“My presentation is fine. It’s the audience’s fault if they don’t get it?” “Why do I need to change the way I present? My lecture has worked for years. I get great scores and reviews.” I’m sure you’ve heard statements like this. Maybe you’ve even said something similar yourself. So, why should speakers change how they present at your conference? The Lecture—The Presenters’ And Learners’ Desert Mirage The standard didactic lecture…It’s been used successfully for years. Right? All that … [Read more...]
Why Bother With Conference Education Peer Discussions?
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...]
Increasing Active Learning Yields Big Results Infographic
Dr. Russell Mumper, Vice Dean of the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC Chapel Hill, decided to try the flipped classroom concept. He knew that with the explosion of information there was no way to teach his students everything. Instead he used his content to teach them how to become active, lifelong learners. He then performed rigorous research to see if active learning and putting lectures online worked. The results changed his perception of teaching. Take a look at this infographic from … [Read more...]
The Conference Lecture Paradox
When talking about conference education, most people think about the traditional lecture. It is perceived as the holy grail of much of the conference. Many attendees swear they learn a lot from those subject matter expert speeches. It’s a paradox. Attendees flock to general sessions and breakouts to hear a lecture. Yet science says they retain very little from it. Same goes for panels, but that's another post. Hat tips to authors Thom and Joani Schultz for their writings about learning … [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...]
The Tragic All Too Common Brain Busting Conference Lecture
Have you seen the Gary Larson cartoon of the student asking if he can be excused because his brain is full? As author Roy Pollock points out, it’s funny as a cartoon. However overwhelming a listener’s brain is a tragic and wasteful problem that happens in many education sessions. Especially conference keynotes and breakouts. Jam The Content In Most conference speakers try to cover too much content in their allotted time. The result is cognitive overload say education researchers. When … [Read more...]
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