A Bad Conference Experience
May 8, 2012 by Lillie
Attending writing conferences can be an excellent way for writers, both new and experienced, to learn new skills and improve their craft.
Recently a writer friend asked on Facebook if anyone had ever been to a bad or unprofessional conference, and, if so, what made it bad or unprofessional. I responded with an experience I had at a national conference I attended not long after I started to write.
The content of the conference was fabulous and very professionally presented. However, it was held in a luxury hotel in New York City, and the meeting rooms were on three floors connected by escalators. Unfortunately, at the time I was on a motorized scooter and at least four other attendees were in wheelchairs or scooters. Obviously we couldn’t use the escalators, but the two upper floors of the conference levels had no other means of access.
Workshops were held on all three floors with only a few minutes between each session. I wasn’t able to attend the specific workshops I wanted because I had no way to get to the right floor, so I had to pick workshops that were held on the one floor I could reach. I still learned an incredible amount, even if it wasn’t exactly what I had planned to learn.
At the end of the final conference day, I was so exhausted I could barely sit upright on the scooter. The elevators were so crowded I couldn’t get the scooter in. Although others had to wait a while, eventually everyone else got on the elevators, leaving me alone on the second floor.
I sat there for almost an hour before I finally got the attention of a hotel employee setting up for an event and told him I had to have help or I would collapse. He said he would send help but no one came. Finally I went back where he was working and asked for help again. He called security, and after what seemed like an eternity, a security guard finally arrived and led me through the kitchens to the service elevator and got me back to my room.
The registration form for the conference even asked about special needs, and I had plainly indicated that I required handicap access. So it wasn’t like someone shouldn’t have been prepared for those of us who couldn’t handle the escalator/elevator situation.
No matter how wonderful the workshops are, a conference isn’t very useful to attendees who have no access to the meeting rooms.
photo credit: dasu_
Sometimes it happens to me also, some traveling experiences are really regretful. Although I keep my visits well scheduled, but at those times you are just helpless.
Jeremy,
I guess we all bad experiences in traveling and in life in general. We just have to make the best of them and appreciate the good experiences more.
@Lillie you are the great learner.At this moment I can only pray for your better health. Please all keep yourself in motion.
Thank you, Azam. This happened many years ago, and I am mobile now and don’t use the wheelchair regularly any more. I only thought of this because a fellow writer asked a question on Facebook about bad conferences.
Lillie hi, it was bad to know that you got disturbed at the conference but I remember once you said that you always learn something new from your experiences whether good or bad,and I hope you learnt something now also. Wish you best of luck.
Ejaz,
Yes, I definitely learned from this experience. I actually learned a lot at the conference, even though it was always my first choice in subject matter. And I learned that I have to be assertive to get help when I need it, so the experience was definitely not wasted.
Hi Lillie.
Sorry to hear it was such an ordeal. Setting up a conference is hard work and hard to get right for everyone. It is bad that the hotel couldn’t have sent someone to take you in a service elevator, or controlled one elevator for a quick trip. Hopefully the organizers of the conference and the hotel learned from that experience – I hope you gave them some useful feedback.
I’m surprised you had to stay there so long by yourself, and that nobody helped you – I would have, if I was there.
Alan,
This happened shortly after ADA was passed, and no one was expecting handicapped people to be out in public. So they just weren’t equipped. Yes, I made my concerns known to both the conference organizers–and future conferences for that organization had excellent handicapped accommodations for the next several years that I attended–and to the hotel. The hotel offered me a complimentary stay there within the next year, but I had no opportunity to use it.
No one realized I was on that floor alone. When the last elevator stopped, all the waiting people crowded into the elevator, and I doubt anyone realized I was left behind. The conference banquet was scheduled that evening, and conference attendees were focused on getting back to their rooms and getting dressed in their finery for the gala event. There was no one on the floor until I saw the worker setting up a bar for a later function. So it wasn’t that people weren’t willing to help–they just didn’t know I needed help. In fact, my friend and roommate was trying to figure out where I was. If she had any idea I was left alone on that floor, she would have come for me and got as much help as needed. But she had no idea where I was–she called other friends to see if anyone knew where I was, and no one had any idea.
I have yet to attend a writing conference. If I do in the future, I hope that I could be able to completely participate in every aspect of the conference. This is a good reminder to those people who are organizing conferences, that they need to consider the accessibility of meeting rooms for all participants.
Jane,
As I mentioned in the comment above, this happened shortly after the American with Disabilities law was passed. Until that time, handicapped people generally didn’t participate in activities like this, so in those early days, the facilities just weren’t prepared. Things are much improved now.
Tomorrow I’m leaving for a big conference in Moscow and with at least 800 people attending I’m sure there will be some mishaps, but hopefully at the end it will all be a awesome experience.
Ciprian,
I hope you have a wonderful conference experience.
I’m sorry you had this bad experience at a conference, Lillie. But it is good to know that later conferences were more accessible to you and that the hotel made some changes. I have been to only one conference, and I had a sister with me who knew how to sign. These days, though, if I want to attend a conference or workshop, I’d have to take along someone who knows ASL and can sign to me or would be willing to take notes for me. But that is not always possible so I always miss out. So in addition to making conferences, etc., accessible to the mobility-impaired, it would be nice if they also provided ASL interpreters for the deaf and hearing-impaired.
An excellent point, Dawn. There was a blind lady at this same conference using a guide dog, but I don’t recall seeing deaf or hearing-impaired participants at any conference I’ve attended—probably because there was no accommodation.
What a terrible experience, Lillie! Even fully mobile, I have often cringed at attending conferences that send people all over the place for seminars with just minutes to spare. In your position I would have been frustrated and all the more so by the lack of concern shown by the conference organizers.
Matt,
I think the conference organizers were overwhelmed—I wasn’t the only person having problems. The hotel had elevator problems as well as bad decisions in when the elevators stopped on certain floors. During check-in time, the elevators routinely bypassed the conference floors so people checking in could get to their rooms faster. A big problem all the way around.
That was quite a bad experience. Organizers of conferences would just have to make sure that the conference venues are accessible to everyone. An area where all types of access is available could have been the most ideal.
Darlene,
This happened just when the Americans with Disabilities Act came into being. I think things are much better now.
Btw, did you get to complain or even got the organizers to hear your case?
Darlene,
Yes the organizers were well aware of the situation and used the experience to provide better accommodations in future years.