Generally, a conference means a meeting of people of similar interests in which experts or researchers share their knowledge, skills or findings with other participants. A conference is, therefore, an essential process of any professional to stay updated about a particular subject of interest. Similarly, a symposium is a conference in which a series of talks are delivered by experts about the same topic.

While knowledge sharing is one of the main purposes of a conference or symposium, there are a lot of other opportunities as a participant, presenter, organiser and sponsor. It is a massive gathering of like-minded people, and it is exactly where you build up a network for possible collaboration, business ideas and entrepreneurship. Even employers find a conference a golden opportunity to hunt for and recruit good candidates from among the participants.

As a presenter, it is a nice platform to acquaint yourself with the crowd and put your work more precisely. A good presenter should be more

engaging, and s/he should

help ignite a series of discussions. You always want to desperately share what you know or have discovered recently. That’s a great opportunity to let it out loud formally. Many a time, conferences are the first gateway of your research to the outer world.

The conference organising team can also utilise this occasion as an opportunity to know the circle of people who have gathered. Also, they can learn many things in event organising. From the apparent weaknesses during the event or from the participants’ feedback, they can improve on their work in future events. In the same way, sponsoring companies are always looking for an event that will help relay their advertisements to a specific target group more effectively. They can share about their products in front of the practitioners, who will act as ambassadors to take the products to the real consumers.

The professional development of any field requires updating of knowledge. So participation in conferences in the relevant field is required for the good standing of the practicing license in major fields like medicine, engineering, law, auditing and the like. On a yearly basis, certain standards of credit should be obtained to continue the validity of practice. This not only encourages the professional to stay updated with new advancements, but also enhances their output in the working environment.