Our linear and rational conference business models are our default thinking. Unfortunately, those traditional models cause us to navigate in a fog when the conference challenge is less straightforward. There are better ways to understand how to grow your conference than what you’ve done in the past. As conference professionals, we are inclined to continue to use models that have always worked enormously well for us. Yet our past has little relevance in the midst of an incredibly shifting … [Read more...]
An Anthropologist Walks Into A Conference
As your conference grows, it faces increased complexity. According to a recent IBM study of 1,600+ CEOs, the biggest challenge their companies face is the complexity gap. Eight out of ten of those CEOs expect their business environment to grow in complexity but less than half are prepared to face that change. Your conference’s growth faces similar complexity gaps. Forward-thinking conference professionals see gathering business intelligence about their target market as imperative. These … [Read more...]
Exposing Your Mental Model For Conference Education
Most conference organizers are not even aware of the mental models that drive their decisions—especially when it comes to conference education. Rarely do we openly examine or actively process our mental models. We just act. So those beliefs continue to govern our thoughts and decisions, without our awareness or knowledge. As a conference organizer, your primary task should be to develop appropriate and accurate mental models. That means your current thinking may need to change. Your … [Read more...]
More Dangerous Assumptions About Your Conference Education Part 2
The research* shows that much of what we do in our conference education is actually counterproductive. (*See partial list of research and books at the end of Dangerous Assumptions Part 1 post.) We spend too much of our conference time on delivery of information. The web is a better information delivery model than our events. We should shift our conference education focus to our attendees’ real business results. When we emphasize delivery for application instead of delivery for information … [Read more...]
Dangerous Assumptions About Your Conference Education Part I
It’s a very dangerous assumption. We assume that if our speakers are talking, our attendees must be learning. We equate telling from the stage with audience education. Telling does not equal learning. We’ve placed a value on experts talking instead of a value on attendees’ learning. It’s backwards thinking and it’s one of our conference’s most dangerous assumptions. Mimicking The Wrong Model Most of our conference education mimics our traditional higher education model. Attendees listen … [Read more...]
Getting Leadership Buy-in For Your Conference Upgrades
Your conference planning team has bought in to the idea that their traditional conference model needs to change. They’ve even agreed to some of the unique changes that should happen. Now you have to convince your leadership including the C-Suite, possibly the Board of Directors, and others, that these changes are the right move to make. So where do you start? Especially since our brains are attracted to all the reasons why change is a bad idea. What types of discussion starters can you … [Read more...]
Converting Three Hugely Popular Complaints About Changing Conference Education
Some conferences have begun to make the transition from passive listening experiences to active participatory education sessions. Participatory conference education is moving from a buzzword to a normal practice. And ultimately, attendees benefit greatly from the change. Some conference organizers have discovered that this transition requires more work than the traditional model of sit-‘n-get lectures and panels. Conference leaders, organizers and presenters often face strong resistance … [Read more...]
Is Your Conference Fostering Conscious Cognitive Misers?
Are you creating intellectually lazy conference participants? Your conference programming may harbor bias toward minimizing cognitive efforts. In other words, your conference sessions and speakers may actual curtail participants’ thinking. Your conference could be creating happy fools. These happy fools blindly respond to their own problems by erroneously using your conference takeaways as accurate solutions. They avoid thinking, reflecting, and adapting those takeaways. Then when your … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 6
- Next Page »
