Tech Conferences

Saw this interesting news item titled Tech Conferences: A Breeding Ground of Disease. In this case, Attendees were exposed to a norovirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms. As someone being a regular in the conference circles, this is definitely a matter of concern for participants. I do believe that conferences/places where people come from various parts of the world are a potential breeding ground. Most of them arrive in from far off places - air travel, pollution all contribute to fostering flu. I was in India few days back for a large meet and had to suffer form one such - did not know for some time that a similar thing happened to most of the attendees ; came to know after mail exchnages happened post the event. Luckily, I got the attack almost as the event winded down but it affected my programs for the next couple of days. Whats the solution? May be conferences showcase medical support availability in the venue as well to provide reasonable support beyong highlighting what can be prevented - though it may look a little odd to provide such things in tech conferences. Individual judgement and concern for others is the best form of prevention. Last year, I was in an important conference : suddenly I had a bout of cold - I immediately got out of the meet and headed home immediately, though it was tempting to stay back. There's no equivalent to such responsible behaviour.

Labels: Conference