How many conference speakers have you seen that don’t want attendees asking, answering, commenting or participating during their presentations? From the speaker’s point of view, the presentation seems to be moving along nicely as the content is covered. The room is silent except the speaker’s voice. And surely that means that the audience is attentively listening and learning. Right? However, look at the audience and you’ll see from their body language that the speech is far from … [Read more...]
Creating Sticky Learning To Combat Our Illusion Of Knowing
Much of what we take for gospel about how to learn is wasted effort. Learning is grossly misunderstood. The most effective learning strategies are counterintuitive. We believe that attending education and listening to a presenter leads to learning. Just give me the crib sheets, the list of tips, the high level takeaways and I have it. It's easy and I don't have to work for it. So instead we fleece them. We give them what they want even though it doesn't lead to job … [Read more...]
Encourage Conference Experiences That Lead To Practice-Rich Lives Not Knowledge-Rich Brains
Your conference doesn’t have to be the place that only offers expert lectures. It doesn’t have to only offer authorized, approved speeches. Or one-way monologues and panel dialogues. You have the opportunity to pave the way for rich, two-way, peer to peer dialogue. You can create education offerings that provide time for audience elaboration, discussion, doubts, push back and questions not just passive listening. Those conversations lead to ownership of takeaways and authentic … [Read more...]
Are You Guilty Of Advancing The Height Of Conference Arrogance?
The sound of a great conference is not the thunderous applause following an inspiring speaker. It is the creaking of our mind's doors and windows opening to fresh vistas and perspectives. It’s the low hum of people talking to one another in pairs about their insights, thoughts, reflections, concerns and opportunities around short chunked critical content. It’s our internal metaphorical brain-gears spinning as our aha-lights burn brightly. Closeted Dirty Presentation Secrets Here’s the … [Read more...]
Bringing Authentic Conference Conversations To Life
Peer conversations are more important to your conference than you know. I’m not talking about one of your attendees serving as a speaker talking at the audience. That’s a lecture. I’m referring to peer conversations in pairs, threesomes and small groups. You know when it’s happening at conferences because the rooms are buzzing with discussions. Everyone is talking to someone else. The Industrial Conference Is Dead Most of us still depend upon and expect an outdated model of conferences: … [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 And Democracy Are Intertwined Using discussions as a learning method is a valuable and exciting way for revealing diverse … [Read more...]
