To confer or not to confer in a conference

There are many reasons why an academic would want to participate in a conference. It could be to be able to validate her ideas and get insights on others' perception. It is also a way for her to become abreast of the new developments in her field, realize her ideas may not be new but still useful. It is also possible to realize that things that motivate her to do research may be the same motivations other academics have.

In a conference, it is either she will engage in a constructive dialogue or not. It is also possible that she will just be on that stage of just receiving, filtering and processing all the new things she is hearing and learning.

It is also a way to see the world, travel and learn about other cultures and try out new dishes. This is one of the attractive side of participating in a conference. She gets to be out of the classroom, on an official capacity, move in autonomy, manage schedules and accommodations, learn phrases of another language and interact with coercive taxi drivers.

But the other important thing that some conference attendees tend to forget or overlook is the opportunity of meaningful connections, having new academic friends (maybe real friends in the long run) and a possibility of continuous exchange of new ideas and experiences. These meaningful connections are not completely addressed by online interactions or even listening to a video or podcast of a very good social anthropologist. Nothing can replace a beautiful encounter in a worthwhile conference or symposium.

And I am glad I took such bold step of engaging in meaningful connections. I have a few but very good academic friends. And we still keep in touch.

*The first four photos were taken during the ICICTE July 2009 Conference in Corfu, Greece. Some of the academic friends I met-- Maria Spante, Liming Zhang, Karen Baskett (not in the photo), Uthman Alturki, Hind Alfadda, Keith Kirkwood and Svetlana Osipova.

Maria Spante and Keith Kirkwood were both gracious to come to Manila last March 2010 to speak in our conference. (The last photo was taken on the first day of the Manila conference.)