Meaning of Conference (What is, Concept and Definition)

What is Conference:

A conference is a meeting of people in which a specific topic is addressed, whether of social, religious, political, corporate, academic or other interest.directed by one or several people with a high degree of expertise or knowledge in the subject to be debated.

The word conference has its origin in the medieval Latin conferentia (meeting, confrontation, debate).Although it is usually associated with discussions on public affairs or with a large number of participants, it really has to do with exposing a topic to more than two people.

An institution is also called a conference which brings together high-level representatives in various spheres of public life, such as the Episcopal Conference, which brings together the bishops of the Catholic Church; The Hague Peace Conference, etc.

Types of conferences

There are different types of conferences depending on the topics to be discussed, the participation (or not) of the public attending and of the use of bidirectional technical resources.Next, we explain each one.

Keynote conference

It is carried out for academic purposes and the objective is for the speaker (ideally with a high degree of specialization) provide a dissertation on a topic that has already been previously studied by attendees.

As a general rule, the specialist is the only one who has the right to speak and, at the end, attendees can ask questions.They are common exhibitions in universities and in educational spaces.Classes with guest professors can be a good example of a lecture.

Dialogue conference

Dialogue conference involves an exchange of ideas between the speaker and attendees throughout the exhibition.

A Common example is a class in which the teacher will speak on a topic, but ask for the participation of students to enrich the debate.

Scientific conference

It is a public meeting or private between specialists of a particular scientific branch, in order to generate, analyze and exchange data of interest for dissemination purposes.A medical conference of professional updating illustrates this type of meeting.

International conference

These are meetings between representatives of international organizations in order to present issues and problems of common interest and seek solutions by consensus.

The international conference of the Red Cross, for example, meets annually to their representatives and government authorities around the world to discuss humanitarian issues.

Press conference

It is a meeting for informational purposes in which the media is convened to the diffusion of exposed points.It is a resource commonly used by personalities and authorities who want or must report on their performance or that of the agency they represent.

A very daily example is the press conferences held by the teams of football after each match.

Videoconference

It is a conference held by two-way means: telephone, video or video call.A working meeting by Skype can be considered a videoconference.