Which is more important to your attendees’ conference experience? Delivery of information or discovery of content? There lies the tension for 21st Century Conferences offering education sessions. The Faulty Premise For Conference Delivery As A Priority In most conference experiences, an attendee’s role is to consume information and knowledge that is hypothetically scarce. A conference … [Read more…]
Is your annual meeting nothing more than a zombie conference? Zombie conferences provide schedules packed full of informative presentations and sessions that try to consume your brain. Presenters rapidly shovel content at attendees. Their goal is to cram as much information as possible into a person’s mind. They stuff more information into their presentation aiming … [Read more…]
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…]
Most conference marketing should say: Come to our Zombie Conference! We want to consume your brain! At least that statement would be more authentic to many conference experiences. Many conference schedules are packed full of education sessions and informative presentations. Organizers rapidly shovel and push information at attendees. It often feels like a medieval joust … [Read more…]
It’s time to decide which one your conference is: information dump or learning facilitator. Is there a difference between information and education? Education and learning? A quick review of the definitions for each within the context of meetings helps provide clarity. Information Information is concepts, data, facts and research. Communicating information is normally show-n-tell lectures … [Read more…]
It was a wasted ninety minutes of life. 5,400 seconds of possibility that are now gone forever without a shred of hope, learning or motivation. It had such potential. It died so quick and so young. No one understood a single thing that was said. The barrage of PowerPoint slides with small fonts, too many … [Read more…]
I love these ten TED speaker commandments. If you’ve not seen them before, make them part of your conference speaker packet! The TED Speaker Commandments Thou shalt not simply trot out thy usual shtick. Thou shalt dream a great dream, or show forth a wondrous new thing, or share something thou hast never shared … [Read more…]
Finding new ways to engage conference participants is a challenge for many conference organizers. Entertainment, the Internet and media have transformed society into the participatory culture. Today’s conference audiences are accustomed to quick action, rapid scene changes, racing soundtracks and the ability to change their direction with a click. They expect visceral stimulation and are … [Read more…]
Breakouts, concurrent sessions, forums, general sessions, Ignite, lectures, Open Space, panels, Pecha Kucha, peer to peer, plenary sessions, round tables, seminars, workshops. Conference education. No matter what we call them, they all have one thing in common: sharing of information with the goal of education and learning. What Is The Goal Of Conference Education? So … [Read more…]
Your Conference Is Like Vanity Press Are you charging speakers a full or discounted registration fee to present at your conference? Perhaps they must cover their own travel, lodging and expenses to attend your conference in addition to spending time to develop their presentation. And pay a registration fee. Does your conference do that? If … [Read more…]
