Vol 1: Oct 2004
Next Week’s Lecture
Since I returned from the spring conference in Chicago, to my week of Spring Break—I have a week to catch up, rewind, organize and gear up for classes again. However, many of us in Chicago, had to return to classes first thing on Monday, and more than once during a session I heard a comment something like, “I need a lecture for Monday,” or “Thanks for giving my lecture for next week.” While there are numerous reasons for attending professional meetings and conferences: professional development, sharing research, gaining insight, catching up with old friends, and re-energizing, there might just be another that we don’t always realize. After hearing the above comments several times, I realized that I’ve been doing something like that for years. While I don’t actively look for a “lecture” for one of my next classes, I continually pick of “tidbits” of information, data, research, or cross-cultural insights, that I take back with my in my “mental file cabinet.” Then, later in a class lecture/discussion, I recall something from a recent conference presentation that I share with my students. More importantly - I also tell my students where and how I came across the information.
As funding gets tighter, and travel budgets are cut, we all must find “value” for conference dollar. At my university, conference attendance and presentations have only limited value for professional development. I challenge that perspective, because I believe I get real “professional development value from a conference and the sessions presented there. I know that I won’t get more money for travel, nor do I believe that I should. In fact, we’re considering transferring financial support for travel to support research activity. So I may need to support my travel costs myself. This means I may be attending fewer conferences, or more importantly, being more selective about the conferences I do attend. I think that I’ll check out the next conference program with a slightly different intent. Not only will I look for sessions that I find relevant and interesting from my research perspective, or to help me in my teaching pedagogy.
I think that just maybe, I’ll seek out a session or two that will broaden my perspective, and perhaps on a topic I feel I’m not as well versed, as I should be. Since I have a rather eclectic teaching assignment, and teach several classes, I shouldn’t have to look very far. MMA conferences provide an excellent value, lots of insightful discussion, great camaraderie, and perhaps class discussion support
Dr. Michelle B. Kunz
Associate Professor of Marketing
Department of Management and Marketing
Morehead State University
Morehead, KY 40351
Marketing Insights is a publication of the Marketing Management Association