Why Attend Conferences
November 7, 2016 by tania
In this age of technology and social media, when conference highlights and proceedings can often be easily accessed online, is it worth attending a conference? Is the value gained from attending worth the cost of time, money and effort? It certainly is, according to our New Zealand Safe Communities colleagues who attended the 12thAustralasian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (AIPSP) conference in Sydney in late November 2015. The attendees learnt about others' research-focused work and practice, the Australian approaches to injury prevention, and about the power of social media in communication. However, attendance at the conference also provided them with the opportunity to build relationships and network with others, share their own research and practical experience, and to discuss presentations in more detail with the presenters, allowing translation of Australian injury prevention in indigenous populations to our own context. In addition, the importance of collaboration and learning from the community, particularly in terms of what will work for them, were strong themes running through many of the conference presentations.
Teresa Gordon (New Plymouth injury Safe), Chris Webber (Treasure Rotorua) and Graeme Barber (Waimakariri SC) won SCFNZ scholarships to attend the conference, and Tessa Sturley (Waimakariri SC) attended as the NZ community representative of the Pan Pacific Safe Communities Network. Click on the links below to read about the New Zealand Safe Communities attendees' learnings from the conference.
For more information on the conference and to view the presentations, go to: http://event.icebergevents.com.au/injuryprevention2015
