Getting Leadership Buy-in For Your Conference Upgrades June 19, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Your conference planning team has bought in to the idea that their traditional conference model needs to change. They’ve even agreed to some of the unique changes that should happen. Now you have to convince your leadership including the C-Suite, possibly the Board of Directors, and others, that these changes are the right move to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, dealing with resistance, education best practices
Converting Three Hugely Popular Complaints About Changing Conference Education May 22, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Some conferences have begun to make the transition from passive listening experiences to active participatory education sessions. Participatory conference education is moving from a buzzword to a normal practice. And ultimately, attendees benefit greatly from the change. Some conference organizers have discovered that this transition requires more work than the traditional model of sit-‘n-get lectures … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, dealing with resistance, education best practices
Most Keynote Speakers Fail At Providing Audience Learning & Performance Improvement March 30, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Most keynotes fail at actually providing learning and retention. Sure, many keynotes are inspirational, motivational and provide an engaging story. And if that’s all we’re looking for from a high-paid professional speaker for a keynote, it works. However, when an organization pays $10,000-$75,000, or even a higher fee, for a 45- to 60-minute message, we … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, general sessions, keynote, presentation strategies, professional speakers
The Next Frontier Of Conference Improvement: Conference Education February 25, 2015 by Dave Lutz Traditional conference education models have lost their relevance. The process of distributing a call for session and speaker submissions, selecting experts that transmit and dispense information, and packaging it as professional development for the masses is overdone. One-size-fits-all education doesn’t work anymore. We are in the midst of great workplace disruption, brought on by a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, peer-based learning
Is Your Conference Fostering Conscious Cognitive Misers? January 21, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Are you creating intellectually lazy conference participants? Your conference programming may harbor bias toward minimizing cognitive efforts. In other words, your conference sessions and speakers may actual curtail participants’ thinking. Your conference could be creating happy fools. These happy fools blindly respond to their own problems by erroneously using your conference takeaways as accurate solutions. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, copying great ideas, education best practices, transformational conferences, transformational learning
Borrowing Great Ideas Leads To The Risks Associated With Mimicry January 20, 2015 by Dave Lutz We seem to always be looking for the next quick tip, idea, or feature to implement for our next conference. But not so fast — there’s some work that needs to be done first. Just copying someone else’s success and ideas is an easy way out. Give Me Your Great Ideas…Fast! We like to see … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, copying great ideas, education best practices, exhibit, Learning Lounge, list education sessions, mimicry
License Attendees To Drive Their Brains To The Streets Of Increased Conference Value December 16, 2014 by Jeff Hurt The majority of your conference attendees believe that their conference learning is all about self discipline. They think that the more conference education sessions that they attend, the more information they can absorb. The only strategy they know is to strive hard and fast to physically hear as many speakers as possible. That intentional effort … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, brain-friendly conferences, conference best practices, Event ROI, metacognition, neuroscience
Activating Attendee Heart Coherence Thru Intentionally Crafted Conference Experiences November 24, 2014 by Jeff Hurt What type of emotions does your conference experience activate? “Huh?” you say. “My conference is supposed to connect on an emotional level with attendees?” Whether you like it or not, your conference does initiate some type of emotion. Unfortunately, many conference experiences are bland, sterile boring events. They lack passion, enthusiasm and emotional highs and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning principles, brain-friendly conferences, brain-friendly meetings, Brain-in-heart, conference best practices, education best practices, heart coherence, neuroscience
Improving Conference Experiences With The Ground Breaking Discovery Of Brain-In-The-Heart November 14, 2014 by Jeff Hurt We’ve all heard people say: “Go with your gut.” “Just follow your heart.” “Trust your instinct.” These colloquial sayings feel more like fuzzy-thinking, sensitive touchy-freely speeches or lyrical metaphors. It’s not normally something that you expect experts to say at a conference. Nor is it something we strive to create in conference experiences. But should … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult learning principles, brain-friendly conferences, brain-friendly meetings, Brain-in-heart, conference best practices, education best practices, heart coherence, neuroscience
Conference Education’s Dirty Little Secret October 21, 2014 by Jeff Hurt All conference education has a dirty little secret. And it’s bigger and dirtier than most. The big skeleton in the conference closet is that most attendees will forget the majority of what they hear during the event. The current design of the education session sabotages your learning and retention. Let’s Waste The Company’s Money No … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning principles, conference best practices, education best practices, speaker tips
