After my post about a $0 conference for admissions folks, Gettysburg College’s Portal 2007 Conference looks like another option for higher ed professionals – working in web and IT departments, this time – interested in attending an affordable conference to learn a couple of things and network with their peers.
The conference will take place from June 5 to June 8 at Gettysburg College. You can still register online for only $100 (the initial early-bird price that includes the conference fees as well as all meals). Gettysburg College even offers affordable housing options in their residence hall for $45 a night.
Last week, I contacted Mark Albert, Web Programmer/Analyst at Gettysburg College and the driving force behind this event, to ask him a couple of questions.
Who should attend the Portal 2007 Conference at Gettysburg College?
This conference is of interest to anyone with an interest in portals in higher education, from CIO to portal/web programmers and developers in the IT world, to the stakeholders in the administrative and academic areas of institutions.
I understand many vendors will be at the conference. Can you tell me what makes this event more than a trade show?
What makes this conference more than a trade show (actually not a trade show) is that corporate sponsorship was solicited in an effort to keep the registration and operating costs to a minimum and to provide an opportunity for institutions to talk to and get information or answers from the portal providers. While there will be no corporate presentations within the program, the vendors will have visibility and availability to talk and answer questions about their product. The vendor coffeehouse is a low-key affair designed to provide a more casual and relaxed setting for vendors and clients/potential clients to interact without the competitive sales kits like the vendor exhibits are educause. Additionally, the vendors can have a presence at the event they sponsor, but again in a low-key setting.
While we encouraged vendors to get their best practices institutions to submit proposals for presentations, the lead presenters must be members of the institution, not the vendor. Also, the program committee selected the presentations for the program based on value to the attendees and match to the conference theme of portals in higher education – not based on the sponsorship of vendors.
Even the vendor round tables on Friday morning are designed to give the attendees the opportunities to press the vendors for information and statuses on the product instead of providing a sales pitch opportunity for the vendors.
