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 why do conferences offer education sessions? To drive revenue and attract customers. To fulfill the organization's mission, … [Read more...]
Is Your Conference Guilty Of Incestuous Inbreeding Or Speaker Vanity Publishing?
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 yes, lawyer and speaker James H. "Jim" Moss says you are like a vanity press. Wikipedia defines a vanity press or vanity publisher as a publishing house … [Read more...]
Raining On Your Presentation Parade: Facts Do Not Persuade
It felt like a scene from Groundhog Day. I was stuck in a time warp loop. Presenter after presenter after presenter started with the same phrase, "I have no financial conflict of interest to disclose." Then each one launched into a diatribe of data, diagrams, facts and research. Dark, boring PowerPoint slides flashed before my eyes. Some were unreadable. Most were forgettable. Every six minutes, up to fifteen times per ninety-minutes, a new presenter stepped up to the podium and started a … [Read more...]
Nine Essentials To Keep Your Presentation From Becoming A Corpse
Presentations are the economy of most conferences and business today. Yet most presentations are boring. A majority of them are just uninteresting. They lack humanness, life, passion and emotional connections. Today, many conference participants feel trapped by a parade of monotonous, dreary, insipid presentations. It doesn't take long to recognize a corpse. It takes even less time to recognize a conference that is a morgue of corpse presentations. Presentation Failures In Three Critical … [Read more...]
Seven Tips to Get the Most From Your Industry Speakers
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” When it comes to selecting industry speakers, that adage is especially sage. You've read their speaker proposal, description and bio. They look like the right fit for your conference. But just because they’ve got the right dancing shoes doesn't mean they can pull off the dance. Here are seven considerations to keep in mind to make sure you line up the right industry speakers for your event. 1. It takes two to dance. Build a relationship with your industry … [Read more...]
What Presentations And Pancakes Have In Common
I woke up with an intense craving for golden, fluffy, hot, spongy pancakes with a crispy edge. I rarely eat pancakes. But this morning the desire was strong. My mind was deluged with the smell of fresh pancakes on the griddle, the sound of the batter hitting the pan and the sight of a pancake made in the shape of an animal with a chocolate chip as an eye. Childhood memories flooded my mind. So what do successful presentations and great pancakes have in common? Actually a lot. 1. The right … [Read more...]
Applying The Fisch Flip To Your Conference Model
Have you heard about the Fisch Flip or Flip-Thinking? Dan Pink wrote about Flip Thinking and how some people are reversing the usual sequence of things. Pink talks about Karl Fisch, a 20-year educator who has decided to flip the standard high-school math class. Fisch puts all of his lectures on YouTube and assigns them as homework to his students. When they come to class, he facilitates activities, exercises, questions and discussion. Instead of the lecture occurring in class and the students … [Read more...]
The 21st Century Conference Attendee Bill Of Rights
Here is the heart of why most people attend conferences: learning. Learning about others. Learning new ideas through collaboration and problem solving. Learning what has worked. Learning solutions to our problems. Learning current trends and research to further our careers. Learning is the heartbeat of today's world. Stop learning and you stop progression, and business is dead in its tracks. Stop learning and you become stagnant like a cesspool. Learning is also the pulse in business: doing it … [Read more...]
