REPLY Separate Professional Conference (SD6286)

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Posted by  Paul Holmström <ph at holmstrom.se>

Jim Hines asks "Why not have a "professional conference" that's separate
from the existing conference?"

A separate "professional" conference is more of a commercial risk, requires
a hard sell, and is usually best done by companies specializing in that type
of conference. Reading the discussion in this thread it does seem as if a
hard sell does not come natural to most of us.

Although being a consultant I very rarely attend "professional" conferences
of the type described by Jim. I think that their main target group are
practitioners using it to scan for topics and consultants hence the blatant
selling by the presenters.

I find that I prefer conferences with academics, consultants and
practitioners where there is sharing and discussion which increases my
learning and sharpens my mind.

A safer way for the society to experiment with the idea could be to
partially turn the last conference day into a professional day, in addition
to the present workshops. My first sd conference was a bit of a shock as it
seemed as if everybody had disappeared come Thursday morning.

Such a "professional" track need not only be restricted to consultants and
practitioners. It might be useful also for academics to share experiences
from projects. The difference between the main conference and the
"professional" track could be that at the centre of the academic conference
is the research question whereas the focus of the "professional" track would
be the problem or issue of the client.

Paul Holmstrom
Posted by  Paul Holmström <ph at holmstrom.se>
posting date  Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:28:34 +0100