October 21, 2008
Attendance Is Way Down at This Year's Community-College Technology Conference
Salt Lake City — One of the big higher-education technology conferences of the year is under way here this week, but with far lower attendance than in past years. Leaders of the event, the annual technology conference of the League for Innovation in the Community College, blame the sour economy for the drop.
About 1,200 people made the trip to the event, down from about 2,350 last year, according to the event’s leaders. In 2006, more than 2,600 people attended the conference.
“A lot of colleges are having tight budgets,” said Edward J. Leach, vice president of services and programs at the league, adding that he could not think of any other reason for the decrease. Asked whether the group saw a large number of cancellations at the last minute — after the recent spate of bad economic news — he said No. About 100 people canceled.
Several college professors and administrators here who had attended the event in the past said they had noticed the thinness of the crowds. Many sessions have plenty of empty chairs, and it’s easy to get a spot at a computer at one of the areas set up so attendees can check their e-mail — areas where lines have formed in the past. As a result, some say the event just feels a bit less lively than they remember.
Mr. Leach said the hottest topic at this year’s event was Web 2.0 — the online social tools popular with students and, more recently, with professors as well. Which means that plenty of colleagues who decided not to attend this year’s event are stuck relying on the blog items, twitter messages, and wiki writings posted by those who could come. —Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Tuesday October 21, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Does anyone know of other conferences experiencing lower than expected attendance?
— John Thompson Oct 21, 12:25 PM #
I wonder if part of this decrease is the location. I know that at least for library-related conferences attendance in the West is always down from East coast locations. The last two where in Charlotte and Nashville which may attract a lot more people than having to travel out to Utah. But, as John Thompson asked, I would like to know if this lower attendance is something other conferences have seen. I went to LITA (Library and Information Technology Association) last weekend and I didn’t notice the attendance being lower than in years past, but I didn’t ask for or here any numbers.
— Edward Oct 21, 06:05 PM #
Excuse me but a conference on “innovation” whose hottest topic is Web 2.0 is… well… kind of sad. This is a cheezy org – I’ve gone to their gigs a few times & wouldn’t waste the money. Bunch of administrators salivating over the prospect of replacing faculty with computer terminals. On the other hand… next year in Tahoe? Sign me up!
— Mark L. Oct 21, 07:57 PM #
I present at a few different technology conferences each year and I have noticed that all of them are struggling to maintain attendance. I have also spoken with dozens of colleagues who no longer attend and they all point to diminishing travel funds and increased travel costs.
— Anthony P Oct 22, 08:51 AM #
“diminishing travel funds and increased travel costs…” and location…and diminishing “innovation” offered…
— BD-L Oct 22, 08:58 AM #
Mark L — well, nothing says professionalism like calling another organization “cheezy” (sic). They’re likely better off without your presence.
— UMG Oct 22, 09:33 AM #
It’s not just technology conferences… I am on the conference planning committee for an educational conference that has been in existence since the ’80s. It is a small but very productive conference — usually very well received. But this year — at 28 days until the conference began — we only had three presenters (other than our keynotes) and TEN people signed up. We had to cancel it, and offer a one-day drive-in “idea exchange” instead. There are so many conferences out there. One needs to have a LOT of bang for the buck to get permission to travel.
— ERCBEC President Oct 22, 09:40 AM #
Traveling to a technology conference doesn’t make sense. We should be using technology to conference. This would also lessen the environmental impact of attending. We need to ask ourselves why we attend conferences. If the answer is anything other than to learn about new technology and to social network (both possible online), maybe we shouldn’t be receiving funds from our colleges to attend anyway.
— Missle Oct 22, 09:57 AM #
I just received this email. “We are pleased to announce that we have record attendance of over 4,650 full conference registrants for EDUCAUSE 2008! (This number does not include exhibitors.)”
Apparently not all technology conferences are suffering this year.
— The Bear Oct 22, 01:27 PM #
Interesting – I attended EDUCAUSE in Seattle last year and they announced that there were 7000 people in attendance. I can’t imagine that there were 3000 exhibitors.
In my experience conferences in Florida tend to draw larger crowds. It’s a small world after all.
— VW Oct 22, 05:20 PM #
Educause attracts people who come to town to network and don’t necessarily pay for or attend the conference. I met a lot of people in Seattle last year who admitted as much.
— artemis Oct 22, 07:37 PM #
Could it be that technological savvy folks find they can use the internet effectively for gaining much of the information that technology conferences offer? Not only funds but time and energy may factor in.
— BE! Oct 28, 09:04 PM #