Report of the 6th CPLOL Congress, Berlin September 2006

A Multilingual and multicultural in Europe

A challenge for Speech and Language Therapists

The congress was visited by more than 900 participants. Nearly two-thirds of the participants were German and more than 300 others came from 25 different countries. The congress languages were English, French and German. Three keynotes speakers had been invited to present their research in the field of multilingualism: Dr. Paradis from Canada, Dr. Tracy from Germany and Dr. Salameh from Sweden. The main part of the scientific program was built on 42 free papers and 42 posters. Also many of the national associations presented themselves by a poster. During the congress a press meeting and other meetings with decision takers in Germany took place, in order to inform them about our patient groups and our profession. The closing session was done by Mr. Özdemir, a Turkish-German politician, who emphasized the importance of adequate communication skills in a modern society.

Most participants had a good time in Berlin. Pictures of the congress can be found here.

The formal evaluation was done with a 15 item questionnaire, with scales from 1 to 5. The average rating of the congress by the participants was 3.78. The highest ratings were given to the theme (4.5) and to the presentations of the keynote speakers (4.3), confirming that the congress was a success. The lowest rating were the posters and the catering, but still on average above 3.0. See the graph below. The detailed evaluation will be used for the congress in 2009 to be able to organize an even more successful congress.

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