Comments for Conferences That Work

Comment on Pecha Kucha, not Ashton Kutcher by Adrian Segar

Adrian Segar — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Steven, here’s the most recent official word on what the Pecha Kucha organizers require for what they call “one-off Pecha Kucha events”. I received this in an email on June 9, 2011. Hope it helps:

As most of you know, a growing part of the PechaKucha movement over the past couple of years has been the one-off PechaKucha event (PKE). It’s something that we started supporting at first mostly because we had to do something about the demand for these kinds of events, by doing what we could to avoid having unofficial PK events happen everywhere, without your knowledge, and therefore often impacting your own regular PechaKucha Night series. We also simply do not have the resources to properly police the world and “crack down” on any improper use of the name (even though it is trademarked), and we also wanted to avoid having to come off as bullies, which runs counter to the PK spirit of sharing.

It hasn’t been easy to find the right balance in how to deal with these. As many of you know — meaning organizers that have been contacted about PKEs happening in their cities — we have changed the way we handle them a few times. Our goal has always been to find a way to keep everyone happy, and to try and avoid confusing the audience (in terms of what is a PKE versus a PKN).

And so this brings us to how we are going to start dealing with PKEs as of now.

1. We will ask that “PechaKucha” (or any derivative) not be used in the title of the event.
2. Organizers of these PKEs will be provided with a graphic badge (examples appear at the end of this newsletter) that indicates that the event is “Powered by PechaKucha,” that they will need to include on any material used to publicize the event.
3. In the case of events that are “for profit,” we will ask that a minimum donation of $200 be made, to help support the PechaKucha network.
4. We will no longer check in first with local organizers, but instead, you will be CCed on the correspondence for any PKE that will happen in your city.

On this last point, please realize that the way things have been now is simply unmanageable — on top of the extra time and number of emails it takes to deal with each event, some organizers are sometimes not able to reply right away (or forget to), and it stretches the process even more. There have been VERY FEW cases where an organizer had an issue with an event, and the vast majority end up being simple “go ahead” replies. We do want you to know that even if we reply to a request and start the process rolling, but that you feel there is a serious issue with the request, do tell us and we’ll take the appropriate measures.

Please note that in the vast majority of cases, these events are held for a very different kind of audience, and for these organizers/groups it’s simply a case of wanting to use the “PechaKucha 20 x 20″ format as part of their event because, hey, it’s a great format!

Comment on Pecha Kucha, not Ashton Kutcher by Steven James

Steven James — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Adrian,

Did you ever find out about getting permission to use PK at an event? I’m guessing the O’Reilly will have similar claims to Ignite.

Comment on Why I don’t like unconferences by Cameron Toth

Cameron Toth — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Great post! Participant Driven Conference is so much more clear.

Comment on Let’s make it suck by Adrian Segar

Adrian Segar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Traci, who knew you were such an inventive soul? (Me!) Great to get a testimonial from you that this technique works. Thanks!

Comment on Let’s make it suck by Adrian Segar

Adrian Segar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:47:00 +0000

Trent, try it out and report back!

Comment on Let’s make it suck by traci browne

traci browne — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:16:00 +0000

I’ve been doing this in planning events for years. It’s a great way to brainstorm new ideas for stale meetings. I start by asking, “what would we never do with this demographic.” I list everything that comes to mind and suddenly some great ideas start appearing. I can tell you from experience that this process works. Feedback we got from some of the attendees was along the lines of “this event was not what I was expecting…it was so much more fun”

Like a CEO roundtable dinner…they were always held in a private room in a high end restaurant. Some of the things you would never do with this group would be Take them to Applebees, Make them eat before coming to the meeting, Make them cook their own dinner. Next thing you know they are in the kitchen of a great restaurant cooking along side the chef and having a blast. When it came time to eat the dinner and discuss business they were so much more open and at ease with one another.

Comment on Let’s make it suck by Trent Hansen

Trent Hansen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:40:00 +0000

Great ideas on how to approach something completely different.

Comment on The science of white space at events by Joan Eisenstodt

Joan Eisenstodt — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:00:00 +0000

Sponsored white space: It makes sense and then it makes me shudder. Makes me think of all the Bowl games that are no longer simply named and all have sponsors. Thinking .. maybe it will sound better later …………………………..

Comment on The science of white space at events by Adrian Segar

Adrian Segar — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing these posts, Midori! Jeff covers much of the same ground in his inimitable style, as always—plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!

I like the idea of having a sponsor for white space at a traditional conference. But isn’t it a little sad that we have to formalize providing white space via enlightened sponsorship? One of the nice features of participant-driven conferences is that attendees know that they are allowed to take time for themselves when needed, and the group may decide to take advantage of white space opportunities that appear (e.g., see my earlier response to one of Joan’s comments).

Comment on The science of white space at events by Midori Connolly

Midori Connolly — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:18:00 +0000

Jeff Hurt wrote an awesome post in 2009 on this concept:
http://jeffhurtblog.com/2009/12/16/four-principles-for-planning-brain-friendly-annual-meetings/

I wrote about White Space a while back, focused on a brilliant idea by the lovely Kiki L’Italien.
http://pulsestaging.com/news/?p=707

Who, in turn, explained a bit more about the white space sponsorship.
http://pulsestaging.com/news/?p=773

Enjoy!