Kathryn M. Rybka
Dear ABC colleagues,
I have some disappointing news to share with you. We had to make the painful decision to cancel the 2024 ABC Annual International Conference in Seoul, South Korea scheduled for next June.
Much has changed in the five years since the idea for a Seoul conference was first conceived. As you know, Seoul is a very large and vibrant city. And like most leading cities, prices can be expensive. Seoul was an attractive conference location for many wonderful reasons, and originally financial support from Seoul and Korea tourism agencies was potentially available to offset the total cost of hosting a conference there. Unfortunately, those funds are no longer being offered in our new post-pandemic world.
At the same time, prices for airfare, meeting room spaces, catering and more have sharply increased. Proposals from Seoul hotel properties came in very high time after time. Many hotels didn’t have the meeting room space that ABC needs. We also explored holding our conference on the campus of a Seoul university. In the end, we simply could not afford to hold our conference in Seoul without charging an unrealistic conference registration fee.
I would like to extend a special thank you to Hyejung Chang, our Korean Association for Business Communication (KABC) colleague, for all the support she provided in helping us try to plan a Seoul conference. Hyejung’s enthusiasm for hosting our event in Seoul began with her sending a proposal to ABC back in 2019. I admire her patience and perseverance as we had to postpone the conference several times due to the pandemic, and then attempt to find an affordable and suitable venue this past year.
We will now hold our 89th annual conference in October 2024. More information will be shared once we have identified a location.
Kind regards, Kathryn
Kathryn M. Rybka, Ph.D.
Interim Executive Director
Association for Business Communication
Interim.Exec.Director@businesscommunication.org
