Mega-Conferences Re-Considered

Most of us have attended our scholarly guilds’ mega-conferences, the ones that are staggeringly large, with programs that look like the phone books for some of our college towns.

I often wonder how many people would attend these conferences, however, if they weren’t either interviewing for jobs or interviewing candidates. Most senior scholars confide to me that they really prefer the smaller, more specialized conferences that drill down deeply and provide a more leisurely pace for discussions. I have to admit that I’ve attended several mega-conferences where I’ve sat in on only a couple of paper sessions because I was so busy with job-search activities.

Do you think the mega-conferences survive primarily because of their efficient support of the academic “meat market”?