Although I do not claim to have much experience with conferences, with this being the second conference I have attended (the first conference was in Malaysia), I confess that this was a major disappointment for me. There were lots of issues that could have been improved on, considering that this was an international conference.
Firstly, the poor attendance at the lecture halls. There were 2 lecture halls with seminars/free papers going on concurrently. The lecture halls were pretty much empty. Only a handful of people attended the lectures. But when it came to tea time and lunch time, the food area would be full of people, requiring one to queue for about 20 mins for food. So where were all these people hiding?
Secondly, I have the impression that one attends a conference to learn new developments and upcoming research or ideas. However, I found that in some of the lectures, they were basically reiterating basic information. As health care professional who are involved in palliative care, there is no point lecturing us on what Dame Cicely Sanders defined as palliative care or the concept of total pain. We already know all these material. You are not lecturing to the common public. You are lecturing to people who are practicing palliative care day-to-day. Give me something new. Tell me something innovative. Do not go over old material which is already been published in textbooks eons ago.
I could go on and on, but the gist of it was I did not find this conference educational. Maybe I am being too harsh or maybe I am only seeing this from an outsider's perspective as palliative care is not my main area of specialty. I only came to present my paper. Maybe the palliative care specialists found this enlightening and educational? Maybe.
My oral presentation was on the last day, which I thought went alright. Could have been better but considering I only prepared my slides while in India, I couldn't ask for more.
After my presentation, I was approached by a doctor who wanted to discuss with me about an audit she was doing. She is undertaking the Certificate in Palliative Care via distance learning with Cardiff University, a course that I did myself last year. One of the assignment was an audit and there is an audit proposal form one had to complete. Rather than discussing her audit topic with me, she basically ended up asking me how to complete the audit proposal form. I felt as if I was giving her the answers, step-by-step, on how to write up the proposal form. She didn't contribute much of her own and took most of my ideas and wrote it down. She then gave me her namecard, which read that she was an assistant professor at a university in India. Hmm....
After the conference had ended, we were offered a free complimentary Delhi tour. According to the website, they offered a visit of the vibrant shopping complex of Connaught Place, Delhi Haat for handicraft goods and delicious food bonanza from 14:00-19:00.
They had 5 coaches available and it was full. And instead of the comprehensive tour they promised us, they only brought us to 3 attractions, India Gate, Qutb Minar and the Lotus Temple. I found the Lotus Temple quite interesting. As its name suggest, it is shaped like a lotus. It is a Bahá'í Houses of Worship, and is open to all regardless of religion. It functions as a gathering place where people of all religions may worship God without denominational restrictions.
And shopping was at the Lotus Mall, which was a high-class tourist attraction where everything was highly marked up in price.
The tour ended at about 18:00 and I went back to my B&B. Maybe I have too high expectations? All in all, I was majorly disappointed.
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