From: Robert Jacobson Subject: INDUSTRY: Let's put a stop to Conference Mania! Date: Thu, 10 Jun 93 09:34:05 -0700 HYPERCONFERENCING AND VIRTUAL WORLDS: THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD! It goes almost without saying that there are too many conferences covering much the same territory in the field of "virtual reality." There are the Meckler conferences, the DPMA conferences, the SIG Virtual Systems conferences, the medical conferences, the technical conferences, the conferences in the humanities, the international conferences, and now finally the conferences about conferences. The ultimate folly may occur at the end of this year, when Meckler holds its VR and Finance conference in NYC the last week of November, there are two "European international" conferences the very next week in December (London and Vienna), and then Meckler VR 94 International takes place the next month in London. Who can attend so many confer- ences, not only paying the usually steep entrance fees but also impossible travel and hotel accommodations to boot? Mind you, speakers are most often asked to appear for little or no fees (one may get hotel accommodations if lucky), so the incentive to do these things is coming entirely from organizers. Conference organizers, stop! We are encountering a period in which each and everything in the virtual world is accorded significance, at least enough to become a topic at a conference. At the same time, if one looks closely, the different topics are not so different after all. The net result is that one feels compelled to attend many, many conferences -- but if one does so, the inevitable conclusion is that, while the field is maturing, there is too much smoke and noise for so little actual heat. Our good accomplishments start to look like so many summer TV reruns, old news that's been heard before. And those who attend figure they've pumped their thousands into conferences, so now they are exempt from putting millions into the actual technology. There can be no doubt that conference organizing has become the single most profitable aspect of the virtual world. The tie-in's of so many journals in our field, either directly or via their publishers' personal activity, means that we don't get an honest reading, either, on just how overdriven the VR conference business has become. What can be done about this situation? The logic of capitalism suggests that conferencismo will die of its own weight as it becomes increasingly more difficult to turn a net. Speakers will start getting smart and demanding reasonable fees, but even before that audiences may get smarter and start picking and choosing conferences with greater alacrity. Before that, however, real damage can be done to our field. We need to show value for our work, not merely the ability to titillate audiences. Otherwise, our reputation will be damaged, as a community, as surely as if P.T. Barnum himself was under the Virtual Big Top. (Is this why the metaphor of the Dome is so popular as a VR venue?) One antidote to hyperconferencing is the special interest groups, the SIGs, who do their good work without expecting to get rich at it. Another positive force is the dispersion of virtual worlds technology into other fields, so that it no longer is essential to go to a "VR conference" to find out about our technology's capabilities in real- world situations. Finally, however, it will come down to some sensical organizing of our field, from sources yet unknown, regarding how we put forth our mission and goals. The conferences, more than anything, represent the fantasies of their organizers. Sometimes these are inspired and edifying; only infrequently are they crass and ill-conceived. But they are other people's visions, not those of the individuals and groups who are actually making virtual worlds happen. It's time to retard the growth of conferencing, or at least give it more intelli- gence, and in the process find more energy for doing the actual work that will gain our field legitimacy and strength. Bob Jacobson