“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...]
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...]
Too Many Conferences Provide Plop, Placate And Pay
Have conferences become too enthralled with experts and attendees swapping solutions? Have conference organizers resigned themselves to the inertia of the way we’ve always done it? Is the traditional conference experience in danger of being institutionalized which devalues individual expression? Are we addicted to providing passive plop, placate and pay* experiences? Are conference organizers sitting on a ticking time bomb doomed to repeat their past experiences because they don’t know of … [Read more...]
Conferences Can Cultivate Curiosity Or The Cult Of Expertise Groupies
Everyone seems to be looking for the next sure thing. We like answers. We seek quick remedies. We attend conferences looking for shortcut solutions with big payouts. We expend a lot of energy to find tips to the trade, keys to success, or hacks that provide instant results. The less we have to work at it, the more we like it. Cult Of Expertise We crave and want quick cures and successful tonics to our dilemmas. We spend $1,500-$2,000 for conference registration, lodging, travel and … [Read more...]
Confusion And Brain Strain Are Freakish Factors Required To Learn
Whenever possible the brain operates on autopilot. That’s why for example you can fold laundry while having a conversation. Your brain goes on autopilot to fold clothes so you can focus your thinking on the conversation. When you do something over and over again, your brain picks up the pattern and reverts to autopilot. This impacts the traditional conference lecture. We’ve been to so many lectures that the brain coasts on cruise control. The Challenge With Most Conference … [Read more...]
Increase Your Conference Attendee Engagement By Increasing Relevance
“How can I increase engagement at my conference?” It’s a question I hear a lot. “How can I help my attendees increase their engagement?” What’s my answer? Increase the relevance. Increase the relevance of the content. Increase the relevance of the learning experience. Oh and by the way, what type of engagement are you talking about? The Camouflaged Faux Engaged Attendee As meeting professionals, we struggle with defining attendee engagement. Too often we think that when … [Read more...]
Conferences Are Creating Toxic Events With Visual Logorrhea
Most conferences spread verbal diarrhea and visual logorrhea like viral diseases. We create toxic airborne events cluttering the conference experience with an overuse of monologues, panel dialogues and slideuments. Author Garr Reynolds coined the word slideument referring to presentations that have enough text that they can “speak for themselves.” While a presentation that speaks for itself seems like a good idea, the research shows that slideuments are a distraction for the audience. No … [Read more...]
How To Be A Bodacious, Wicked, Totally Tubular Technical Presenter
Highly specialized technical complex topics are often associated with boring, butt-numbing, brain-draining, hum-drum, buzzkill presentations. So how do you tackle complicated technical content head on and still deliver an engaging, memorable and bodacious presentation? How do you move your audience from saying, “I thought that presentation would never end,” to “Booyah! That was totally awesomesauce!” Our Need For Technical Presentations Trade organizations depend upon accuracy, … [Read more...]
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