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…]
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…]
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…]
Dare to color outside the lines. Have the courage to take risks. Let go of outdated, dead sacred cows. These were just a few of the overarching themes from Experient’s e4 2011 Conference “Outside the Lines.” Bye, Bye Breakouts! Hello Innovation Labs! The Experient team always delivers a stellar conference that’s engaging. They are willing to … [Read more…]
I understand what is going on in most annual conference committees: personal agendas, conference schedule deadlines, speaker favorites, leaders seeking control, volunteers posturing for their own ideas and power. What I struggle to comprehend is what isn’t going on. What Isn’t Happening It seems to me that annual conference committee volunteers should be serving the … [Read more…]
I register for conferences online. I make my hotel reservations online. I make my flight reservations online. I try to schedule my itinerary online. I schedule my medical appointments online. Except for emergencies of course. I make my hair appointment online. I make my dental appointments online. I buy my movie tickets online. I connect … [Read more…]
I am a firm believer that the proper application of appropriate meeting technology is a corner stone of today’s successful meetings and events. The world has changed. Our customers have changed. Yet our conferences and meetings are institutionalized systems that have remained stagnant. Blessed Are Those… The following beatitudes are suggested ways to help meeting … [Read more…]
Attendees spend about 24 hours physically present in a three-day conference experience. (About eight hours a day, outside of sleep and night activities.) Students who attend school from kindergarten through high school typically spend more than 13,000 hours learning from teachers. 24 hours seem minimal as compared to 13,000 hours. Yet, most conference participants try … [Read more…]
Attention is a payment of the brain’s resources. It requires that we adjust, engage and sustain each of our nine brain areas involved in attention. We must also exclude, suppress or ignore external and internal distracters. Ultimately, we need a highly disciplined internal state and the right brain chemical balance to maintain attention. This is … [Read more…]
Every day I read dozens of blogs and articles about new technologies arriving at our door steps. I am always intrigued by the technology people create. Even more so, I am fascinated by their inventiveness. Their ingenuity. Their originality and resourcefulness. It’s very appealing and captivating. I want to hang around with those inventors and … [Read more…]
