SMAANZ 2009
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The 15th Annual SMAANZ Conference was hosted by Bond University on the Gold Coast at the end of November 2009. This was my first conference as an academic and my eyes are wide open after the experience.
To begin, not enough can be said about the great effort that the conference chair and organising committee put in to make this conference a success. Everything ran smoothly and was extremely convenient. The conference accommodation was tremendous, convenient and affordable. The conference facilities were excellent, with appropriate sized rooms, great lounging areas and terrific food and drink.
The quality and variety of research was very impressive to me and this knowledge came through was proven during the presentations. Below I’ve listed my five favourite presentations (in alphabetical order) from this conference. Congratulations to the following presenters and authors for their work.
- Paul Emery – What Type of Sport Managers Does the Industry Want? An Occupational Audit of Australia Sport Management Positions (Paul Emery, Ruth Crabtree and David Lamb)
- Rachel Geddes – Local Sporting Clubs in Australia: An Examination of Organisational Structures and Organisational Efficiency (Rachel Geddes and Emma Sherry)
- Allen Goh – Proximity Effect of New Facilities in Motivating Sports Consumption: A Government Policy Evaluation (Allen Goh)
- Millicent Kennelly – The Spoils of Sport Tourism: National Sport Organisations, Sport Tour Operators and Governments (Millicent Kennelly, Kristine Toohey and Dwight Zakus)
- Kiera Staley – Analysis of Policy Mechanisms to Control Anti-Social Behaviour at Elite Australian Sporting Events (Kiera Staley and Paul Emery)
A special thanks also has to go out to all the keynote speakers for taking the time to address the audience. You provided excellent insight from an outside perspective that helps remind us why we do what we do.
The highlight for me was the option to interact with other academics in the field. The student community seemed especially welcoming and supportive. The conference certainly gave me a lot to think about from a personal experience (enough for another post to come)
SMAANZ is a relatively new organisation, this being the 15th Conference, but it seems to be on solid footing. The AGM and Financial Figures indicated a healthy organisation. Certainly I did not see any of the infighting and posturing that can be seen with many associations. I am really excited to be a member of SMAANZ and am hoping to get involved in whatever capacity I can.
Well that’s an initial summary of SMAANZ and I already can’t wait for the Student Conference in July and the full conference in New Zealand next November…
