Me, me, me, me, me! No, it’s not the latest Sesame Street song sung by Beaker. Nor am I talking about the “Me Generation.” I’m talking about today’s conference audiences focused on their own ROI and not the speaker as entertainer. Me, Me, Me! Today’s audience’s see conference keynotes and education sessions differently than in … [Read more…]
How does your conference speaker selection process compare to other organizations? What’s working and what isn’t when it comes to selecting and securing industry and professional speakers? The Use Of Professional And Industry Speakers The past summer, Velvet Chainsaw partnered with Tagoras, a leading market research and consulting company for learning, to survey conference professionals … [Read more…]
Today’s audiences expect more from a speaker than the traditional lecture. They want to be inspired, motivated, entertained and learn relevant take aways that they can apply immediately. They are not satisfied with sitting passively listening to monologues and panel platitudes. They want to actively participate in an education session. The End Of A Speaker-Expert … [Read more…]
Today, most conference audiences would prefer to engage in one-on-one peer-to-peer discussions than listen to another panel or lecture. It is also clear that employers today place more emphasis on securing employees that are good at engaging others in face-to-face interactions to problem solve, work together and interpret data. Ultimately, peer learning is highly valued … [Read more…]
Revised and updated from original post about presentations and images published on October 25, 2011. Presentations are the business currency of today. PowerPoint is often the legal tender of those presentations. We trade and share PowerPoint presentations like baseball cards, stamps and money. And SlideShare is the largest online community for sharing great presentations! When … [Read more…]
Good panel moderators wear camouflage. We’ll not really. But they blend in so much with our panel experience that we often don’t even notice them. Why? Successful moderators keep the panel focused on attendees and their problems, not the panelists. They drive the panel discussion towards solutions that meets the audiences’ needs. Five Moderator Rules … [Read more…]
“Nobody can’t teach nobody nothing,” says O. P. Kolstoe, author of College Professoring. We need better presenters, as our conference attendees often suggest. Or we need better attendees as our speakers often state. I think Kolstoe hit the bull’s-eye. As a presenter, so also a learner–the conference attendee. (paraphrased Joseph Lowman, 1995). If there is … [Read more…]
The Zimmerman trial and CBS’ Big Brother racial scandal have put the discussions about race and discrimination front and center. Racism and discrimination are sensitive and delicate topics for sure. So how do you ensure that your conference speakers avoid racial and discriminatory language? How do you protect your organization from inappropriate behavior of a … [Read more…]
23 employers, including the Smithsonian Institution, Microsoft and Marriott International, stated that engaging others in face-to-face interactions in order to find information and solve problems is a competency that they need most in their employees. Unfortunately, they rarely find this skill demonstrated by today’s college-educated employees. Employers Place High Need On Information Problem Solving Project … [Read more…]
Ideas that the brain thinks about and accepts usually lead to some type of action. That seed of a concept, thought or insight can transform you life. Ultimately, learning involves change. When you learn something new, your brain changes and then our attitude or behaviors also change. When you refuse to adapt to change, you … [Read more…]
