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I have attended quite a few educational conferences across the world, over the years. Online, in person, as a speaker, as just a fly on the wall teacher, as a publisher selling. 100s of sessions and conferences, of all different sizes, qualities and formats.
However, this past year has been the first in my career where I didn’t attend even one. Just didn’t have it in me.
I value conferences for many reasons; new ideas, professional camraderie, recharging your teaching batteries, just getting away, feeling a part of a larger cause and community and for many other reasons. Yet, over the years I’ve become more disillusionned with the conference “curcuit”, feeling the “groundhog” day effect. Thus, my current break.
My largest critique with conferences is that they are imposed, not built from the teaching trenches up. I do yearn in ELT for more of the Ed-Camp type conferences there are in general education. Where teachers get more time to discuss, debate, interact instead of being passive attendees filling chairs.
But I have many other conference “peeves” - things that don’t sit well with me. Here is a short list. What are your own concerns, problems, dislikes about what happens in most English language teaching conferences? Let us know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.
I’ve previously written about the need for a “flipped conference”. Also, here are some other pet peeves I’ve written about. However, we, conference organizers, fellow presenters – we could make a few more changes. Here are a few of my pet peeves that need to change. Any you’d add?
I wish conference presenters ….
Would stop disrespecting the teacher attendees. I wish attendees would be provided with enough time to discuss with our group/partner when asked. Happens so often. Presenter says, “Discuss these 3 things in your group”. Even if a time frame is given, it is never adhered to. We just get started doing/saying something and then it’s the presenter jumping in and saying, “Ok, we got to move on.” Presenters so often disrespect their audience and play lip service to really giving attendees time to dig into topics.
2. Stopped with the PowerPoint diarrhea. This is just disgusting but is still endemic. I got so dizzy last conference, presentation slides just full of text, really full. Can’t we read this at home? Provide a link if you will. We didn’t come to hear the presenter read the slides and speed through “stuff”. Plus, even if the presenter doesn’t actually read off the slide, it’s impossible to process this text while at the same time listening to them speak. A presenter needs to create a common setting, common ground where attendees can share/participate in the idea related through the emotion of the presenter’s narrative. As one of my PLN on twitter said …..
Here’s an example slide from a recent conference. By no means the worst.
Focus on public speaking skills more. Slow down. Pause more. Say less but make it more powerful. Focus on the advice of the late Patrick Winston of MIT and include the 5 Ss:
Symbol. Some icon that makes your ideas easy to hold on to.
Slogan. A simple linguistic handle for your ideas.
Surprise. Make people say: "Did you see that talk ..."
Salient idea. Have an idea that really sticks out.
Story. Tell stories that engage the audience.
4. Offer professional development in the teacher’s L1. I’m perplexed by this. Conferences are not a time for teachers to learn English. It should be done in their L1 where possible and appropriate (for example a national conference where most attendees are of one language). Conferences are about “ideas” and language is only a vehicle by which to communicate them.
Why not label some sessions as English or the conference L1? I think there should be a balance in favor of conference presentation in the L1.
5. Not Be Parachuted In Presenters. I won’t belabor the point but just having many Brits, Americans flying in, does not a good conference make. Plus, most just go through the motions, regurgitate and repeat the same presentation given at X,Y or Z conference. Plus, most are not practicing teachers – too many academics, too many applied linguistics pontificating on interesting but not topics specific to teaching practice. Let’s keep conferences real and make the stars the local teachers!
6. Would not seem like they just studied up on the topic the last few months in preparation for their talk. I know this sounds elitist but I want veterans, I want experts, I want to hear from people up to date in their field. Not someone who thought of a conference topic, wrote a blurb, got accepted and then started to study up ….. Last conference plenary, had a woman speaking about educational technology who even admitted that she was “catching up” for the talk – and came up with the excuse that it’s ok because, “technology is changing so rapidly”. Go figure. This will only get worse with generative AI - see this teacher trainer suggesting you can prepare a session on any given topic - just ask ChatGPT to prepare your talk!
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