I've just returned home from a couple of days at the Kotesol Conference in Seoul this past weekend. As is usually the case, it was a mix of good and bad. Here are my thoughts:
The Good:
1. As always, the venue is fabulous. It's convenient transport-wise, has plenty of restaurant choices outside the main gate, and is big enough to not feel too crowded.
2. I enjoyed some of the presentations I went to and picked up a few practical things for the classroom. Even the not-so-helpful ones weren't horrendous, as was the case last year. The emphasis on "101" workshops seemed popular and I noticed on the schedule that there weren't that many presentations on purely researchy, non-applied stuff. This was my main complaint from last year.
3. It was nice to see some people from way back in my early days in Korea. Plus, I got to meet a member of the Seoul Podcast (did you know I was on the Podcast once?!) in person, where previously we'd only talked on the Podcast. I also met a few people who follow the blog, which is always nice. If you want to make contacts or see random people you haven't seen in years, this is the place to do it.
The Bad:
1. Pre-Registration always seems to be a nightmare on the website. It was perhaps different for me, since I was a presenter, but I got what seemed like 6 million emails from many different people about registration. It was quite unprofessional and in my experience from organizing similar things, having one contact person is a very good thing. Any attendees with reports about pre-registration on the website?
2. Presenters had to pay more in conference fees. This is totally ridiculous in my opinion. After all, without presenters, there is no conference. One of my friends decided not to do her presentation as a protest against this. I will be joining her next year if things stay the same.
And what did I get for my extra fees?
A. Being changed to a new classroom that wasn't even on the map. I was amazed that anyone even came. I would have just thought it was annoying and given up.
B. A 9:00 Sunday Morning presentation time. I'm not from Seoul so it forced me to stay overnight, adding to the expense of my weekend. Perhaps the Seoul-ites could be given these early-morning slots?
C. No "room monitor" until about 1/2 way through my presentation. A Tech-guy interrupting my presentation 2/3 of the way through to make sure I had no tech problems. It was purely sink or swim on my own for getting the computer and projector and powerpoint set up.
Anyway, I'm kind of neutral on the whole thing. In the future, I'll be sticking to the conferences where I don't pay more in fees, or get to go for free for presenting as a matter of principle.
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6 comments:
And unfortunately these are the complaints that are made year after year. The defense the organizers make is that it's run by volunteers, and I can respect taht . . . though if there are struggles with basic organization and scheduling (and web design), it seems like they may have bitten off more than they can chew.
I thought the pre-registration was very difficult. I am computer literate but I found it complicated and somewhat counter-intuitive.
The presenters having to pay more seems ludicrous. I am assuming the fact that the presentation slots are heavily oversubscribed that the organizers feel they can charge extra.
The tech guy and the photographer were disruptive in sessions I was in. At least everybody knew what the photographer was doing but the tech guy just hung around like he was an attendee deciding whether the session was worth participating in or not.
This was my first KOTESOL conference. I learnt a few things and I will go again next year. However, I would rather that Star Wars/Jedis etc. are not mentioned in opening speeches or at all for that matter. It seems to reinforce the stereotype that English teachers have to be geeks.
I thought the pre-registration was very difficult. I am computer literate but I found it complicated and somewhat counter-intuitive.
The presenters having to pay more seems ludicrous. I am assuming the fact that the presentation slots are heavily oversubscribed that the organizers feel they can charge extra.
The tech guy and the photographer were disruptive in sessions I was in. At least everybody knew what the photographer was doing but the tech guy just hung around like he was an attendee deciding whether the session was worth participating in or not.
This was my first KOTESOL conference. I learnt a few things and I will go again next year. However, I would rather that Star Wars/Jedis etc. are not mentioned in opening speeches or at all for that matter. It seems to reinforce the stereotype that English teachers have to be geeks.
Hey! As someone who has worked with the conference for the past 5-6 years, I can explain some of things. First, presenters having to pay more is complete crap, but it seems to be the standard, at least in Asia. Second, the website has been an issue for years. A pro has finally been brought in, but the bugs are still being worked out. It has been the cause of numerous lengthy fights at council meetings. Third, Sookdae can't handle our internet traffic being added to theirs for the conference, so there were "brown outs" on Saturday and the system shut down for a few hours Sunday morning. The worst thing, IMHO, was the room change. I planned to see your presentation, but couldn't find it. The rumor I heard was that Sookdae suddenly changed which rooms were available to us mid-conference, but that is just from one source. Each year, the conference committee tries to learn from previous mistakes...
I thought that there were some nice touches to the conference this year, (the Korean dancers, for example, and the pecha kucha) but I was very disappointed about the technical mismanagement of the conference, and especially the lack of support for presenters.
I have heard (and seen) horror story after horror story .....one woman who was presenting her research findings, turning up to the room for her presentation, only to be told that no computer was available- she had to read her research data line by line. The situation had not been remedied even by the time the next presentation started, so he was also forced to present without a computer. I was also amazed that a presenter in Gemma Hall (one of the larger lecture theaters) could go through 80% of his presentation on digital story telling with no audio...and what's worse, when he made it clear that there was a problem with the audio, the student 'helper' at the back of the room just sat there like a dummy for over 10 minutes until someone else had to ask her to go and get help. Even when help arrived, it was actually no help. Then there was the internet -'a few hours on Sunday' (in the post above) happened to be the few hours for which presentations were scheduled, i.e. pretty much all of the presentations on Sunday had no internet.
And then there was my own presentation- I had specifically requested a podium for my room, as there was nothing except a very low table to put my laptop on. I arrived to find nothing had been done about it, complained, and was given ....a cardboard box. For an internet-based presentation that I had spent 6 weeks preparing- no internet, and a cardboard box for a podium.
What makes this all the more disappointing is that one of the three themes of the conference was technology.
I find it hard to take KOTESOL seriously any more after this. If they are appealing for technology presentations, the least they could do is to invest some of the millions of won they receive in conference fees and revenues on ensuring that the presenters are given the right environment to present their material.
Personally I'd rather not have the dancers but have properly set up rooms.
It is very hard to know who is bottom line responsible for this. You know that so many people are kindly volunteering their time for the weekend, so you don't want to get angry with individuals, but the buck must stop with someone for this kind of incompetence.
Hi Jackie, I'm a fan of your blog and just wanted to say hello. Unfortunately, I wasn't up early enough to see your presentation at KOTESOL. I agree with your thoughts on the conference and that is ludicrous that you had to pay. Keep up the great blog!
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