A
convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon
industryAn industry is the manufacturing of a good or service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw...
,
profession"A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain"....
, and
fandomFandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
. Trade conventions typically focus on a particular industry or industry segment, and feature keynote speakers, vendor displays, and other information and activities of interest to the event organizers and attendees.
A
convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon
industryAn industry is the manufacturing of a good or service within a category. Although industry is a broad term for any kind of economic production, in economics and urban planning industry is a synonym for the secondary sector, which is a type of economic activity involved in the manufacturing of raw...
,
profession"A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain"....
, and
fandomFandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
. Trade conventions typically focus on a particular industry or industry segment, and feature keynote speakers, vendor displays, and other information and activities of interest to the event organizers and attendees.
ProfessionalA professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialised educational training.The word professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a degree in a professional field...
conventions focus on issues of concern to the profession and advancements in the profession. Such conventions are generally organized by societies dedicated to promotion of the topic of interest.
Fan conventionA fan convention, or con , is an event in which fans of a particular film, television series, comic book, actor, or an entire genre of entertainment such as science fiction or anime and manga, gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and...
s usually feature displays, shows, and sales based on pop culture, often with people dressed up as their favorite characters, and guest celebrities. Conventions also exist for various hobbies, such as
gamingA role-playing game is a game in which the participants assume the roles of fictional characters. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines...
or model railroads.
Conventions are often planned and coordinated, often in exacting detail, by professional
meeting and convention plannerA meeting and convention planner supervises and coordinates the strategic, operational and logistical activities necessary for the production of events...
s, either by staff of the convention's hosting company or by outside specialists. Most large cities will have a
convention centerA convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
dedicated to hosting such events. The term MICE - meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions - is widely used in Asia as a description of the industry. The Convention ("C")is one of the most dynamic elements in the M.I.C.E. segment. The industry is generally regulated under the tourism sector.
In the technical sense, a
convention is a meeting of delegates or representatives. The 1947
Newfoundland National ConventionThe Newfoundland National Convention of 1946 was a forum established to decide the constitutional future of Newfoundland . It would later see Newfoundland into Canadian Confederation.-Background:...
is a classic example of a state-sponsored political convention. More often, organizations made up of smaller units, chapters, or lodges, such as labor unions,
honorary societies, and
fraternities and sororitiesFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In English, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in North America, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
, meet as a whole in convention by sending delegates of the units to deliberate on the organization's common issues. This also applies to a
political conventionIn politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...
, though in modern times the common issues are limited to selecting a
partyA political party is a political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns...
candidate or
partyA party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, and recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
chairman. In this
technicalTechnical may refer to:*Technical , a fighting vehicle based on a pickup truck*Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data...
senseSenses are the physiological methods of perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
, a
congressA congress is a formal meeting of representatives from different countries , or independent organizations ....
, when it consists of representatives, is a convention. The
British House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
is a convention, as are most other houses of a modern representative
legislatureA legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law...
. The
National ConventionDirectory|Directory]], commencing 2 November 1795. Prominent members of the original Convention included Maximilien Robespierre of the Jacobin Club, Jean-Paul Marat , and Georges Danton of the Cordeliers...
or just "Convention" in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
comprised the
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
al and legislative
assemblyA deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions.-Explanation:Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised describes certain characteristics of a deliberative assembly, such as each member having an equal vote and the fact that the group...
which sat from September 20, 1792 to October 26, 1795.
Many
sovereign stateA sovereign state is a political association with effective internal and external sovereignty over a geographic area and population which is not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state...
s have provisions for conventions besides their permanent legislature. The
Constitution of the United States of AmericaThe Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States...
has a provision for the calling of a
constitutional conventionA constitutional convention is a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
, whereby delegates of the states are summoned to a special meeting to amend or draft the
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
. This process has never occurred, save for the original drafting of the constitution, although it almost happened in several cases. The US Constitution also has provisions for constitutional amendments to be approved by state conventions of the people. This occurred to ratify the original constitution and to adopt the
twenty-first amendmentThe Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated nationwide Prohibition.- Text :- Background :...
, which ended
prohibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
.
Con is a common abbreviation for convention, and some conventions (such as
DEF CONDEF CON is the world's largest annual hacker convention, held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993, and in 2008, over 8500 people attended DEF CON 16....
and GenCon) use it in their names.
Co-located conventions
When two or more conventions are held at the same place and time they are
co-located. Co-located conventions are usually in related industries.
See also
- Convention center
A convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
- Event planning and production
- Business travel
Business travel, or travel management as it is often referred to, is on the rise especially with foreign business markets opening up. Business travel is generally accepted as being a corporation's 3rd or 4th biggest expense after staffing, rent and rates and possibly IT and communications...