Event Report, Speech, Drama, & Debate SIG March 2018

The Speech, Drama, & Debate SIG sponsored two mini-conferences in the 2017-18 academic year: one in Okinawa November 3-6, and one in Gero, Gifu prefecture March 26-27, 2018. Both conferences were interesting, useful, and fun. The presentations were scheduled consecutively so no one had to decide between two interesting presentations, and also because it made no sense to divide the audience so that all presenters could have a good sized audience. The relatively small number of participants at the conferences made for a friendly, cozy atmosphere. In addition, by advertising that the conferences, sited in popular sightseeing spots, were family friendly, and inviting family members to join in the banquet added to this warm atmosphere. The following is a brief description of each conference.
 
The second conference was held in the hot spring city of Gero in the mountains of Gifu prefecture. The venue was the Gero Synergy Center ACTIVE, a new conference complex with excellent facilities and almost-free transportation to and from JR Gero Station. The theme of the two-day conference was On Performance-Assisted Learning: How to Get Your Materials Published, with several presentations on presentation-assisted activities on speech, drama, oral interpretation/readers theatre, and film-making, as well as on how to get your classroom materials published. The highlight was a 45-minute interactive Skype Q & A session with Tsuyoshi Yoshida, National Geographic Learning Associate Manager for Publishing. The first day ended with a networking event at Izakaya Santoku, a very friendly izakayanear JR Gero Station. The second day continued with interesting presentations and workshops and ended with a lively discussion on how to publish papers. The useful presentations, the impressive conference center, the beautiful mountain scenery, and the relaxing hot springs made for a pleasant conference.