Conferences seen as an educational practice or opportunity

to education, particularly to higher education (by way of historical development, organization and delegate background), continuing education (based on the aims of information and knowledge access), and professional development (as seen in the nature of conference hosting and the general MICE industry literature). Hoyt and Whyte (2011) confirm the place of conferences as a continuing educational practice, yet there is no conference-centric stream of educational literature.

In the conference industry literature, ‘education’ is the most commonly stated objective for attendance (Table 2). No motivational studies had been noted before 1993 (Grant, 1994a). Conference groups have different needs (Grant & Weaver, 1996), and Høyer and Næss (2001) have asked whether higher professional and scientific understanding are the main motivation that has led to the growth in conference activity. However, most studies looking at conference motivations and behaviours have been conducted from the meeting planners perspective, and no specified user group studies have been conducted (Breiter & Milman, 2006).

Mair (2010) found that conference attendees were influenced by issues such as conference location, networking opportunities, cost of attending, social aspects, conference and association activities, personal and professional development, intervening opportunities, travelability, and being directed by an employer to attend, but these were unable to be generalized to any specific group, due to the complexity, non-specific focus and mixture of results contained in the study. Lee and Min (2013a) identified functional/utilitarian, emotional/hedonic, social and epistemic dimensions in conference attendance, but a more recent study (Pearlman, 2016) has taken a longer view as to what conferences need to provide, emphasizing

that value, sustainability and return on investment are important goals to address.

Most recently, Kordts-Freudinger, Al-Kabbani and Schaper (2017) have also found that education, networking, and personal/career enhancement are important goals to achieve at ASP conferences, and emphasized that interaction & return on investment are key elements that can lead to successful conferences.

From an organizers perspective, ‘education and training’ is also cited as being the most popular reason for them to host events (36%), followed by ‘generating a profit’ (30%) and ‘networking’ (30%) which changed places between 2016-2017 (Eventbrite, 2017).

Table 2. Conference Attendance Motivations: 1993-2017 literature showing originating discipline and motivations for attendance

Date & Origin Study Motivational ranking

1994

’Factors that contribute to the selection process of meetings from the perspective of the attendee.’

(Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Tech).

Rittichainuwat, B. N., Beck, J. A., & Lalopa, J. (2001).

’Understanding motivations, inhibitors, and facilitators of association members in attending international conferences.’ Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management, 3(3), 45-62.

Severt, D., Wang, Y., Chen, P. J., & Breiter, D. (2007).

’Examining the motivation, perceived performance, and behavioral intentions of convention attendees:

Evidence from a regional conference.’ Tourism management, 28(2), 399-408.

‘Impact of personal and cultural factors on knowledge sharing in China.’ Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 25(3), 451-471. decision-making: Developing a measurement scale.’ Journal of Travel Research, 47(1), 113-122.

Severt, K., Fjelstul, J., & Breiter, D. (2009).

‘A comparison of motivators and inhibitors for association meeting attendance for three generational cohorts.’ Journal of convention & event tourism, 10 (2), 105-119. DOI: 10.1080/15470140902949695

2011 MICE

Kim S., Lee J. S., & Kim M. (2011).

’How different are first-time attendees from repeat attendees in convention evaluation?’, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(2), 544-553.

1. education/

’Examining the role of multidimensional value in convention attendee behavior.’ Journal of Hospitality &

Tourism Research, 37(3), 402-425.

‘A scoping review about conference objectives and evaluative practices: how do we get more out of them?’ Health research policy and systems, 10(1), 26.

1. education, 2.

‘Prioritizing convention quality attributes from the perspective of three-factor theory: The case of academic association convention.’ International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 282-293.

Re-affirms that

Kordts-Freudinger, R., Al-Kabbani, D., & Schaper, N.

(2017).

‘Learning and interaction at a conference.’ New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 29(1), 29-38.

Conceptually, ASP conferences serve to gather members of a peer community in one place, for the purpose of exchanging information and perspectives on current topics in their field (Rowe 2017a, p. 9). de Vries and Pieters (2007, p. 237) see visiting conferences as an established way for practitioners and researchers to meet and share ideas, disseminate research, and to work together on ideas and projects. Their study found that most conference encounters were aimed at disseminating information, and although it was acknowledged that there were formal and informal opportunities for dialogue between inter-disciplinary delegates, it has not been generally examined whether these take place, or what their outcomes are. They further observe that the passive formats of conferences (for example attending oral presentations with little opportunity for audience questions or discussion, packed schedules and concurrent sessions, or mass poster session browsing) are not necessarily constructive towards fostering interaction, and this may be why conferences are seen more as knowledge dissemination venues, as opposed to a more developed forum of knowledge transfer and generation. In their conclusions, de Vries and Pieters (2007, p.246) share the

view of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2001) that:

‘The role of conferences, presentations and other opportunities for face-to-face contact will not disappear, although virtual web-based meetings will add greatly to the possibilities for information exchange. There may, however, be changes in the way that these events are used, with contacts and initial ‘browsing’ of products on-line before the actual meetings take place. This will permit a greater focus on discussion and consideration of specific products during the meeting, and opportunity for professional cross-fertilization.’ (p. 55)

However, despite this viewpoint having been forwarded back in 2001, there seems to have been little advancement in this direction in mainstream ASP conferences.