Seth Godin on meetings and conferences

Seth Godin writes an interesting piece: The new standard for meetings and conferences. In it he argues that the standards, along with people’s expectations of face-to-face meetings and conferences have changed significantly.

“if you think a great conference is one where the presenters read a script whole showing the audience bullet points, you’re wrong”.

I couldn’t agree more with what he is saying. The standards have changed, and people should expect more from organisers. This is one of the reasons I started etching out a career as a facilitator. Let me tell you how it all started …

Early in 2005, I was asked to host the technology stream of a software user group conference. I had attended a number of preceding conferences, and felt that they were staid and boring, and followed a far too ‘traditional’ format which focused on sales and marketing. They didn’t really provide the opportunity for dialogue or the type of engagement that customers were seeking. So, knowing that customers were going to sit through three days of powerpoint slides, I decided to go out on a limb and try something a little more dynamic and engaging. I ran a session based on Edward De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats method. I had never done this before, and did so with some caution. However, my instincts proved to be correct. The session was lots of fun and we had some great conversations. Afterwards the participants thanked me for trying something that was, for them, so different and unexpected.

This was a moment of clarity for me about just how important it is that we discover more productive, creative and innovative ways for people to work together — ways that engage people, that ignite their passions and harness the collective wisdom of the assembled group.

There’s a bunch of passionate and committed people out there doing lots of good work to improve the way conferences and meetings are run. It’s often underestimated, but it truly is important work.

[ 0 comments ] [ business - facilitation ]