Three Key Ingredients Needed For Conference Learning To Occur June 18, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Learning at conferences is actually a fragile thing. Many things affect our learning. And those factors increase in a complex, content-rich, sensory-strong, ever changing, unfamiliar conference environment. Three Factors That Influence Our Learning Cognitive psychology researchers have shown that three major factors influence how much and how well we learn: ability, prior knowledge and motivation. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference education, conferences, learning
Six Conference Space Properties To Transform Attendee Behavior June 15, 2012 by Jeff Hurt As a meeting professional, you have the power to identify and manipulate the properties of a space to foster specific behaviors and attitudes. These spatial characteristics can be fine tuned to create a unique attendee experience. And it all rests within the power of your planning. Six Properties That You Can Adjust Properties are the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conferences, design for participation, meeting best practices, meeting space
Conference Organizers Are Space Designers, Cultural Translators And Learning Facilitators June 14, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Meeting space is the body language of the conference host organization.* Conference organizers have the ability to transform behavior, affect mood and foster learning with their attention and intention to the space’s design. Their lack of intention to that design also has an impact on the attendee. Your Space Decisions Define Your Beliefs The conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conferences, design for participation, meeting best practices, meeting space
Strategies For Attracting And Growing The Right Conference Audience June 11, 2012 by Jeff Hurt You seldom awake in the morning with people waving money in your face to register for your event. There comes a time in every conference’s history when there is a need to identify and pursue the right markets for conference growth and sustainability. Instead of trying to be all things to all people and offer … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference education, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning, meeting professionals
Rethinking The Event Experience June 7, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Our conferences and events need to create a more powerful attendee-centric experience. The passive conference attendee experience of the past twenty years is not enough. Attendees no longer want to sit for hours and just listen to experts speak. They want to be involved. Attendees are demanding and expecting something different today. Or they will … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, meeting planner, meeting professionals
Creating Compelling Experiential Spaces For Conferences June 1, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Steelcase, a global office environment creator, was invited by TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) Conference organizers to create immersive environments for their conference. (Did you click on that link to watch the short video clips showing some examples?) TED wanted compelling spaces that sparked great attendee conversations and nurtured community. 5 Principles For Designing Compelling … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , collaboration, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting space, Steelcase, TED
How To Create A Sticky Conference May 25, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Just how sticky is your conference? Sticky conferences create experiences that last beyond the two to three days of the conference. They focus on creating real relationships with strong connections. It’s about more than speed networking where people just exchange business cards or speed sessions to see how much info people can cram into their … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting planning best practices, networking, sticky conference
Why Many Experts Make Bad Presenters, Especially For Novice Audiences May 18, 2012 by Jeff Hurt When I was a new teenage driver, I learned not to ask my father for directions. (Remember we did not have Google Maps yet.) Our discussion would go something like this: Jeff: Dad, what exit do I take off of the freeway to get to Valley View Mall? Dad: You get on Peters Creek Road … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conference education, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, presentation best practices, subject matter experts
Creating Community, Identity And Reflection With Your Conference Space May 17, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever seen a movie that starts with a fast action scene? Immediately, you are pulled into the middle of things. Screenwriters call this media res or in the middle of a plot. They know that they can pull their viewers into the story by placing the action at the beginning. This same principle … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , collaboration, community, conference best practices, conferences, horizontal peer learning, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional, meeting space, peer-to-peer, reflection
Horseshoe Groups: Merging Two Buzz Groups To Increase Audience Discussion May 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are a barrier to the listener’s thinking. The constant one-way transfer of information is like a dripping faucet. The information keeps coming and coming and coming. And that constant drip of new data, facts, figures and info keeps the brain overwhelmed with new information. The listener is faced with a choice: listen to the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, engagement, lecture, participatory learning, presentation best practices
