Do we need conferences anymore? Unsurprisingly, we say YES!

I’ve just seen an interesting discussion spring up on Museum 3.0 entitled “Do we need conferences anymore?” Here at AGENDA we’re in full preparation for the Communicating the Museum conference – testing equipment, fielding last minute queries from participants, booking flights, putting final touches to the programme – and this topic has provoked quite a bit of discussion in the office. 

The basic premise of the chat on Museum 3.0 is that with tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs, people can follow conferences without leaving their office or sitting room. Live streams, podcasts, videos, slide-sharing and online forums mean that conferences can even take place in cyberspace rather than a physical conference hall.

Everyone here is agreed that social media is a great way of enhancing the conference. We have set up a Facebook group so that people can start networking before they get to Malaga, a Twitter feed to give followers info and news about preparations and this blog to get readers thinking about social media and its possibilities before they arrive to discuss this year’s theme “Digital and Personal Networking: Making the most of the connected world.” We have also been on a few trips to podcast speakers and give our readers an idea of what they can expect during keynote speeches and possibly a chance to prepare their own questions beforehand so that they can get the most out of the conference.

We’re hoping that people will use tools like Twitter during the conference to take the discussion out of the the conference hall and online where their colleagues who couldn’t make the conference will be able to get an idea of the main ideas during discussions. By having one representative Twittering during a conference, an organisation can really increase its return on the initial investment of that one registration fee as colleagues can get a tailored summary of all the ideas which are particularly relevant or useful for their institution. And the great thing about Twittering is that it is isn’t limited to the hour or so duration of a speech; participants can Twitter about interesting chats they’ve had during coffee breaks or contacts they’ve made during dinner.

The thing is that all these things enhance a conference but are they enough to do away with the physical conference itself? Here we are fairly unanimous in our belief that nothing can beat face to face contact and networking during an event like Communicating the Museum. It’s not for nothing that the conference’s theme is digital and personal networking. The two things go hand in hand. When discussing this, Claire made the interesting point that online forums and twitterfeeds etc are great for exchanging ideas, but when it comes to concrete business and action, participating in a conference and making new contacts is where it’s at.

There’s one really good comment on the Museum 3.0 discussion which I thinks sums up our view on this debate best:

“You can't replace face-to-face contact, just as you can't replace museum objects with digital surrogates! The physical act of going to a conference means you're making time to engage with the topic - sure, in theory you can read the papers, blogs and tweets later, but how often do you have a spare moment to actually do that? I think twitter and blogs make conferences better value for organisations - if they send one person who commits to blogging or tweeting, everyone else in the organisation has a chance to pick up the main messages from the conference. IMHO, taking notes and writing them up later takes longer and is therefore much less likely to happen, which is perhaps why so few people do conference reports.” (Reply by Mia on May 19 2009, 9:32pm)

For some other views on this topic out there in blogosphere, check out some of these links:

• Museum 3.0 – Do we need conferences anymore?
• Dan Cull Weblog – An analysis of the first ever conservation conference conducted via Twitter
• Two Ls and a Y Blog – American Association of Museums and Twitter follow-up
• West Muse Blog – Why go to the conference?
• ABC Radio – A podcast and transcript of a radio discussion between 3 experts in conference organisation about the future of the industry 

Image: Participants of last year's Communicating the Museum conference in Venice working hard 

Comments

[Liz]

Conferences are good: you get to talk to new people, you get to get away from the regular routine (always refreshing) and you get to spend time talking and listening, which I find energising.

The new thing about conferences is that they can be even more participatory than in the past: we can participate in the actual conference by being there and asking questions/delivering papers/chairing sessions, as well as by tweeting/blogging etc, which then lets a whole lot of other people get in on the act, and in real time. As Mia says, once you get back to work and have to face writing up all your notes, suddenly it all seems too hard. I found that I could use twitter at a recent conference to get some idea of some presentations I could not get to - the inevitable clash - which added more value for me.

[Angelina Russo]

Thanks for this posting Elishka! I'm glad that we can have this conversation across a number of sites and get the benefit of a number of different views and opinions! Good luck with the conference - which looks great! I look forward to the twitter feed!