Tag: conference education


Your Conference Content Is Cheap!

Our conferences need less information and more meaning! Information is cheap and easy to find. Meaning is difficult to acquire! Finding Answers Is Easy Google created a program to crawl the entire Internet, collect data and index all the answers. They got us to ask questions. Then they created a map that connected those questions … [Read more…]

The Mirage Of Conference Information Tsunami

Your attendees rate the learning impact of “massing” as superior at your event. Massing in the education world is defined as receiving large blocks of information in condensed amounts of time. Attendees feel that the more information they can receive, the higher their performance. Unfortunately, the conference information tsunami is a mirage. It is a … [Read more…]

Connecting The Dots Critical To Brain-Friendly Conference Learning

Do you remember the children’s activity connect the dots? This paper and pencil puzzle contained a sequence of numbered or lettered dots. Your task was to draw a line connecting dots in the right series so that the outline of an object was revealed. As we got older, the dot to dot activities became more … [Read more…]

Creating A Brain-Friendly Not Brain-Adverse Event

Imagine going to a party where you meet a bunch of new people. Which faces will you remember? Which names will you recall? You’ll probably remember the woman who made you laugh. The man who accidentally spilled his drink on you. The man who made your face turn red from embarrassment. And the women who … [Read more…]

Using AGES To Design Brain Friendly Conferences

Is your conference experience one that hurts your participants’ brains or one that helps their brains learn? In other words, is your conference brain-adverse or brain-friendly? Does the experience align with how your attendees’ brains work? Or does it work against the brain’s natural systems, shutting it down from learning? Two Critical Conference Factors To … [Read more…]

Helping Conference Participants Move From Superficial Knowing To Understanding

Have you ever walked out of a conference education session and said, “Now I understand,” and then can’t remember the main point? Sure you have. You’ve been a victim of superficial knowledge. You have a false sense of security that you “got it.” Then when you try to talk about it, you can’t remember the … [Read more…]

Ten Learning Shifts For Conferences, Events And Associations

To paraphrase cognitive scientist and author Cathy Davidson: Our nonprofit institutions, for the most part trade and professional associations as well as professional societies, are acting as if the world has not suddenly, irrevocably, cataclysmically, epistemically changed. Learning Is Changing Learning is changing. Anyone. Any time. Anywhere. By the end of 2011, 2 billion people … [Read more…]

Where Is The Conference Revolution Headed Next?

Like potter’s hands on clay, social technologies continue to shape our world. We are witnessing one of the greatest cultural revolutions in some time. It’s impacting everything from our personal lives to our families to our work to our relationships. The Social Network Era has arrived. From Things To Ideas Society has shifted from a … [Read more…]

Are You Corrupting Your Education Sessions?

Less is more. Too much, too fast, it won’t last. That’s a favorite adage used by some educators. The underlying concept is that you can present more and faster. But your listeners will simply forget more and faster! Overloading The Mind Organizations and conference planners are often pressured to offer more presentations and content. More, … [Read more…]

Are Conferences Flushing Education Dollars Down The Toilet?

Companies spent more than U.S. $125.88 billion in 2009 for training, including conference education. (ASTD 2010 State Of Industry Report) And less than 10% of what employees are taught sticks. (Influencer: The Power To Change Anything, VitalSmarts) That’s $113.29 billion dollars wasted, flushed down the toilet. What Really Matters The top two reasons people attend … [Read more…]