Tag: conference education


21st Century Revolutionary Conferences Have Transformed The Traditional Education Session

Conferences that focus primarily on lecture-based methods are becoming increasingly difficult to defend! There is ample evidence that the lecture creates phony learning, along with the inability to retain and apply what has been heard. Packed conference sessions and smile-sheet summary evaluations only indicate that attendees can successfully sit through dreary lectures. It does not … [Read more…]

Cheat Sheet: Using Group Talk As Discussions For Conference Education

The evidence is loud and clear that peer discussions are more effective than lectures if memory and knowledge retention, attitude, behavior and skill change, and learning are the goals. Just dividing a traditional lecture into 10 minute chunks and then giving the audience two to ten-minute breaks for time for discussion increases learning. How Discussions … [Read more…]

Overcoming These Six Barriers To Audience Resistance To Participation

Even when you’ve adequately communicated the transition from passive attendee to active participant, some audience members will still resist. You’re challenging their comfort zone of passively sitting in a lecture. You are now asking them to engage on a different level which requires being fully present and doing something. And you’re challenging their past school … [Read more…]

Be Wary Of The Collision Of Conference Traditions And Attendee Expectations

The future most conference leaders want is at odds with the present they choose. Conference organizers have not even begun to explore the outer limits of their meeting’s full potential. Currently the conference’s limitless potential is crashing headlong into its leader’s self imposed boundaries and limitations. They sell the conference short. Bumping Up Against The … [Read more…]

The Transformative Power Of Peerology

In the world of conference education, the future is not necessarily about the next technology gadget or innovative session format. It’s about something that is as old as disco balls, platform shoes and shag carpeting: peerology. SME — Subject Matter Experts — has long been an important component of education session development. But it’s time … [Read more…]

Why Your Conference Needs A Listening Space

I decided it was a cold coffee type of a morning. A Starbucks Carmel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino would do nicely. Play That Funky Music White Boy! On the drive to the coffee shop, a new funky song came on the radio. It immediately transported me to my high school days. It had that Soul Train … [Read more…]

Top Ten Most Significant Challenges With Conference Education

Along with pending education trends that will influence conference education, there are significant challenges that will also have a tremendous impact. Conference organizers will face these challenges in the coming five years as traditional education methods continue to encounter disruptive innovation. Top Ten Challenges Here are the top ten most significant challenges in terms of … [Read more…]

Is Your Conference Guilty Of Content Bulimia?

Is your conference guilty of creating content bulimia for its stakeholders? You attendees binge and purge information at great speeds as your presenters race to cover content. They enter a room and receive a shovel load of content pushed at them at warp speeds. They think they are consuming as much as possible. As soon … [Read more…]

We Need Your Help: Industry And Professional Speaker Research

Two years ago, many of you contributed to a special research project that we conducted with Tagoras, a leading market research and consulting company for learning. This research identified trends for hiring professional speakers and provided insight for selecting and delivering concurrent sessions with industry speakers at major conferences. If you’re like us, you believe … [Read more…]

Your Conference Education Needs A New Narrative

The future of conference education is not necessarily about the next shining technology advancement, even though technology does play a fundamental role. Nor is it about the next new trend in delivery of information or the next innovative session format. The true conference education revolution is about a much simpler idea—nothing more, or less, than … [Read more…]