Disc: Overturning Norms in ESL Conferences (excitELT)

As a whole, conferences can be a great means of learning new teaching techniques and networking with other professionals in the ELT field and beyond. However, Shoko Kita of Rikkyo University and the other ExcitELT presenters rightly point out that there are problems with the ELT industry and how conferences are handled.

Some of the problems they discussed were:

• Transparency in choosing speakers/presenters

• Lack of diversity of speakers

• Hearing from a wider range of people in the industry

• Affordability

• Outreach to interested groups

• Issues with time between sessions/timing of sessions

• Price of travel/attendance/presenting at leading conferences

Since the conference was moved online, we were placed into Zoom groups to discuss the issues I listed above. Some of the ideas we came up with are:

• Follow-up feedback from organizers to new presenters

• Theme-free sessions so others with different interests/papers can participate

• Making conferences more affordable

• Making videos of presentation available for participants who cannot attend

• Online networking ideas for attendees who cannot attend in person with presenters and in-person attendees.

• Increasing time of break sessions to allow for more networking chances

• Locating experience or available women speakers- someone brought up an active database of women ELT speakers: Gender Equality ELT ~ Examining the gender balance in ELT

Some issues that are thornier to work out involve how the conferences are planned. One of the draws of a conference is location, location, location. It was pointed out in the main session that it is easier to attract more ELT professionals to a conference in Paris than in Bydgoszcz Poland. On a side note, I would be very interested in attending a conference in Bydgoszcz Poland. It has a creepy, clearly haunted WWII era German weapons factory. What does Paris have? Bad traffic, some rusty old TV tower, and a Disneyland. PFFTT! I know where I'd rather spend my post-conference time!

Another thorny issue involves the lack of transparency in how conferences choose their speakers. As one of the ExcitELT organizers stated, they sought the speakers whom they knew had spoken at conferences before. They sought out speakers with experience since they were least likely to bail or botch a presentation. They however noted that this leads conference organizers to self-select for older white men, leaving out others from sharing their ideas.

As one of the participants pointed out, it is certainly easy to choose diversity, it should be clear to those chosen that their papers and presentations meet the standard for the conference. Otherwise they will feel like the 'token hire', placed on the conference to 'check some boxes' and make the conference organizer look good while relegating the 'token hire' to a difficult time slot where their presentations won't be seen by as many attendees.

To solve this issue, conference organizers were asked to be more transparent in how they choose their presenters as well as to be accommodating to the varied needs of presenters, especially those with children to care for while the online conference is ongoing.

It made me consider the concept of a mixed online-offline conference, which integrates aspects of both so presenters can attend based on their availability, learn from the presenters in-person or online, and use forums/chatting apps like Discord to provide feedback and cross-platform networking opportunity.

Since I am not a conference organizer at this point in time, my ability to shape the ELT conference field is limited. Perhaps, one lone voice is not enough to sway the gatekeepers of the field. But, many voices can. What those voices should speak for will remain a controversial topic in ELT for the foreseeable future.