In January 2013 I started a research project called: ‘The Relevance of Social Media when Generating International Engagement for Conferences’. The core aim of this research is to determine the influence that social media engagement by conference convenors might have on a total conference experience of delegates. Additionally how social media can add value to the different needs and wants of conference delegates and this way increase all delegates’ conference value. This research project will be conducted for the International Federation for IT and Travel & Tourism (IFITT); hence Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis and Dr. Alessandro Inversini will supervise this research project.
Up until now, great research has been conducted on social media, as well as on its effects towards users. However little academic research on social media can be found related to conferences in specific. Therefore this research project, focused on conferences, will be a valuable contribution to the research industry. In order to establish grounded results for the research, the main focus will be on conferences in general. Consequently qualitative and quantitative research will be conducted in different environments in order to generate knowledge from diverse perspectives. Nonetheless the research project will include a case study on the social media engagement of IFITT and the possible influence this has on the conference value of ENTER 2013 Conference delegates.
It is of great importance to the research to generate an overall understanding of the relevance of social media for conferences. Hence a survey on social media and conference value has been constructed. We would be grateful if you could complete the survey according to your experience. Please click here to open the online survey.
This project is aimed to be finished by the end of May. Would you be interested in a copy of the results, please send a request to press@ifitt.org.
