6 benefits of attending international educational conference 2023

In every industry, attending conferences and trade shows is considered an integral activity, particularly for association members. There are local meetings, national meetings, and even particular thematic meetings, which are organized for the benefit of members and the job in general. Besides learning about the latest industry trends and earning continuing education credits, the reasons for attending international conferences 2023 are varied.

Some professionals may want to bond with old colleagues and/or meet new people;
Some may want to check out the latest tools featured by industry vendors; and
Some may be looking out for job opportunities.

It all takes place as attendees spend three to four days reviewing the latest technology, dining with vendors and colleagues, and meeting vendors and their company executives while trying to find time to visit local sites. But in these days of shrinking budgets, the costs associated with employees attending trade shows are increasingly attracting the attention of finance departments. Given the time spent out of the office and the travel, hotel, and event costs associated with industry meetings, many organizations want to see a good return on their investment in this area. If there’s even a hint that attending a educational conference 2023 or association show isn’t worth the expense, that line item will likely be reduced or even eliminated.

Why Is It Important For Conference Attendees To Demonstrate What They’ve Learned & Accomplished After Attending Events?

What does a research institution, company, or university gain by allowing an employee, a student, or a research fellow to attend a conference?
He/she may have learned a lot at the event, but the authorities may not have been told about the benefits.
All they would probably just know is that the person went to attend the conference for a few days.
This analysis may sound somewhat caustic, but too often, people with budget responsibilities (particularly businesses and research institutions) think of business travel in terms of the benefits to the organization, not to the person as a professional.
The result is a “standoff” between the benefits and costs of participation, and each person who submits a request to management to attend a conference is caught up in this struggle.
So what should one do to make sure that their request is not only approved but welcomed by their superiors?

It’s about communicating with management, meeting the expectations of the management, and showing results.
If one takes on these responsibilities, the management will likely support all their future conference attendance endeavors.

Conferences play a major role in the professional activities of many sectors.
They must be found in all major scientific and academic disciplines, many trades and professions, as well as in the activities of societies and associations.
Such academic gatherings constitute a sub-sector of the events industry and can be collectively referred to as ASP (Academic, Scientific, &Professional) conferences.
Across all academic and scientific disciplines, higher education is a constant point of reference, and numerous ASP conference participants will be either employed or enrolled in institutions of higher education or will follow teaching-based professions.

The Global Failure In Recognising Academic Conferences As An Extention Of Higher Education

Even though international conferences may not directly address education as a content topic, the broader concepts of dissemination and generation of academic and scientific knowledge indicate that consideration of ASP conferences logically falls within the purview of the ‘Higher Education’.
On taking a closer look at issues such as the generation of science, the dissemination of knowledge, research as a public service and pertinent public policy, the economic implications of scientific research, peer review, the academic community, networking, scientific oversight, academic careers and the preparation of scholars, and disciplinary knowledge communities all strongly connect conference activities with the fields of science and education.
Yet, while all of these issues established foundational theories and knowledge, none were explored in depth against the conference framework.

The logistical and economic aspects of conference provision have been previously addressed in meetings industry literature, but very little research has been done on the needs of delegates.
One research attempt to identify delegate needs had difficulty producing generalizable results but recommended that the meetings market be segmented to better understand and meet the needs of conference delegates.
ASP conferences represent a significant portion of this market, but until recently, little research identified the scope of the sector, the mechanism, and effectiveness of its events, or the needs and motivations of its delegated body.
Given the service delivery nature of conference hosting, this is a particularly unusual observation.

Six Biggest Benefits Of Attending International Conferences

Benefit #1
Critical Research Information & Social Networking
- To produce new knowledge, scientists use the published contributions of their peers.
- Often, however, this knowledge is already outdated at the time of publication, for example, due to lengthy peer reviews and publisher publication cycles.
- To access new knowledge, researchers, therefore, rely on “unpublished” knowledge and informal knowledge sharing.
- At academic conferences 2023, researchers are exposed to various types of information, including unpublished knowledge.
- Participants come to the conference out of interest and in the hope of learning more about developments in the field and gaining knowledge informally.
- As has been repeatedly demonstrated, much of the communication processes involved in the production of scientific knowledge take place in informal settings.
- Conferences offer social spaces for such informal contexts to mature.
- Admittedly, a large part of the information exchanged results in epistemic activities aimed at the production and co-production of scientific knowledge.
- For example, a scientist may discover an alternative research method from a colleague and may use that method in future research tasks.
- However, not all the information exchanged is dedicated to the knowledge production process.
- In informal settings, the conversation often involves talking about social topics and gossip.
- Social conversations like this can include stories, judgments, and information about workshops, scholarships, and research funding.
- Often, career-relevant information of the following type is disseminated first-hand among participants –
  - who have obtained a professorship,
  - who have changed institutions, who have lead research groups, and
  - who offer jobs.
- At academic conferences, researchers are exposed to a wealth of spontaneous information, the content of which might or might not turn out useful in the future.
- Get a list of upcoming conferences in 2023 to search for an event that applies to your field of interest and register for it.

The information exchanged during the conferences is, at the same time, valuable resources embedded in the social networks formed by the conference participants.
The structure of networks, that is, the pattern of relationships between conference participants can have an impact on the opportunities for each individual to access these resources.
From social network theory, we learn that people should benefit from their relationships if they give them access to non-redundant sources of information.
The likelihood of obtaining non-redundant information depends on how many “bridges” scientists can build between otherwise disparate networks. Research has identified two sources of redundancy – cohesion, and equivalence.
The first source concerns dismissals caused by strong ties between people from the same group.
For instance, Ph.D. students belonging to the same school usually tend to have identical knowledge and as a result, also offer redundant information.
The second source of redundancy relates to structurally equivalent contacts.
Structural equivalence means that two actors occupy the same structural position vis-à-vis a third person without having to be related to each other.
Two postdocs, for example, are structurally equivalent insofar as they have the same contacts linking them to the same sources of information.
Contacts with other conference participants should therefore be more “beneficial”, if they are not redundant.
This condition must be fulfilled if the conference participants manage to diversify their relations.
However, the extent to which they succeed in diversifying their relationships depends on the social composition of the participants, who represent potential contacts.
International conferences are more likely to draw scientifically and socially heterogeneous communities.
Examples are major international events or annual meetings organized by international trade associations.
On the other hand, a smaller national conference tends to bring together local and, therefore, more homogeneous scientific communities.
Instances are annual gatherings of nationwide associations or workshops organized by factions of these associations.
Therefore, the likelihood of accessing non-redundant sources of information is likely higher at international conferences than at national conferences.

Benefit #2

Individual & Collective Effects

Social interactions at conferences (whether it be an online educational conference 2023 or an in-person event) often remain without consequences for the individual and the scientific system.
Yet they can also lead to unintended effects, for instance, when two researchers decided to collaborate.
Academic conferences can therefore produce individual or collective effects.
By individual effects, the meaning intended is changed at the level of the individual.
An example is a single-author publication resulting from the sharing of ideas at the conference.
The outcome is that the publication can only be attributed to the individual as no other author has been involved.
By collective effects, the meaning intended is phenomena involving two or more individuals.
Collective effects include different types of formal and informal collaborations as well as social exchange relationships resulting from encounters at the conference site.
In sociology, collective effects have been widely described as aggregates or collective properties of groups emerging from the unintended consequences of individual action.
Theoretically, they result from interactions on the conference site as researchers seek to improve their situation through transactions with other researchers.
An argument for this hypothesis can be derived from one research study’s account of “mutual dependence”.
In some disciplines, according to this research study, the success of research projects is highly dependent on access to resources embedded in social networks and knowledge generated in different scientific fields.
The resources considered are scarce workstations, research funds, but also technological prerequisites (for instance, machines and laboratories), and know-how.
Scientists are mutually dependent insofar as they desire the resources and means of production available to other scientists and non-academic actors.
To solve research problems, they come into contact with the guardians who control the means.
These interdependencies, in turn, lead to an incentive to enter into a social exchange.
Once these relationships are established and social trust is developed, other types of collectives may emerge, such as structures, institutions, and research collaborations (collective effects).
Moreover, informational benefits for a single scholar may arise from these relationships (individual effects).
Collective and individual effects are likely to emerge from the conferences.
This is because the social context of the conference differs from other social contexts in academia in important ways.
Social interaction at conferences takes place outside known social structures such as, for example, the faculty or the research laboratory.
This context potentially creates situations characterized by indeterminacy.The social bonds between the participants are often weak, and the interaction partners generally have little or no information about the intentions of the others.
Much of the process of interaction that takes place at conferences is therefore uncertain as to its outcome.

Benefit #3

Building & Maintaining Social Relationships

The first dimension of impact encompasses the networking activities that take place at the conference.
In one research study, numerous references in the interviews of past conference participants indicated that participation in a conference made it possible to establish new contacts and maintain existing contacts of various kinds.
One interviewee said he met his second supervisor at a conference.
Another interviewee said that he gained tips for publishing journals 2023 and other relevant knowledge through a contact made at a conference, which enabled him to complete a publication.
Another doctoral student described greatly expanding his professional network by attending conferences.
While all of the interviewees established new relationships at the conference, some were skeptical about whether those relationships have the potential to last longer.

At the conference, one participant’s boss introduced him to about ten interesting people.
And he had known two independently of him in other situations.
Of course, participants tend to talk to a lot of people at conferences.
But the question is then always whether these contacts are durable.

Another interviewee admitted to the systematic use of conferences to build a professional network.
She states that she continued to maintain contact with these people.

Yet the motivation to expand one’s personal relationships does not seem independent of the size and composition of one’s existing network.
One interviewee perceived an “attrition effect” that occurs when the personal network already includes many people and when there is no longer a need to expand the network to include more “important” people.
If the necessity for social associations is saturated in this way, motivation transitions from devising new contacts to preserving existing ones.

This has to do with the attrition effect of attending the conference.
Participants tend to meet a lot of people, but maybe they are less important because they already have a network.
But that is why it is also important to maintain a network.
Find a 2023 college conference to take part in. This will help you witness this benefit for real.

Benefit #3

Initiation Of Research Collaborations

The second dimension captures the formal and informal types of collaboration that result from meetings during conferences.
These “productive” encounters often take place in informal gathering spaces on the conference site, for example, during the conference dinner or a coffee break.
These gathering spaces constitute a particular type of informal social setting characterized by a high degree of contingency and, therefore, openness to the results of interaction.
Most of the references in the interviews (from the research study mentioned earlier) indicated the establishment of informal types of collaboration such as, for example, publishing projects.
One interviewee said he was often involved in a paper or project at conferences where he met other researchers with similar research interests.
For another interviewee, contact with a researcher he met during a poster session enabled research collaboration after the conference.
The researcher was so also willing to cooperate that they ended us discussing this interviewee’s poster again and again during the conference, making the interviewee think more about what they could do together.

For other respondents, “making money” was a crucial component of collaborating at conferences.
Respondents mentioned the possibility of getting in touch with private sector partners and thus obtaining research funds.
Irrespective of the benefit(s) that you wish to obtain, it is important to choose the best upcoming conference always.

Benefit #4

Learning Effects

The third dimension of impact encompasses a wide range of personal experiences involving skill advancement and various social learning processes.
Many interviewees in the research study said they learned from the conference by observing the behavior of others in various social situations.
For some, the conference had encouraged the acquisition of presentation skills.
One interviewee learned during the conference how to go about making a good presentation in just ten minutes.
Another researcher reported that he learned to copy the presentation techniques of “good presentations” by observing the techniques used by others.

Differences between doctoral students and postdocs emerged in preferred learning experiences.
The majority of Ph.D. students stressed the importance of the conference to receive personal feedback.
For one regular interviewee, the conference was associated with “the search for feedback”.
On the other hand, this aspect was of little relevance for postdocs.
For them, learning meant getting to know their professional role as scientists and forging a professional identity.

Benefit #5

Access To Knowledge

A significant portion of the responses relates to the “access to knowledge” category.
The knowledge respondents refer to consists of informal stores of knowledge such as research and career information, strategic information, and general insights into research areas.
For example, one interviewee received information about scholarship opportunities during a chat.
Some respondents were specifically looking for information that would help them advance in their careers.
For another interviewee, it was worth attending the conference, as he had access to information about planned research projects and job opportunities.
Oftentimes, the information obtained includes strategic data.
One of the participants in this study received information on the organization of the “business” of a field of research that interested him and on the publication strategies that researchers pursue there.
For one other person, the main impact of attending conferences is to provide a general overview of activities in a research area.

Some interviewing partners identified their own knowledge gaps by attending conferences.
They found that the knowledge shared by members of their community is often limited.
To obtain new expertise, it is important to look beyond the confines of the field to associated disciplines.
A post-doctoral fellow is an example of this and indicated that she had strategically attended conferences that were outside her field.
This strategy allowed him to better assess the relevance of certain conferences for his own research agenda.
Install the IFERP app to learn more about upcoming events where you’ll be able to take advantage of this benefit.

Benefit #6

Creating Visibility

The category “Creating visibility” includes responses that provide insight into visibility processes in the scientific community.
All interviewees thought that the increased visibility that the conference helped them obtain as being one of its most significant benefits.
The visibility to which they refer is created by informing others about one’s own research activities.
Visiting the conference allowed young researchers to report “activity” in the scientific community and thus gain recognition.
This process gained importance when the traditional means of creating visibility through publications were lacking.
One interviewee indicated that he did not have the opportunity to publish scientific papers during his Ph.D. due to time constraints.
Attending conferences was a way for him to overcome this lack.

A postdoc strategically used conference visits while on parental leave to stay visible in the scientific community.

Some respondents also used the conference to create visibility with potential employers and, where appropriate, to signal their interest in collaborating.

The Benefits Of Conferences Are Indisputable & Immutable

The standing of international conferences in academia and science is both well-established as well as also of great significance.
Research has demonstrated that conferencing is a multidisciplinary practice and conducted on a global scale.
In the absence of centralized data on conference numbers, we don’t know exactly how much conferences feature in our professional and educational activities.

Research has shown that conferences incur annual costs in the range of USD 8.9-39.9 billion at minimal levels and increase dramatically with the application of global researcher populations and published industry figures.
From a pedagogical perspective, the concepts of networking and knowledge exchange at conferences are widely recognized and grounded in established theories of experiential learning, legitimate peripheral participation, and communities of practice.

From the standpoint of the capacity for international conferences to facilitate the allocation of critical seed funding for research projects with immense potential, it has to be said that the vast majority of high-level conferences have failed in this regard.
The only exception remains IFERP conferences, where anyone looking for funding for a project can manage to do so (provided their research work, outcomes, and conclusions demonstrate valid innovativity and reasonable potential for alleviating one or more challenges (common or uncommon) humans worldwide (or atleast in a sizeable portion of it) face and struggle to deal with.

IFERP’s seed funding program seeks to provide –
- funding for education projects,
- funding for engineering projects,
- funding for individual projects,

and has been devised with the aim of stimulating competitive research in strategic disciplines of not just regional or national importance but of global significance in order to promote the development of innovative products and technologies and/or facilitate the start-up of research programs likely to turn into creative projects on their own through external funding.

If you’re looking for funding for projects, then you should know that the entire purpose of IFERP’s seed funding program being established is –
- to help a faculty start a research program that has the potential to support and attract funds from external organizations;
- test a new idea and generate preliminary results before submitting proposals to external agencies;
- promote cross-faculty collaboration in emerging areas;
- promote IPR generation and product/process development;
- attract and retain talent.

You can get funding for a project today. All you have to do is to reach out to IFERP and set up a meeting with us to pitch your research and ideas.