Key Design Features of ELLTA Conference

ELLTA envisages Conferences as spaces for “meaningful interactions” and networking – as means to engage face-to-face with the community of scholars. This is the most critical, significant and valued aspect of conferences, and adds a lot of value to the whole experience.

Keeping in view the high significance that ELLA attaches to such interactions, these form the core of ELLTA Schedule. The conference, thus, offers a variety of innovative sessions that are interactive and provide social spaces for talk, networking, socializing, discussing, debating, extending ideas, synthesizing, meeting up with people you want to meet, and much more!

Given that the conference is taking place at the exotic venue of “Penang” – Malaysia’s Heritage Island, with its beautiful mornings and evenings, and enticing food – the interactions may turn into one of your most memorable events! However, please, come prepared to make the most out of it – 3 days may get over so soon, before you even realize it!

Connectovation – Welcome by everyone to every one!

The word ‘Connectovation’ is an integration of two important words: ‘Connect’ and ‘Innovation’. The term has been coined to underline the very intention of the session – i.e. “Connecting with Each Other Innovatively”!On Day 1, over ‘Morning Tea’ and ‘Registration’, this welcome session may include the following: Ice breaking with each other Saying ‘Warm Greetings’ to each other using their native language

Note: Please suggest activities for this session – as 2/3 minutes energizing activity

Book-a-Talk

This is a space (and mechanism) where interested conference delegates can book a talk in advance with the scholar they want to get in touch with. The conference provides the necessary structure and mechanism through which this can be done.

Invite-an-Audience

This is another exciting space (and mechanism) where you can announce any talk/ conversation and invite an audience to meet up with you in any open spaces available (it could be a relaxed evening conversation on a beach side)!

ELLTA Knowledge Café – Meeting and Eating; Sharing, Extending and Enriching …

(Dedicated to Prof. David Gurteen – the Father of Knowledge Cafés)

Typical conferences use the metaphor of “BREAK” for tea and lunch. ELLTA’s metaphors are different! Even spaces such as lunch and tea have been conceived in such a way that they help in extending the interactions – taking the initial introductions to the next level, with each interaction! We believe that it is during such informal spaces that people interact more and connect more with each other.

A Knowledge Café, therefore, is an exciting, open space for extending interactions and engagements. This protected space and time provision has been created with a special aim to provide an opportunity to consultants, educators, scholars, entrepreneurs, innovators, techno-experts and techno-entrepreneurs, professors, writers, business/ corporate leaders and many others – to do some of the following:

• Discuss projects
• Present work (books etc.)
• Present/ discuss your programmes with relevant audience/ institutional heads/ potential candidates
• Share your ideas/ concepts with colleagues

As a consequence, we see a lot of collaborative ventures inspired by these seeds of conversations planted during the café talk.

Collaborative Research/ Development Projects – Space for Designing Possibilities

Knowledge Generation (research), Knowledge Dissemination (conferences, seminars, publications, etc.) and Knowledge Networking are among the core purposes and business of ELLTA. Research is, therefore, at the heart of ELLTA’s work – i.e. promoting research in the Asian region, identifying future directions for research, capacity building for research, and inspiring research collaboration in Asia. Therefore, this session has been thoughtfully designed to serve as a space to inspire possibilities of collaborative research and/ or development projects, and facilitate this process.

We see that in addition to the variety of deliberations during the conference (e.g. Keynote Address, Parallel Paper Presentations, Workshops, etc.), the discussions at the ‘Interactive Panel Discussions’ (see below) will lead to identification of some critical questions in the respective fields, which could help in thinking about Collaborative Research Projects.

To enrich the deliberations, however, we also invite all the interested delegates to bring their thoughts (concept notes, ideas, proposals – whatever form is possible) on research/ development projects where collaboration is being sought.

To develop multi-perspective understanding of the phenomenon, collaboration could be of various kinds; for instance:

• Multiple countries – adding variety and diversity of contexts to the study
• Multiple disciplines/ fields/ sectors – sciences and social sciences; education, business, medicine, development, psychology, sociology, technology, media; public and private
• Multiple sites/ settings – e.g. studying a phenomenon in schools, hospitals, factories, etc.

The possibilities are immense – it all depends on how you organize yourself well in advance to take advantage of these!

As a consequence, there may be a number of individual projects or some mega multi-site projects. Given the nature of turnout and outcomes, we may define later how ELLTA can possibly facilitate in taking these further and/ or, for instance, providing a platform for sharing the knowledge generation emerging out of these projects.

GALA Dinner and Cultural Evening

This is an event worth waiting for!

A ‘Cultural Evening’ has been planned in your honor. Please, do not forget to pack into your luggage your Cultural Dress for this event. Feel very welcome also to bring any cultural artifacts and items which you would like to put on display there.

This was one of the most memorable events for most of the ELLTA Conference delegates. We are sure that YOU will also make the most out of this event that is the most relevant and very closely linked to the core of ELLTA – cultural and contextual insights!

This is YOUR event (like all others), please, do suggest/ share with colleagues interesting and innovative ideas for this event.

Educational/ Knowledge Tourism – Sight Seeing

Education and travel are so integrally linked that the value of this event does not require any further reiteration. Penang is one of the most sought after tourist spots in Malaysia – and travelling together would be an exciting and fun-filled opportunity to learn more about each other, about each other’s perspectives, ideas and theories while exploring Penang together!