While I’m not quite the conference afficionado that Stowe is, I nonetheless completely agree with his comments:
We have sacrificed too much for the sake of turning the conference experience into a product. At least the very best events should be orchestrated as artistic endeavors, a form of performance, a sublime experience where we are challenged, enlarged, and made wiser. Where the chance interactions with like-minded others are not stolen moments over poor coffee. Where attendees will look back on them as turning points in their thinking, their careers, their lives.
There are a few things wrong with conferences in my mind, most of which Stowe hit on:
1. Panels are nearly useless
2. Sessions are overly long, complex and useless
3. There isn’t enough actual interaction
4. There is little actual value to attendees
5. Very little actual networking happens
While I haven’t helped organize a conference in quite some time, maybe we need to break the mold just a little bit. Why not some of these ideas?
1. Reserve rooms as “open rooms” where anyone can pick a topic and then others can join in. This might, just might, ensure that topics that people are actually interested in take place. If you limit the time to half an hour or whatnot, you can get a fair number of these in over the course of a day.
2. I agree with Stowe that 1-1 style of “interrogation” would not only be lively, but would also allow the audience to write-in questions (which the interviewer can then choose to ask)
3. For when panels are necessary (because they CAN be good), rely heavily on audience questions, and don’t allow more than a couple of minutes for an answer. If you can’t make your point in 1 minute, it’s probably not worth listening to for 10 minutes.
4. Always, always, always have wireless, power and a “backchannel” (chat room). These not only keep audiences engaged, but also keep speakers accountable. If this is a panel session, the moderator should be able to see this. If it’s an interview, ditto. If you can put it up on a screen, that’s even better.
5. Provide networking sessions around topics of interest. Plan events. I can’t stress this enough. Conferences without events leave people who aren’t part of groups to just drink themselves to sleep.
As a final thought for conference organizers, everyone knows you can’t always pay a speaker, but how about covering airfare and hotel? Sorry, but I’m sick of bringing value to you, attracting audiences, contributing 2-5 days of my time and having to pay for it.
I know how expensive organizing a conference can be. But I also know that I don’t think I’ll ever spend 1000$ to speak at a conference again, unless it’s a truly great conference (SXSW for example).
It’s even worse when I have to pay an admission (as happened recently).
Sadly, I can’t read the article that stirred Stowe’s thoughts, because it’s locked behind the iron gates of premium content.
Either way, the reality is that conferences need to change if they’re going to stay relevant. Unconferences, nonconferences, etc will continue to grow in popularity, though they won’t hold the same potential value.
I’m happy to work with anyone who wants to, to try and fix this issue. Let’s hear what you have to say though. What would entice you to go to a conference? What’s the most you’d pay to go to a conference? Is it more important to have one big conference with ‘everyone’ there, or to have several small ones, one close to your home? Is there any reason audiences can’t be the speakers, and speakers can’t be the audiences?
Let’s stir this puppy up!
#1 by David Paull - May 24th, 2005 at 11:25
Very good and interesting post. I spend a lot of time thinking about this because my company specializes in your #3 item above. We use wireless devices to ask questions of the audience, the responses to which are instantly presented back to the speaker to then drive the session in a relevant direction. As one example, we recently worked on an event where a 90-minute panel discussion was completely driven by how the audience answered questions. Rather than the moderator simply asking the panel members to answer his questions, he asked the audience what they thought on various topics and had the panelists react to those opinions. The result was a session that was incredibly relevant to the audience because they drove the discussion.
We use the same technology to bring some fun and interaction to sessions by dividing the audience and having competitions through questions and activities relevant to the scope of the event. These work particularly well over lunch and people love to compete and win prizes, etc.
What I tell my clients is to interact with their audience, not talk to them.
I actually have a lot of ideas and have done this sort of thing for a good number of events. So, if you’d like to brainstorm, be in touch.
#2 by Elisa Camahort - May 24th, 2005 at 13:55
Hey Jeremy: you’ll be glad to know that BlogHer has had “Room of Your Own” sessions on the schedule since we announced the conference in early April. And people have come out of the woodwork with ideas that we, as organizers, wouldn’t have thought of.
You bring up an interesting point on conference speakers. When I spoke as part of the corporate high-tech world there were two things that were clear: 1. the conferences were money-making endeavors for and 2. my trip was subsidized by my for-profit company…as a marketing effort, since any presentation subtly extolled the virtues of whatever solution we had.
Things shift when you’re taking about grass-roots, nono-profit events, paid for out of pocket by a few organizers, and speakers who are like you and me…on our own. I mean it is to our benefit to speak and gain credibility, speaking credits etc., so the benefit is not a one-way street, but it’s a lot harder to justify when it’s just little old me paying for it…I hear you.
What we’re doing with BlogHer is being totally honest with our speakers and asking them to be totally honest about what they need to attend. Some speakers do work for companies and can consider it a marketing expense, just like I did when I traveled for my old tech company. Some speakers are saying I really can’t come without airfare being taken care of. Some speakers are saying, can you find me a place to crash?
It’s not quite as glam as the days when I (and my company) didn’t think twice about flying to Lisbon for 36 hours to speak.
But it’s amazing what people can do when they are honest and pull together to make something happen.
#3 by Rachel - May 25th, 2005 at 16:53
I agree totally with Jeremy and Stowe’s comments, and I have found a solution or a least one of them. An interactive,up close and personal workshop hosted by the experts in the internet marketing industry. The “Internet with Integrity” Power Summit is a diamond in the rough, and it is in New York this June. Declan Dunn is a dynamic speaker who puts these seminars on 4 times a year all over the country. Take it from me, I attended the one in Atlanta last February, and I actually got to present my business project to the group for feedback. It was unbelieveably helpful, Declan had some awesome insights that opened up my own perspective. Declan and Jody(his partner) are about more than money, they have created a scholarship program for(the not so rich)people who have a desire to learn how to market their business online, through their distance learning platform, check out http://payitforwardrightnow.com. They were willing to pay it forward for me so could attend. I think that their workshop is the kind of confrence that Stowe is describing and more. I suggest you check out the New York “Internet with Integrity” Power Summit this June 24th - 26th, it is sure to please and if not there is a 100% money back guarantee at the end of the seminar. So there is no risk! In short it was the best seminar I’ve ever been to(and I been to quite a few), I wish I could make it to New York but I am swamped with orders, thanks to Declan and Jody.
#4 by Rachel - May 25th, 2005 at 16:59
Oops! I left out to best way for you to get to the “Internet with Integrity” Power Summit http://rightnowseminar.com, trust me you owe it to yourself and your business.
#5 by Matthew Homann - May 26th, 2005 at 20:39
That’s exactly what we did with LexThink in Chicago this April — an invitation-only collaborative brainstorming conference. We are having a few more events this year, and I’ll give you a head’s up when we make the announcement.