Conference

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Artist Aleksandr Moravov's "Tampere Conference of 1905", depicting the first conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in Tampere and notably, the first-time meeting of Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin. Lenin at Tampere.JPG
Artist Aleksandr Moravov's "Tampere Conference of 1905", depicting the first conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in Tampere and notably, the first-time meeting of Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin.

A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, is the primary purpose of conferences. The term derives from the word confer.

Contents

History

The first known use of "conference" appears in 1527, meaning "a meeting of two or more persons for discussing matters of common concern". [1] It came from the word confer, which means "to compare views or take counsel". [2] However the idea of a conference far predates the word. Arguably, as long as there have been people, there have been meetings and discussions between people. Evidence of ancient forms of conference can be seen in archaeological ruins of common areas where people would gather to discuss shared interests such as "hunting plans, wartime activities, negotiations for peace or the organisation of tribal celebrations". [3]

Since the 1960s, conferences have become a lucrative sector of the tourism industry and have evolved into hundred billion Pound per year industry on a global scale. [4] The growth around the world, including in Great Britain, Germany, Philippines, United States and Australia, has led to conferences themselves becoming an industry with buyers, suppliers, marketing, branding and conference facilities. [4]

Modern conferences can be held to discuss a variety of topics, from politics, to science or sport. Many conferences are held on a regular periodic basis, such as annually, biannually (twice per year), or biennially (every other year).

With the development of communications technology, conference holders have the choice of replacing the physical meeting space with a telephonic or virtual form of meeting. This has resulted in terms such as a conference call or video conference.

Conference types

Conferences can have various formats, topics and intentions.

Conference formats

Conferences topics

See also

Related Research Articles

A deliberative assembly is a meeting of members who use parliamentary procedure.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interview</span> Structured series of questions and answers

An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers. In common parlance, the word "interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interviewer asks questions to which the interviewee responds, usually providing information. That information may be used or provided to other audiences immediately or later. This feature is common to many types of interviews – a job interview or interview with a witness to an event may have no other audience present at the time, but the answers will be later provided to others in the employment or investigative process. An interview may also transfer information in both directions.

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A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videotelephony</span> Real-time video communication

Videotelephony is the use of audio and video for simultaneous two-way communication. Today, videotelephony is widespread. There are many terms to refer to videotelephony. Videophones are standalone devices for video calling. In the present day, devices like smartphones and computers are capable of video calling, reducing the demand for separate videophones. Videoconferencing implies group communication. Videoconferencing is used in telepresence, whose goal is to create the illusion that remote participants are in the same room.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academic conference</span> Conference for researchers to present and discuss their work

An academic conference or scientific conference is an event for researchers to present and discuss their scholarly work. Together with academic or scientific journals and preprint archives, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers. Further benefits of participating in academic conferences include learning effects in terms of presentation skills and "academic habitus", receiving feedback from peers for one's own research, the possibility to engage in informal communication with peers about work opportunities and collaborations, and getting an overview of current research in one or more disciplines.

Irregardless is a word sometimes used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since the early twentieth century, though the word appeared in print as early as 1795. The word is mostly known for being controversial and often proscribed, and is often mentioned in discussions on prescriptive and descriptive lexicography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unconference</span> Participant-driven meeting

An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as sponsored presentations and top-down organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chair (officer)</span> Leading or presiding officer of an organized group

The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group or organisation, presides over meetings of the group, and is required to conduct the group's business in an orderly fashion.

Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treatise</span> Formal and systematic written discourse on some subject

A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions. A monograph is a treatise on a specialized topic.

In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle. The gender-neutral term nibling has been used in place of the common terms, especially in specialist literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curriculum vitae</span> Summary of career

In English, a curriculum vitae is a short written summary of a person's career, qualifications, and education. This is the most common usage in British English. In North America, the term résumé is used, referring to a short career summary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Panel discussion</span> Group of people gathered to discuss a topic in front of an audience

A panel discussion, or simply a panel, involves a group of people gathered to discuss a topic in front of an audience, typically at scientific, business, or academic conferences, fan conventions, and on television shows. Panels usually include a moderator who guides the discussion and sometimes elicits audience questions, with the goal of being informative and entertaining. Film panels at fan conventions have been credited with boosting box office returns by generating advance buzz.

Sealioning is a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with relentless requests for evidence, often tangential or previously addressed, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity, and feigning ignorance of the subject matter. It may take the form of "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate", and has been likened to a denial-of-service attack targeted at human beings. The term originated with a 2014 strip of the webcomic Wondermark by David Malki, which The Independent called "the most apt description of Twitter you'll ever see".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doomscrolling</span> Compulsive consumption of large quantity of negative online news

Doomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of news, particularly negative news, on the web and social media. Doomscrolling can also be defined as the excessive consumption of short-form videos or social media content for an excessive period of time without stopping. The concept was coined around 2020, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. "Definition of CONFERENCE". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  2. "Definition of CONFER". merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  3. Montgomery, Rhonda J. (1995). Meetings, conventions, and expositions : an introduction to the industry. Sandra K. Strick. New York: Wiley. ISBN   0-471-28439-4. OCLC   42785679.
  4. 1 2 Rogers, Tony (2003). Conferences and conventions : a global industry. Oxford [England]: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN   1-4175-0740-3. OCLC   56035870.