Conference companies throw toys

Oh dear, the conference industry is upset at all these cancelled public sector conferences:

The conference industry has lashed out at the National Government for the cancellation of two conferences since the election, saying it should support the $1 billion industry and not be trying to destroy it.

This is a simplistic argument. Different conferences have varying value. In tight times, one sometimes has to say no to those conferences that were of marginal value.

The New Zealand Medical Association chairman Peter Foley said GPs had not found previous conferences “particularly useful”.

“It seemed a waste of valuable funds and professional time to have this conference proceed so close to the more focused seminar planned by the College of GPs.”

I attend many conferences myself. Some are very useful. Some are of marginal value, and you don’t reattend.

But the purpose of having a conference is not to support the conference industry. It is to provide value to those attending in excess of the cost of attending.