2023 - November and December - page 9
Image details
| Issue number | 395 |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 2632-7171 |
| Publication date | 1st November 2023 |
| Transcription |
ARA News magazine Where next for ARA’s Conference? “Where next for ARA’s Conference?” – the literal answer is Birmingham in 2024. However, the conference committee has been putting a lot of thought into the future of the conference, its format and delivery method. A survey was circulated earlier in the year and this has helped inform some of the decisions made. Feedback from our most recent conference and previous conferences has also been taken into account. Like many organisations, considerations around Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Environmental Sustainability and economic viability inform almost every business decision and are central to our strategic plan. They are also considerations that must be taken into account in planning our conference strategy for the next few years. Reassuringly they were also highlighted in feedback from the current conference and in the survey results. Taking this into account our 2024 conference will be in-person in Birmingham but with a greater selection of content provided online. For 2025 a full business evaluation of the potential of a hybrid event will be undertaken, supported by companies now operating in this market, and options presented for consideration in early 2024 by the ARA Board so that a decision can be made about the 2025 conference based on cost and viability. For the conference review survey we received 150 responses and a good level of meaningful textual comment about the conference and the questions we asked. Some responses indicated satisfaction with the status quo, some responses provided a split of opinion and some questions elicited a response indicating that change was clearly desired. Based on a strong preference amongst respondents (77%) for a mixture of both openly submitted and curated content to feature in the conference, the conference committee will adopt a mixed content model going forward to produce the content for the conference. A key consideration to make the conference as accessible as possible is whether to have it online, in a hybrid format or to keep it as an in-person event. Whilst 41 per cent favoured an in-person event with selected content online, 57 per cent favoured a fully hybrid conference. There was a clear majority in favour of retaining the current conference duration of 3 days (68%) and for the current timeslot (51%). with Jan-March (18%), April- July (20%) and September-October (25%) scoring at similar levels. Therefore, we will continue with a 3-day conference at the end of August for the time being. We want the conference to be accessible to as many people as possible, whether delegates or speakers. The question of whether we should pay fees for speakers and volunteers has been debated often. Although there was strong support (73%) for retaining the current model of delivery, no doubt based on an awareness of Registration desk at Belfast 2023 conference © Lost Lens Caps Photography 9 |