Read the quotation and discuss it in small groups. Use the compiled mind map.

A conference is a gathering of important people who singly can do nothing, but together decide that nothing can be done. (Fred Allen, US comedian)

Do you agree with it? How would you define a conference?

3. Discuss the following ideas and questions in small groups and choose a spokesperson to deliver your ideas:

- How many of you have attended a conference?

- Where was the conference?

- Did you enjoy the conference? Why? Why not?

- Share your experience about attending conferences with your group-mates. Speak about their drawbacks and advantages.

READING COMPREHENTION

Here are some general pieces of advice from people who frequently attend conferences. A lot of them sound very controversial. Read them with your partner paying attention to the collocations in bold type, figure out their meaning from the context.

- Spend all your time reading the conference proceedings. When else can you expect to find time to do it?

- Never skip a talk that is outside your area of interest. After all, what else would you do with the time? Waste it chit-chatting with others in the hall?

- Hang out only with people from your institutions. These are your friends and, after all, a conference is just a holiday. Who wants to meet new collaborators anyway?

- If you do talk to others, spend all your time bragging about your work. Don’t stick to the facts and let them judge. Draw conclusions for them, so that they will be impressed.

- Never try to draw others out about their work or experiences. This could confuse you with new information!

- Always wait for people to walk up to you. All will naturally be drawn to you, particularly if you stand against a wall.

- Ask many public questions at the end of talks. If each of 250 people asked one question at the end of one of 25 talks, that would make 10 questions per talk. Make sure that you get way more than your fair shearer, so people remember you fondly.

- Never consider another person’s feelings except when targeting questions to embarrass them. A great question for this is: “This work adds nothing to the work I did three years ago”. The speaker will become a friend for life and people will remember you fondly as a zealous truth seeker.

- Make your questions long and rambling. After all, everyone has paid their conference registration fees, so give them their money’s worth.

- Ask multiple questions and follow up with several additional questions. People will be impressed with your attention to detail and perseverance to learn the truth.

- Ask questions that make the speaker defend their work as soon as they put up their outline slide. Everyone in the audience already understands their work and will appreciate you getting straight to the point.

Discuss the tips saying whether you agree with the suggested items or not. Give good grounds to support your point of view.

Make up a list of recommendations of your own using the active vocabulary of the text.

COMMUNICATION PRACTICE

1. Do you know that there is a variety of events such as conferences, roundtables, workshops, lectures, etc. You might find it useful to familiarize yourself with the events:

Type	Definition	Examples
Conference	The most general term to indicate a meeting for discussion - most commonly adopted by associations and organizations for their regular meetings. It is usually associated with the most traditional type of presentation, that is, papers followed by questions.	Annual Conference of the Society for French Studies Biennial Conference of the Society for Italian Studies
Symposium	Nowadays, this describes a meeting to discuss a particular subject, but its original meaning defines it as a drinking party devoted to conversation and following a banquet. A symposium thus has a slightly more informal character than a conference.	Primer Simposio De Lingüîstica Hispànica - Reino Unido
Seminar	The first meaning of this term refers to a group of students studying under a professor with each doing research and all exchanging results through reports and discussions. Its second definition: 'debating special issues' preserves the conversational character of the term 'seminar'.	Italian as a foreign language Perdita Project Seminar
Colloquium	This term indicates both a traditional conference and a conversational seminar. Colloquia tend to privilege the aspect of debate.	The Sociology of Language and Religion
Workshop	Taken from the language of manufacturing, the term workshop indicates a brief intensive educational program for a small group of people that focuses on techniques and skills in a particular field. In academia, it is adopted to describe meetings reserved for small groups of specialists who come together for concerted activities or discussion.	Translation and Theories: East and West
Roundtable	The roundness of the table clearly symbolizes the equality of all particpants. Each of them will have the same right to take the floor. Roundtables commonly bring together academics who usually are invited as key-note speakers. Discussion nevertheless plays the leading role in this kind of meeting.	The Syntax of Tense and Aspect Third International Round-Table on Urban Environmental History of the 19th and 20th Century

http://port.igrs.sas.ac.uk/conferencetypes.htm)

2. PAIR & SHARE. Read the text and identify the features of each event. Fill in the table below. See the example. Work in pairs.

Type	Basic features of the event
Conference	- The most general term for discussion and regular meetings  - be associated with the most traditional type of presentation -  papers followed by questions