Holistic transformational experience of a conference: an attendee perspective

This paper presents an original framework depicting the holistic transformational conference journey – pre, during and post-conference. It departs from existing scholarship that has examined each stage in isolation, limiting understanding on how the attendees’ beneficial outcomes are developed throughout the conference journey. The unique application of a transformational lens enables a critical interrogation of the conference creator’s influence on designing meaningful experiences that deliver individual transformational outcomes at each stage. The framework is informed by 18 life-world interviews with conference attendees from varied professions and at different stages in their careers, offering diverse narratives. The findings show that deep motivations and internal needs are actualized through a transformational conference design, leading to greater conference engagement and post-conference outcomes. Conversely, a traditional basic conference design stimulates shallow motivation, driven by external needs, leading to superficial engagement and outcomes.