Turklish TEFL

Critical Conferences 3: Expense and Exclusion

Continuing on from my first post in this series I now want to examine some possible economic inequalities that underlie conference attendance.

Many conferences outside of Turkey come with a very hefty price tag. Not including travel, accommodation, and food, prices of some conferences that I attended this year ranged from 68 to 150 Euro. Now that’s a huge chunk of change, especially for someone on a teacher’s salary in a country where the conversion rate from the local currency to the Euro is 2 to 1, not to mention that time taken off of work. Already, what I’m sure is the vast majority of educators are excluded from the bigger ELT conferences simply by price.

Interestingly enough, at my last international ELT conference, I found out that I seemed to be the only person paying my own way. I was also the only person camping out behind the hotel in a tent . Perhaps one reason why conference fees remain so high is that the average teacher doesn’t actually attend. Expenses are generally covered by the institutions teachers work for. This would mean that, by and large, only teachers working at schools already interested in development and with the expense account to finance it are given the chance to go.

In this respect, should ELT conferences be considered a tool of the elite? Generally, only those from wealthy families, countries or institutions are able to attend the big international conferences. What about the rest of the educators out there?

In contrast to this situation, there have definitely been some positive steps forward with conferences in the form of scholarships and live Internet feeds, and that’s a trend that I hope continues into the future. Would it be possible to do more of this? I think it would even be reasonable to charge a small fee for access to a video archive of talks and workshops. Perhaps more conferences could take this direction in the future.

I’ve been told by some conference attendees and organizers that very little money is made off of conferences. I’d be curious to know for what percentage of conferences that holds true. I’ve also been told by others that prices can be much higher than they need to be. Any readers who have organized conferences in the past, I’d be grateful to get some numbers on either one.

I think the best example of affordable conferences done right is actually Turkey. Conferences in Turkey are usually free or rarely cost more than 15 Euro to attend. Often included in that fee is transportation to and from the event and lunch at the very least. In addition, as they are often organized by large universities or school conglomerates, accommodation is provided on site for a very low fee. If conferences can be organized for this cheap, why can’t the same be done in other countries? Standard expenses here are often comparable to other nearby countries, so there shouldn’t be that much difference.

I think, as members of the ELT profession, we need to critically examine the role of conferences and actually look at who they are benefiting. You seem to see a lot of the same names and faces and conferences and, to me, that‘s more an indication of who has the ability to go rather than who has the desire to go.

What do you think? Could conferences be cheaper? If so, how? What could be done to allow more teachers to be able to attend? Would lower prices even mean more teachers would attend or do the ones that really want to go make it happen? How many people pass on conferences because of expenses? Also – from the other side – isn’t it better to at least have conferences than have nothing? What would be the alternatives?

Tags: Conferences, Exclusion, Expense, Price

Conferences, Critical Pedagogy | turklis1 | June 6, 2010 6:20 pm

11 Comments

By Karenne Sylvester, June 6, 2010 @ 6:43 pm

Hey ya, nice questions…

I’m going to put another spanner in the works because I know that no one else will be brave enough to ask this…let alone answer it, but maybe possibly…well, one hopes, they might also be thinking it but they don’t want to say anything… if everything… everything goes online (and trust me I have enjoyed my fair share of free webinars)… but um, um, someone needs to get paid somewhere along the line, don’t they?

As a freelance teacher-trainer I’ve been fortunate to be paid here for my knowledge… knowledge which in my opinion I paid for in fact by buying books and studying them, by going to conferences myself, knowledge which I took the time to earn so… hm.. if everything goes online for free then how will people like me earn enough to keep on learning?

Just a thought.

I also have a hard time attending conferences (but have’t resorted to sleeping in a tent just yet) but I have to budget and make major decisions about which ones will be the best… and that’s for me to go be a presenter… it really does seem a wee bit skew-wiff Nick or maybe I’m just a money grubber.

Hope not.

Karenne
By Henrick Oprea, June 6, 2010 @ 6:49 pm

Hi Nick,

Interesting questions to ponder as Im currently trying to decide whether or not to attend some conferences in Brazil in July. I love the atmosphere of conferences and I’m all in favour of them. However, sometimes the price is a hindrance. I honestly want to believe that no money is made out of conferences, but your questions, if answered, might help us out. In a country like Brazil where a new corruption scandal is revealed in the media, one can only hope that this is not the case in his own field. Most of the conferences here seem to be very well run and managed, but they’re still quite pricey. For instance, for the Braz-TESOL conference (http://www.braztesol.org.br/convencao/) taking place in July, the fee ranges from US$ 150,00 to US$ 200,00. Add to that the travel expenses with accommodation (4 days) and food and you’ll understand why I’m still not sure I’ll be able to attend it.
The other conference I thought of attending (http://www.abci2010.com.br/) is also quite expensive – US$ 232,00 for the 3 days, but lunch is also included.
Well, the thing is I look at conferences as money well-spent. Even though I think they’re rather expensive, I like to think they’re not overpriced. Still, that doesn’t mean most who live on a teacher’s salary can afford to go.

Cheers!
By turklis1, June 6, 2010 @ 7:04 pm

Hi Karenne, what does skew-wiff mean?

I think conferences offer much more than simply the presentations. I personally feel that the people that can afford to go, would, regardless of if they were online or not. Did IATEFL have lower attendance this year because they recorded and archived a number of the presentations? I’m doubting it. For this reason, I don’t think anyone has to worry about not getting paid. Personally, for workshops, I’d still prefer to be there. Presentations and plenaries are another story of course.

Also, paid access to archives and feeds is also an option. You can charge a high price to all those that can attend, or a low price to (hopefully) hundreds more who can’t.

In general, I think conferences offer a certain appeal for a variety of reasons and I think they will continue. I think the focus of my questions in this regard would be: Do they have to be so expensive? and Are there cheaper alternatives that could not necessarily replace, but form a supplement to them?
By turklis1, June 6, 2010 @ 7:09 pm

Hi Henrick, always good to see you back. Those are some hefty price tags! It really is serious money. It just seems odd to me that I can pay 0-15 Euro in Turkey, but other countries have much much higher prices. It begs the question why I guess. Hopefully someone with more in-depth experience will jump in and give us some answers

On another note, what does a corrupt ELT teacher look like? lol. I can’t imagine someone thinking, “Hmm, how can I scam a bunch of people out of money? I know, ELT conferences!” I’m sure it’s not out of the question, but it strikes me as funny.
By Leslie Burns, June 7, 2010 @ 6:27 am

Heya, Nick

REALLY interesting post and I, too, am dead curious to hear the input of folks who know more about this kind of thing than I do.

@Karenne money-grubber I TOTALLY agree! I’ve posted before in numerous places (and discussed it with those who read my newsletter) regarding what I consider to be the utterly absurd notion that everything educational — especially online — should be free. This crap about “Information wants to be free”… uh, yeah, gimme a break!

Beyond our days of compulsory public education (and, in some rare cases, federally-funded tertiary education), just about anything we decide to do to better ourselves in some way — and where we ask for expert guidance to help reduce the learning-curve — is going to cost us some dosh.

Is it reasonable to expect those who’ve gone before us, investing years of time, money, and skull-sweat to get to the top of their game to then simply turn around and pass on their expertise for free?

Piffle.

They MIGHT do that (And if so, more power to them; they obviously have some other way of paying their bills and/or enjoy working an extra 50 hours a week).

But EXPECTING them to do so is quite a different matter.

————–

Now, Nick, I’m certainly NOT suggesting that you’re taking that position and I don’t wish to hijack the main thrust of your post. I just wanted to say that I wholeheartedly agree with Karenne. (Good on you for having the cojones to mention it!) So… back to how it pertains to the conference-circus circuit…

I must confess to knowing next to nothing about EFL conferences (being based in Australia, there’s hardly the smorgasboard available to those of you in or within easy reach of Europe), but here’s my take on it all, for what it’s worth. Maybe I’m way off base; y’all know more about conferences than me. Nevertheless, my thoughts…

————-

Like anything else (like it or not), there are clearly economic imperatives which determine whether (a) a conference is organised, and (b) whether it is deemed enough of a success to run it again the following year. The “trick” (and possibly the answer to your question, Nick) most likely lies in who’s paying for it.

Is the conference an independently-funded venture organised by either a group of individuals (i.e. not a professional organization)? Or, is it organised by some industry body (IATEFL, for example)? Or, is it organised by publishers?

There may be more possibilities. There may also be combinations of the above.

The three offered, however, are all I can come up with (notwithstanding combinations such as “organised by IATEFL with sponsorship backing by [publishing house]) and offer an increasing scale of fees for attendees.

The economics of this seem simple enough:

1. Independently organised and administered conference/workshop/etc

There’s nothing for sale at the conference. There’s no corporate sponsorship. There’s no “pot’o’cash” from the organisation’s coffers to subsidise attendance fees. Therefore, all costs must be borne entirely by participants.

Result: Most expensive.

(Incidentally, I’m not suggesting “corporate sponsorship” is bad in any way.)

2. Conference organised by industry-body

Firstly, you can bet your bollocks that these kind of conferences will — most definitely — have corporate sponsorship. They may be able to subsidise the cost of tickets for individuals to some degree based on money they have “in the pot” (from membership dues and subscriptions to journals, etc.), but if they have any clout or “rep” within the profession (as, say, IATEFL does), then they’re in a MUCH better position to approach (or even be approached by) publishers willing to pay a hefty stipend to sponsor the event, thereby reducing costs to the organisers even further – which they may or may not then choose to pass on to participants (and/or beef up fees for presenters with).

Also, publishers are unlikely to just send a big ol’ banner to hang behind speakers with the company name and logo emblazoned on it. They’re also going to send at least a couple of reps to showcase their latest coursebooks, teacher-training books, “from the back of the room” etc. They may even make a bunch of sales and/or take advance-copy orders, etc. on the spot.

And ain’t nuttin wrong with that. This is a standard commercial joint venture arrangement where all parties (ideally) benefit. In this example, the conference organisers benefit because they can market the course more widely, attract more and/or better quality speakers (because they can offer higher fees), afford a better venue, pass the cost onto attendees in the form lower entry fees, etc.

The publishers benefit because they get another opportunity at reinforcing brand-awareness, they get to showcase their wares and soft-sell many of their most perfectly-targetted prospects (such as Directors of Studies, Head Teachers, and Training Managers).

The attendees are happy because there are better plenaries, fees are lower, the venue is more accessible (possibly) and nicer (possibly), lunch might be included, and, in addition to rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of TEFL (big, big drawcard right there!), they get to feel like they’re on the cutting edge of what’s new in the industry: which courses are coming out soon, what the big names in TEFL are writing about these days, and so on.

3. Organised entirely by publishers — whether that’s immediately obvious and transparent or not

Obviously, the purpose of this kind of conference is primarily to SELL, both in a literal sense and in a “mind-share/brand-equity” sense. It needn’t be a hard-sell kind of set-up. But you can be pretty sure that there’ll be plenty of “opportunities to talk to the good folks from” [insert publisher(s) here].

This kind of conference may or may not be dodgy. The speakers might be reputable folks offering genuinely useful information (and why wouldn’t they be; the publishers can certainly afford to pay big bucks for the [insert TEFL big names here] because it’s highly likely that such events will lead to a couple of dozen schools (at worst) picking up at least one of their coursebooks as their “core text,” meaning hundreds (possibly thousands!) of students will be “forced” to buy that coursebook for X amount of time into the future.

Alternatively, it could all be a thinly-veiled sales pitch and rah-rah-a-thon for that publishing house.

This type of conference (more often “Workshop” than full out conference, no?) has all the benefits of Type #2, which is why I guess people don’t complain too much. They get in for even less money, they get to shake hands with [insert whichever TEFL guru you have a crush on], they get to network with their peers, etc.

I like your point, Nick, about the conference fees probably being out the reach of most teachers because “the average teacher doesn’t actually attend.” This could well be true and comes down (once again) to the economic imperatives behind the conference actually becoming a reality (i.e. being held) or not. If a conference is of the #2 or #3 type (as outlined, above), then — as terrible as this sounds! — the organizers (probably) DON’T WANT “the average teacher” making up the bulk of attendees because “the average teacher” HAS NO BUYING POWER within an educational institution. “The average teacher” is NOT their target market.

In this respect, then, I think it might be a bit Bolshy to say that conferences are “a tool of the elite”; I don’t think there’s any class-based conspiracy going on. I think it’s just as I’ve laid it out: Depends on where the money comes from.

I remember attending a course years ago about running a freelance business. The students were mostly arty types who seemed horribly averse to money and, strangely for folks wanting to go into business for themselves, almost averse to the idea of making money! (That’s a weird discussion for another time! LOL! But pertinent to EFL in many ways, I think.)

Anyway, during one of the lessons, a few people were confused about assigning copyright to a contracting party. After going around in circles for a little bit, the tutor finally said “Think about it this way… generally, whoever pays for the work owns the copyright.”

So who’s paying for the conference?

And what are their economic goals? It might simply be to break even and put on a killer event for the benefit of chalkface practitioners who are willing to put up a reasonable chunk of change for their own professional development. It might be to put on a great event and contribute to the profession even if it means making a small loss that can be absorbed by institutional funds, if necessary. Or it might be to move more product.

Note: That last situation doesn’t necessarily connote that the organisers couldn’t give a toss about the content of the talks and workshops, what goes on at the conference, or the profession.

Indeed, if one wanted to be either really cynical or really pragmatic/realistic, it might be suggested that it’s ESPECIALLY in the interests of organisers for “Type 3” conferences (i.e publishers) and those involved in many of the “hybrid” Type #2 conferences to put on good events which add real value to the profession because doing so thereby builds greater brand-equity in the marketplace and further bonds people to them as an institution that cares and “gives back” to the community. “Type 3” conferences are absolutely A-grade, primo marketing opps because people are actually PAYING to attend what are essentially trade shows.

Anyway, that’s my take, for what it’s worth.

All the best, as always,
Leslie
By turklis1, June 7, 2010 @ 9:55 am

Wow Leslie, thanks for the extended comment. I’ve got class in 5 minutes, but I’ll quickly respond. Just to clarify, no I’m not suggesting conferences be free. I’m more interested in the questions and wonder if they could be cheaper at times or if there are ways to make them more available to the average teacher.

I was really intrigued by the comment about conferences not being for the average teacher. I never thought about it before. Definitely a possibility with the types of conference organizations you are suggesting.

I gotta run. Thanks again and I’ll get back later.
By Paul Maglione, June 7, 2010 @ 2:51 pm

The one reaction I often have at TESOL / IATEFL conferences, both international and national, is to notice the huge skew towards private education, private language institutes, and private universites in delegate attendance. The presentations, ideas, and resources given at these conferences are often great; and represent some of the most advanced thinking on a whole range of educational topics, but the cateogry of teacher who might most need them or benefit from them is often poorly represented or entirely absent. The one exception that I found is TESOL Italy, where bus-loads of public sector EFL teachers are invited to the conference and add a great deal to the representativity of the delegates as well as the general ambiance. We should encourage more forms of subsidized conference participation by teachers in the public sector, otherwise we might be helping our businesses but we are doing little to impact the vast majority of EFL learners.
By Lindsay Clandfield, June 7, 2010 @ 4:48 pm

Hi there

As someone who goes to quite a few conferences I’m actually in the dark about how much they cost. IATEFL is the only one I’ve been to which requires the speaker to pay the same fee as the attendee which does strike me as a bit mean.

I think Leslie and Karenne made some good points about all this, and it often comes back to the publishers. The price tag of the conference could come down if the publishers kick in more but they will want more in return. Sometimes they can do this nicely and sometimes they screw it up and it gets too commercial. But I get the feeling that sometimes people want to have the cake and eat it from the publishers, e.g. sponsor the conference, pay extra for this, that, help us bring the costs down but don’t you dare get too commercial because teachers don’t like that. One person once bragged to me about how they set up a conference “to see how much they could fleece the publishers”, then asked me to come to the next year’s conference but warned me darkly not to mention my books.
Another way could be to get a wealthy patron. Good luck to any conference who can do that. That’s more an American thing.
But really I don’t know. One day I would like to organise a conference and see how much it costs. If I do, I’ll share the information with you.
Finally I guess cost is relative, bringing back the point of elites and so on. 200 bucks feels a lot for a conference, but 50 euros (which I paid for a conference in Spain once) felt okay. That would feel a lot to someone, say, from Romania.
By Lindsay Clandfield, June 7, 2010 @ 4:50 pm

Sorry, let me clarify: when I said I was in the dark on how much conferences cost I did not mean to the attendee but how much they cost to put on and run and how much of that money comes from attendence fees and how much from other sources (e.g. publisher’s stands etc).
By Henrick Oprea, June 8, 2010 @ 6:59 am

OK, we keep going back to the publishers and all that. Id just add one thought: if conferences didn’t cost about R$ 400,00 (about U$180,00), I would probably end up spending a lot more on books. Who knows, I might even end up spending more than the R$ 400,00… However, if I’ve already spent all that money on the attendance fee, I’m likely to leave without buying anything. The exhibition area becomes only that – exhibition and no sales, at least for me.
This is true when there are free workshops sponsored by publishing houses. I usually see many teachers buying at least two books.
Now onto the math… anyone??
By turklis1, June 8, 2010 @ 12:31 pm

Paul – Yes, I think that is a very good point. I can’t recall anyone I’ve met recently at a conference coming from a public school. I think that really goes back to money, ability to get time off, and possibly even job environment and security. In public schools there often seems to be little oversight on teachers and chances of being let go are small, so there may not be reason to improve? Course, that certainly hasn’t been the case in the US lately.

Lindsay & Henrick – I also think sometimes the publishers get a bad rap. It’s not like they have tohelp pay for the conference. Like Lindsay said, sometimes they do better than other times. A rep I talked to not long ago said that they actually never make money off of conferences by selling books. In fact, they rarely sell more than a handful per conference. He said the point is more name recognition and to get some free copies in the hands of teachers. Hopefully, teachers will then become familiar with it, perhaps experiment with it in class, and then when a call goes out for new books, it gets recommended to the administration. The real money is in big schools that see a couple hundred students go through the program each year at every level. That’s big money and to get your book chosen by a school is the real goal.

Also, what conferences are you going to Lindsay? Every conference I’ve been to has had speakers pay the same as attendees. I need to move to your region