:The company is paying and I need something to do. #2: The boss said "Go". #3: I might gain some social or professional advantage over my competition. #4: I really want to understand the subject better.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Mar 5 2013: It's a way of learning and building and enhancing relationships with people with whom one can exchange ideas for mutual benefit. While one can gather some of the same material online or by phone, the conference provides a greater sense of community and a critical mass for different kinds of fruitful multiparty exchanges of ideas. Collaboration may be easier in that setting.

  • ZX Style 20+

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    Mar 5 2013: I haven't been often to conferences. But i can imagine that a big motivator is meeting people and building a network.
    Another motivator is that you are busy with your workfield but at the same time you are doing something else then you normally are doing at work sitting behind your desk all day.
    The last motivator i can imagine is attendees like to hear new stories. But i guess that isn't a valid reason because if you keep track of the news on your workfield and the workfield magazine's than you allready know what's new in the business, and so when you are going to conferences it's more of a repeat of what you allready heard.

    I think that last point has changed over the years. When media weren't so present as they are now, it was harder to keep track of the news in your workfield.
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