Are You Providing A Homogenized Or Personalized Conference Experience? April 12, 2010 by Jeff Hurt Walk into most annual conference sessions and what do you see? What do you hear? You’ll probably hear and see the same thing in each room. One voice talking at a time. A speaker or panelist at the front of the room talking to a group of attendees. The attendees are sitting theater style facing … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conferences, content, delivery, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planner
14 Adult Learning Principles To Combat The Conference Learning Crisis April 1, 2010 by Jeff Hurt Leaving no conference attendee brain behind. It’s the new motto of the 21st century conference organizer…that is, if you want to get them back next year. It’s time for associations and corporations to address the root cause of the conference learning crisis: a limited understanding of successful adult learning. Andragogy – How Adults Learn Malcolm … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, andragogy, association, conferences, content, delivery, Education & Adult Learning, engagement, professional development
Conference Curiosity Didn’t Kill The Proverbial Cat. It Awakened The Attendee March 31, 2010 by Jeff Hurt Imagine a conference where every attendee was learning, a world where what the attendee wondered was more interesting than what the expert presenter knew, and curiosity counted for more than certain knowledge. (With nods to a quote from The Cluetrain Manifesto.) I don’t know about you. I certainly want to attend a conference where what … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conferences, content, Education & Adult Learning, engagement, formal learning, GenY, informal learning, Millennial
We Are The Problem: We Are Selling Conference Snake Oil March 30, 2010 by Jeff Hurt 80 percent of what we learn comes from informal learning.* Ironically, 60% to 80% of a conference attendee’s time is spent in formal learning, passively listening to a presenter. Unfortunately, 14 days later we only recall 20% of what we hear in those presentations. (John Medina, Brain Rules; E. Dale, Audio-Visual Methods in Teaching). 30 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , association, conference learning model, conferences, content, Education & Adult Learning, formal learning, informal learning, professional development
Looking For The Right Answer March 26, 2010 by Jeff Hurt Life can be a big noisy party with people talking, music playing, glasses clinking, people dancing and the floor shaking. Twitter can be a big noisy stream with people tweeting hordes of information flowing past you in a 24-7 stream. Facebook can be a big noisy family and friend gathering with people sharing video clips, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , looking for the right answer, perspective, point of view, selective attention
The Conference Session Is Dead March 25, 2010 by Jeff Hurt The conference session is not the appropriate shell for most learning experiences. The sixty- or ninety-minute presentation was created for the convenience of the institution, not the learner. The conference session is a triumph of standardization and it is so ingrained in our thinking we still buy and sell seat time rather than performance improvement. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association, blended learning, conference session, conferences, content, Education & Adult Learning, formal learning, informal learning, learning, Unconference
Two Reasons Why Crowdsourcing Your Conference Content Won’t Work March 24, 2010 by Jeff Hurt Let’s put children in charge of their own meals. Being the forward thinking leaders that we are, we’ll allow kids to decide what they want to eat. We’ll use an online voting system similar to Digg so kids can crowdsource the suggestions. They’ll even be allowed to announce to their friends which food items they … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association, conferences, content, crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing conference content, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planner, professional development
Do Conference Session Learning Objectives Really Matter? March 19, 2010 by Jeff Hurt This is the last in a series of posts on writing better conference session descriptions. Read the previous posts Conference Descriptions That Whet The Appetite, an overview of the four elements of a successful conference description, How To Write Killer Conference Session Titles That Attract Attendees and Crafting Better Conference Materials: Writing Session Descriptions For … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association, conference session descriptions, conference session titles, conferences, learner objectives, meeting, meeting planner, professional development, writing good conference session descriptions
Crafting Better Conference Materials: Writing Session Descriptions For Dummies March 18, 2010 by Jeff Hurt This is the third in a series of posts on writing better conference session descriptions. Read the first post Conference Descriptions That Whet The Appetite, an overview of the four elements of a successful conference description, or second post How To Write Killer Conference Session Titles That Attract Attendees. Begin With The End In Mind … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Event Planning Tagged With: , association, conference session descriptions, conference session titles, conferences, learner objectives, meeting, meeting planner, professional development, writing good conference session descriptions
How To Write Killer Conference Session Titles That Attract Attendees March 17, 2010 by Jeff Hurt This is the second in a series of posts on writing better conference session descriptions. Read the first post Conference Descriptions That Whet The Appetite, an overview of the four elements of a successful conference description. What is the primary purpose of most conference session titles, descriptions and learner objectives? Did you say, “To get … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Event Planning Tagged With: , association, conference session descriptions, conference session titles, conferences, learner objectives, meeting, meeting planner, professional development, writing good conference session descriptions