Can Your Conference Really Be Personalized? March 7, 2013 by Jeff Hurt It seems to be a regular part of our normal life today — the personalization of content, programs, products and services. Yet, our conferences still serve up generic content for the masses. We Notice When Personalization Is Absent Recently I observed an annual conference committee meeting of a major association. Staff and volunteer leaders were … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, event, meeting, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
How Predictable Is Your Annual Conference? March 1, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Has your annual conference become predictable? Do attendees show up to the general session late because they know it starts with business for 20-30 minutes before the keynote? Predictable Meetings, Routine Conferences Predictable: behaving in a way that is expected and can be predicted; can be prophesied; can be foretold; to declare or indicate in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conferences, Education & Adult Learning, event, meeting, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
Social Media, Social Technology Tools And Social Learning For Your Conference September 14, 2012 by Jeff Hurt OK, I admit it. I’m an information junkie! I’m addicted to learning new information. Learning, My Drug Of Choice Learning is my drug of choice. I get a high when my internal light bulb flashes. With each aha, my body is flooded with endorphins. I consume hordes of information on a regular basis. I love … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, social learning, Social Media, social technology
Social Learning At Conferences: Moving From Passive Attendee To Active Participant September 13, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever received the elbow nudge during a workshop or conference? If you’re like me, you’ve even given a few to colleagues and friends. The Ubiquitous Elbow Nudge The elbow nudge occurs when a peer decides to emphasize something a presenter said. Suddenly you feel an elbow in your rib cage as your contemporary … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, informal learning, learning trends, social learning, speaker tips
Six Incredibly Boring And Monstrous Mistakes In Digital Education May 29, 2012 by Jeff Hurt The majority of online education is poorly designed and extremely boring. We’ve all attended Webinars that make root canals seem more exciting! Six Big Online Education Mistakes University Professor Guillermo Ramirez, author of The Virtual Presenter, believes that online education is here to stay. Unfortunately, most organizations continue to deliver poor online education experiences. Here … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , digital education, digital events, digital presentations, Education & Adult Learning, online education, online learning, presentation best practices, webinars
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 Customized Conference Learning Experiences March 27, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Dave Lutz and I recently presented for ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference 2012 on Creating Customized Conference Learning Experiences. We shared our philosophy and process for planning the content for PCMA’s 2011 and 2012 Learning Lounge. The Learning Lounge was a joint project between PCMA, Freeman and Velvet Chainsaw. Here are the slides from our presentation. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , adult education, conference education, conferences, customized learning. brain-friendly learning, Education & Adult Learning, Learning Lounge, PCMA
The End Of Conference Education As We Know It March 8, 2012 by Jeff Hurt “In the spirit of honoring tradition, conferences hang on to past practices imperiling their futures,” paraphrase, Clayton Christensen, Harvard University. Conference speakers present today, exactly the same way they did one-hundred years ago. Little has changed. Yet, we’ve learned so much more about how people learn and retain information. Unfortunately, the conference presentations have not … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conference education, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planning best practices
Do You Plan Meetings With 500+ People? September 7, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Do you plan meetings with 500 or more people? Do you secure both professional and industry speakers for your events? If yes to both questions, would you give us about 10 minutes of your time to complete this survey? Velvet Chainsaw has partnered with Tagoras, a leading market research and learning consulting company to capture … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , associations, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planner, meeting planning, meeting professionals, research
The Six Essential Re’s Of Successful Conferences September 1, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Your conference is not as unique as you think it is! Most of them are carbon-copy, cookie-cutter replicates of each other. You may have dressed up your conference with some cosmetics to make it look different than others but it tastes, smells and feels all too familiar. It actually reminds people of a stale, untouched, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
