An Exploratory Study of Convention Specific Social Media Usage by Attendees: Motivations and Effect of Generations on Choice of Convention Information Source and Intention to Use Mobile Application

While social media and mobile devices have grown as important tools of communication and marketing in the meeting industry, limited research has explored convention attendees’ perception of convention specific social networking media and what the motivations are for attendees’ adoption of using convention specific social media. This study aims to identify convention attendees’ motivations of using convention specific social media and demands of convention specific mobile applications. This study also investigated how attendees’ generation affects their selection of convention information sources and attitude toward mobile applications. Based on the identified key motivations of using convention specific social media, convention organizers need to build social media that provide up-to-dated convention information as well as a functionality of building community among attendees. The findings also show that generation affects the choice of convention information source and intention of mobile applications usage. This study identified the most demanded convention mobile applications including, exhibitor directory search, convention floor plan, and convention itinerary planner. This study can be used as a basis for more extensive examinations of the use of social media in conventions and for empirical testing of convention attendees’ attitudes toward convention social media and mobile applications.     

Historical oblique aerial photographs as a powerful tool for communicating landscape changes

This paper reports on a potential new form of data generation and data display to be used for communicating landscape change at local scales, utilizing a huge collection of oblique aerial photographs held by the Royal Library in Copenhagen. The collection contains local scale imagery covering all parts of Denmark recorded between 1930 and 1990 and thus has the potential to illustrate the changes which took place in the rural landscape as a whole after the Second World War, in ways which are suited for use at local scales. Taking into account that landscape change normally happens at a slow rate relative to the perceptive scale of humans, with fine grained changes taking place continuously in local settings, images of this kind present themselves as a way for the general public to become aware of changes which might otherwise be overlooked. To a still more urbanized population where most people do not have an every-day experience with rural landscape change, the images may be a starting point for a renewed engagement with landscapes, not just perceived as a scenery, but rather as a process of interaction with the environment. In order to inform a wider range of people, in competition with other types of information, the imagery provides a point of reference – a single farm or landscape known to the users – which people without specific training in landscape research can relate to. The use of a crowdsourcing approach in data generation on a webgis application means that the broader public is both involved in the creation of the data and in the discussion about the changes observed, which become visible when comparing old aerial photographs to the present landscape. In combination with the very local nature of the aerial photographs, this opens up the possibility that the images could serve as a communicational bridge between “abstract” scientific knowledge about landscape change (e.g. change in hedgerow density per year) and the local landscapes where people are living. As such, the approach described in this paper may contribute to the objectives set out in the European landscape convention to facilitate an increased understanding of landscape issues among the public through a democratic learning process. The article concludes, that this approach has a huge potential, although some difficulties exist, relating to the challenge of maintaining a focus on the landscape when using a form of communication which is dialogue-based and relatively unstructured compared to approaches embedded within conventional learning environments.     

Convention center operations: some questions answered

Convention centers continue to be built or expanded, worldwide. But, with all these new and expanded centers coming on-line, which ones will succeed and which will fail? Is there an optimum sized city that would do well to have a convention center? Is it only the large sized centers that can compete effectively? What type of management structure works best and helps insure the success of a center? The current study answers some of these strategic questions in convention center planning and development.     

论两主体情形下合作剩余的分配——以悬赏广告为例

本文讨论在两经济主体的合作能够产生剩余的情况下 ,这些剩余如何在他们之间进行分配。以往研究提出了分配问题的几个可能的解 ,并对解的存在性和唯一性进行了讨论。但他们的分析或是直接对解用不可验证的公理进行描述 ;或是对个体偏好强加一些不可验证的假设 ,然后得到存在性或唯一性的结论。作者发现 ,运用类似于博弈论中多个策略均衡点存在时“聚点”决定解的唯一性的分析方法 ,可以得到这样的结论 :实际中多个解都可能存在 ,不同问题的不同解是由社会习俗决定的 ;即便是同一个问题 ,由于社会习俗的不同 ,也可能有不同形式的解 ;并且解的大小及其变化与社会习俗互有影响。接下来 ,作者以悬赏广告为例 ,对悬赏广告中悬赏金的大小进行求解。我们发现用前面的结论可以比较好地解释所得到的结果。另一方面 ,得到的结果在一定程度上也可以验证前面的结论。     

我国会展业标准体系框架构建研究

文章分析了我国会展业发展趋势和标准化工作现状,讨论了会展标准体系建设的必要性和迫切性,并通过对国内外会展业标准化工作发展情况的研究,提出了我国会展业标准体系框架构建的思路,给出了近期会展业标准的重点研究方向建议。     

北京会展业发展与会展场馆建设互馈关系研究

会展场馆是承载会展业发展的基础和载体。通过对北京市会展场馆建设与会展业发展的历史和现状的考察,分析并揭示了北京会展业发展与会展场馆建设之间存在的互促共进关系。提出它们之间的相互作用既表现出阶段性强度差异,又表现出持续性的特征,二者通过双向的正反馈机制形成北京会展场馆建设与会展业发展的相互促进关系。     

保留,抑或撤回?──评我国对《联合国国际货物销售合同公约》第11条的保留

《合同法》不区分国内合同和涉外合同而对合同形式作出不拘泥于书面形式的立法规定，与我国对《联合国国际货物销售合同公约》第11条的非书面要求的保留声明存在不一致的地方。维持或撤回保留的理由虽各有据，但本文认为还是应该撤回保留为宜。     

Convention Services Management in Sydney Four to Five Star Hotels

Abstract

Little empirical research has been conducted in the field of Convention Services Management within the hotel sector. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that sought to investigate the role and function of the convention services department and the convention services manager in four and five star hotels in Sydney.

It identifies the role of convention services and convention services management within this sector of the hotel industry. From a convenience sample of four and five star hotels within Sydney City District, data was obtained through face-to-face taped interviews supported by the use of a semi-structured questionnaire. Analysis of the data reveals a trend towards increasingly shorter lead times for conference bookings, an eclectic mix of personnel assuming the responsibility of the convention service department. The study confirmed, from those interviewed, that convention services management within these organisations remains firmly entrenched in the traditional structures; hierarchical with clearly segregated divisions by occupational specialisation.     

What are Cities Really Committing to When They Build a Convention Center?

Abstract

This paper looks at the eventual implications to cities when a convention center is built. The Delphi Technique was used to gain the expert opinions of a wide variety of knowledgeable experts in the field. Five questions pertaining to the ultimate financial consequences of building a convention center in a municipality were examined. There was great, general agreement that cities are putting themselves into a position where additional dollars will have to be spent in an attempt to make the initial investment, in this case a convention center, successful.