THE
1066 and all that
Rob Davidson warms up
for the academic year
Our new conference and events
management students arrive at the
University of Westminster just after
summer, so this is the time of year when
we lecturers start bringing our lectures
up-to-date for the new intake. The first
lecture I usually give them begins with a
short history of the conference industry. I
mention the fact that the ancient Romans
regularly gathered together for meetings in
the Forum, and the Greeks did much the
same in the Agora. And, well, that’s about
it, as far as history goes.
But this year, I thought I’d put in a bit
more about the history of conferences in
Britain, and this column gives me the
opportunity to try the new lecture out on
you, dear readers. So, Colston, sit up
straight and take that pencil out of your
ear, and Richard John, will you PLEASE
stop playing with that? Then our history
lesson can begin.
The history of conferences in Britain may
be divided into two distinct eras: BC and
AD. BC refers to the period ‘Before
Conferences’; and AD means ‘According to
Davidson’.
In the BC era, there were no conferences
as such because there was no human
language yet. Of course, cavemen used to
get together regularly in front of their caves
but their only verbal exchanges were low
grunts and growls and occasional
screeches, the types of threatening,
unintelligible sounds still heard at
conferences even to this day, when the
morning coffee arrives late. On the more
positive side, since these gatherings were
held outside, there was usually lots of
natural daylight, and there were no pillars
to obscure any delegates’ view, as pillars
had not yet been invented.
The AD era of UK conferences began
when the Romans invaded this country,
and declared ‘Venue, Vidi, Vici’, which
conference management scholars have
roughly translated as ‘I came, I saw, I
conferred’. The ancient Romans had a
long tradition of holding conferences, so
they brought with them much of the
language of meetings that we still use to
this very day: colloquium, symposium,
podium, rostrum and, of course, tedium.
The next time we were invaded was in
1066, by the Normans. So, about when
everyone here was beginning to get the
hang of speaking in Latin, we all had to
start all over again and learn French. We
have the French to thank for such words
as conférence itself and convention
bureau, and of course the expression
Bienvenue en Angleterre, which conference
management scholars have roughly
translated as ‘We have some great venues
in England’. But naturally the biggest
impact that our French invaders had on
conferences was on the food and
beverage side, as witnessed by such
culinary expressions such as buffet, hors
d’oeuvre, and Prêt à Manger.
INVENTION
AD 105: papermaking is invented by the
Chinese during the reign of Emperor Wu
1440: the German inventor Johannes
Gutenberg invents the printing press
1492: Christopher Columbus discovers
tobacco
1573: Coffee is introduced to Europe by
Leonhard Rauwolf through his accounts
of his travels in Arabia
1832: Michael Faraday invents
electricity
1971: AT&T Labs’ Richard H. Frenkiel
and Joel S. Engel develop the
technology that enabled the world’s first
cellular telephone service to operate
1987: Software developers Bob Gaskin
and Dennis Austin invent the Powerpoint
program, the Windows version of which
is released in 1990
THE
Rob Davidson
LECTURER
Wine soon took the place of meet as the
nation’s favourite gala dinner tipple, and
two-hour lunch-breaks became the norm
for all meetings. The demand for goods at
all conferences sent venues’ day delegate
rates spiralling through the roof; but the
long lunches did mean that savings could
be made on speakers’ fees.
A shining history of an industry that has,
through the ages, quickly adapted to
momentous events in the wider world. For
example …
Very shortly afterwards …
The world’s first flip chart makes its
appearance
The world’s first printed conference
brochure rolls off the press, and
delegates complain about the typos and
spelling mistakes
At the world’s first conference fag break,
some of the delegates complain that it
isn’t long enough
At the world’s first conference coffee
break, some of the delegates complain
that the coffee isn’t hot enough
The world’s first delegate ever to trip
over a trailing electricity cable
successfully sues the organiser
For the first time ever, a conference
speaker is profoundly embarrassed
when his mobile phone starts ringing
during his speech
The world’s first tragic incidence of a
conference delegate suffering death by
Powerpoint is recorded
CONFERENCE NEWS JUNE 2009 33
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