Participant-driven.Participation-rich.

Why do people go to conferences?

•Content

•Networking/connecting

Motivation #1

In 2005 there was no…

Motivation #1Online broadcast content is rapidly reducing the market for traditional conference broadcast-style sessions.

The Three Questions•How did I get here?•What do I want to have happen?•What experience or expertise do I have that others may find useful?

Motivation #2

“70% of what people know about their jobs, they learn informally from the people they work with”

—From The Teaching Firm, 1998 Education Development Center report sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts & US Department of Labor. The two-year

study included Boeing, Ford Electronics, Siemens, Motorola & 5 other companies.

Adopters of the 70:20:10 model

Nike, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Mars, Maersk, Nokia, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young,

L’Oréal, Adecco, Banner Health, Bank of America, National Australia Bank, Boston Scientific, American Express,

Wrigley, Diageo, BAE Systems, ANZ Bank, Irish Life, HP, Freehills, Caterpillar, Barwon Water, CGU, Coles, Sony

Ericsson, Standard Chartered, British Telecom, Westfield, Wal-Mart, Parsons Brinkerhoff, Coca-Cola, and others.

—Source, Charles Jennings: http://charles-jennings.blogspot.com/2011/08/social-workplace-learning-through.html

Motivation #2Traditional conference sessions don’t support informal learning, which is how we learn most of what we need to know today.

Motivation #3

Motivation #3

We learn much better when we participate inour learning.

Participation techniques•Human spectrograms•Affinity grouping•Small group discussions•Fishbowls•Personal introspectives•Group spectives

Some participant-driven event designs•Open Space•Conferences That Work•World Café•Future Search•Art of Hosting

Create a smaller regional/specialist “test” event.

Add a participant-driven half or full day of sessions.

Adrian SegarConferences That Workwww.conferencesthatwork.com