Horseshoe Groups: Merging Two Buzz Groups To Increase Audience Discussion May 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are a barrier to the listener’s thinking. The constant one-way transfer of information is like a dripping faucet. The information keeps coming and coming and coming. And that constant drip of new data, facts, figures and info keeps the brain overwhelmed with new information. The listener is faced with a choice: listen to the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, engagement, lecture, participatory learning, presentation best practices
Creating Buzz Groups To Add Audience Participation To Traditional Lectures May 10, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are good for sharing information. They are not good for learning and getting listeners to think! Nor are the good for getting listeners to remember and apply the information they hear. Audience discussion methods are more effective for learning than the lecture. Lectures are the equivalent of distributing a report and asking people to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, engagement, lecture, participatory learning, presentation best practices
Uses And Abuses Of The Common Lecture March 29, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Few people agree about what makes a good lecture. It’s like asking about what is good art or great music. Our personal tastes are all over the map. Some researchers have found that individuals want different and often conflicting things from a lecture. Since lectures will be evaluated and assessed at extremes of a rating … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, brain science education, conference education, dult education, lecture, presentation best practices
What Really Happens When We Listen To A Lecture March 28, 2012 by Jeff Hurt The ubiquitous lecture. On any given day thousands of lectures occur across the globe. People gather in arenas, board rooms, city halls, colleges and universities, conferences, conference rooms, churches, general sessions, libraries, meeting rooms, schools and theaters to hear lectures. It is the most common method used when teaching adults. Unfortunately, it is also ineffective … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, brain science education, conference education, lecture, presentation best practices
Two Strategies To Infuse Lectures With Learning March 14, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are ineffective methods to promote learning. Even if you want to disagree with this premise, the scientific research remains the same. Lectures have limits. They are effective ways to transmit information. They are as effective as distributing a report to read. They are not as effective as discussions for learning. Two Methods To Combine … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, lecture, presentation best practices
What Lectures Actually Achieve March 13, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures have limits when used for education. Lectures are a great way to share information. However they are not as effective as discussions for getting learners to think, develop attitudes or change behaviors. Why Lectures? In politics lectures are called speeches. In faith institutions lectures are called sermons. In colleges and universities lectures are called … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, lecture, presentation best practices
Avoiding Zombie Zeitgeist: How Passive Listening Undermines Learning March 9, 2012 by Jeff Hurt The walking dead! We see them at every conference we attend. Eyes glazed over. Faces void of emotion. Weird body twitches from sitting in one position too long. Aimlessly walking the same direction to the next session. Grunts and groans as they salivate for something they will not get–relevant, meaningful information, relationship building activities and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, lecture, presentation best practices
Resurrect Lifeless Lectures: Tips For Turning Listeners Into Learners December 8, 2011 by Jeff Hurt You want me to do what? Include audience engagement and participation in my presentation? You’ve got to be joking. I’ve got too much content to cover! We’ve all heard that excuse from presenters. They fear if they don’t cover all the content, the listener won’t get all of the information. We love to explain things, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, lecture, presentation best practices
Your Conference Audience Is Dead September 27, 2011 by Jeff Hurt It used to be that face to face presentations were one of the most important places people would go to get new, cutting-edge, critical information. They would pay a conference registration fee, airfare, lodging and expenses to attend a conference just to get that new information. But that has changed with the click of the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , active participation, audience expectations, conference best practices, conferences, engagement, lecture, meeting planning best practices, participatory design
Your Memory: The Engine And Bottleneck Of Learning February 8, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Myth: The more we sit and listen to conference lectures, the more we learn. Fact: Our memory is both the engine and the bottleneck of learning. The more information we receive without thinking about it, the more we corrupt our learning. Three Critical Factors Of Working Memory Working memory is the part of your mind … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, adult learning, conferences, engagement, lecture, meeting planning basics, presentation best practices, presentation strategies