I've just been asked about this, and found the website at

http://www.thaitesol2.org/

Is anybody planning to go? Any experience with prior conferences? I seem to recall the Jan. 2005 conference in Bangkok being televised, and some of our Thai TEFL teachers having to watch, but falling asleep or reading the paper during the conference.

Is it mainly filled with speeches by talking heads, visiting from afar, who've never had 51 inattentive students in a hot Thai classroom? Is it helpful to attend? Anybody getting out of classes to attend it?

I don't think I'm going to be able to make this one. But, in my opinion, doing these kinds of conference are a must for anyone who considers themself an EFL professional. Fortunately, my employer sees the value and pays for us to go to conferences / seminars etc. and I get to 2 or 3 a year.

It's really up to you what you get from them. I have particular areas of interest so tend to focus on those - other things can seem dull, of course. There's bound to be a good dose of theoretical issues covered but, again, whether you take anything from that is often up to what level of interest you have in the first place, and if you follow such issues in the profession anyway. Attending some of the workshops and having to participate with Thai English teachers is fun and can be an eye-opener to anyone who has a particularly negative attitude towards them.

A lot of the 'talking heads' have often had experience of teaching in conditions much more trying than anything you'll come up against in Thailand.