RESEARCH WAS FOCUSED ON THREE QUESTIONS--(1) TO WHAT DEGREE PARTICIPANTS UTILIZED CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE, (2) WHAT PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS DIFFERENTIATED CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS FROM NONPARTICIPANTS, AND (3) WHAT SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIP EXISTED BETWEEN THESE CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONAL TRANSFER. DATA WERE PROVIDED ON 665 PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SEVEN CONFERENCES, AND 424 PEOPLE IN COMPARISON GROUPS WHO WERE SIMILAR IN BACKGROUND, AGE, AND OPINION. THE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS QUESTIONNAIRE WAS ADMINISTERED AT EACH CONFERENCE AND MAILED TO COMPARISON GROUPS, AND THE APPLICATIONAL TRANSFER QUESTIONNAIRE WAS MAILED TO BOTH GROUPS AFTER THREE MONTHS. THE MANN WHITNEY U AND CHI SQUARE TECHNIQUES TESTED DIFFERENCES, AND RELATIONSHIPS WERE TESTED BY THE KENDALL RANK CORRELATION COEFFICIENT. THE MAJOR CONCLUSIONS WERE THAT CONFERENCE GROUPS WERE ENGAGED IN SIGNIFICANTLY MORE ACTIVITIES IN LINE WITH CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES AND THAT APPLICATIONAL TRANSFER RESULTED FROM ATTENDING SHORT TERM CONFERENCES. SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS IN ONE OR MORE CONFERENCES WERE NOT CONCLUSIVE FOR THE TOTAL POPULATION. THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST FURTHER RESEARCH QUESTIONS. DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE FROM UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS, ANN ARBOR, MICH., ORDER NO. 66-11739. MICROFILM $6.15. XEROGRAPHY $21.85. 475 PAGES. (AUTHOR/PT)