We seem to always be looking for the next quick tip, idea, or feature to implement for our next conference. But not so fast — there’s some work that needs to be done first. Just copying someone else’s success and ideas is an easy way out. Give Me Your Great Ideas…Fast! We like to see and hear about others’ great ideas. We like lists of practical tips or steps to solve an issue. Then we copy them for our own meetings. We’re just like our conference attendees. When we attend a … [Read more...]
Unlearning Our Old Patterns Of Conference Education To Relearn For A Socially Engaged Future
It’s past time for conference organizers to learn about learning! Our conference success depends upon it. We’ve got to stop saying that it is someone else’s job to manage the content, programming and the attendee experience of the conference. That all we do is work on the logistics of the conference. If we want to increase our value as conference organizers, we have to understand the two primary attendee outcomes: networking and education (with a focus on improving on-the-job performance). … [Read more...]
Activating Attendee Heart Coherence Thru Intentionally Crafted Conference Experiences
What type of emotions does your conference experience activate? “Huh?” you say. “My conference is supposed to connect on an emotional level with attendees?” Whether you like it or not, your conference does initiate some type of emotion. Unfortunately, many conference experiences are bland, sterile boring events. They lack passion, enthusiasm and emotional highs and lows. Your Brain And Your Heart Your cerebral brain is an amazing organism. It has 100 billion neurons. Each neuron has … [Read more...]
Improving Conference Experiences With The Ground Breaking Discovery Of Brain-In-The-Heart
We’ve all heard people say: “Go with your gut.” “Just follow your heart.” “Trust your instinct.” These colloquial sayings feel more like fuzzy-thinking, sensitive touchy-freely speeches or lyrical metaphors. It’s not normally something that you expect experts to say at a conference. Nor is it something we strive to create in conference experiences. But should it be? The Brain-In-The-Heart Discovery In the recent past, researchers introduced the concept of a functional “heart … [Read more...]
Conference Education’s Dirty Little Secret
All conference education has a dirty little secret. And it’s bigger and dirtier than most. The big skeleton in the conference closet is that most attendees will forget the majority of what they hear during the event. The current design of the education session sabotages your learning and retention. Let’s Waste The Company’s Money No one says, “Hey, let’s spend a lot of money and time to attend a conference and participate in education sessions that we will never remember. Or even … [Read more...]
We Are Drawn To Effortless Education Which Results In Temporary, Fleeting Illusions Of Grandeur
There are no shortcuts to learning. Yet, we believe there are. We rush to see the top 20 tips in 60 minutes. Or the six best pointers an expert has learned from their own success. Our brains love lists. And our brains will take the easy route to alleged learning anytime. The Illusion Of Knowing If you are a speaker or conference organizer, consider the following: Creating sessions that provide a list of tips and tricks does not lead to authentic learning. It leads to the illusion of … [Read more...]
Speakers: Covering Content Actually Obscures Understanding
Education is one way to improve ourselves personally and professionally. Whenever we find ourselves lacking knowledge, understanding or skills for a specific job task, we take a class. Or attend a conference. Or participate in a webinar. Or read a book. Sounds really simple. Right? Well, it’s not. The challenge with most education is our belief that learning something we don’t know requires an expert (the speaker) or another means (books, online, computers). The Watch Analogy Note: I … [Read more...]
Time To Face This Ironic Truth: We Do Not Learn From Experience
There, I said it. People do not learn from experience. You may think you learn from experience but… People only learn from reflecting on their experience. That’s the point author, facilitator and educator Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan drives home in his writings and workshops. The Key To Learning From An Experience If people learn from experience, Thiagi stresses, would they make the same mistake over and over again in their life? The key to learning from an experience is thinking … [Read more...]
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