The workshop that wasn’t
Last week, my friend Traci B wrote to me about a workshop that wasn’t. “You’ll love this…I went to a 4 hour morning workshop at this digital conference. The speaker said, this will be interactive because no one wants to […]
Search Results for: participant
Squaring the circle: creating room sets for connection
Meeting planners typically default to squaring the circle when specifying room sets. They persist in seating attendees in long straight lines whenever possible, ignoring the benefits of curved and circular seating at their events. (See Paul Radde’s Seating Matters: State […]
Event design changes society
Event design may be more important than you think. I’m going to argue that event design changes society. And I’ve got legendary communications theorist Marshall McLuhan and computer scientist Alan Kay on my side!
My new book Event Crowdsourcing will be released this Fall
Event Crowdsourcing: Creating Meetings People Actually Want and Need I’m happy to announce that my third book Event Crowdsourcing will be released this Fall. It covers a fundamental yet neglected topic: creating meetings people actually want and need. My research has shown […]
Two free easy ways to create graphics for blog posts and presentations
Here are what I think are the two best free easy ways to create graphics for blog posts and presentations if you’re not a graphics wonk. (Note: I am not a graphics wonk.) I’ve written over five hundred posts on […]
27 years of peer conferences
Good things come in threes. Though I usually overlook anniversaries, I noticed one this morning. The first peer conference I convened and designed was held June 3 – 5, 1992 at Marlboro College, Vermont. So, as of today, the community […]
How to improve your facilitation: an example
How can you improve your facilitation practice? Here’s an example that illustrates what I do: a mixture of continual improvement, lifelong learning, and Kaizen. An example from The Solution Room I’ve been facilitating The Solution Room, a popular plenary session, for […]
Events operate by stories
Events operate by stories. “Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories. Cities are a story. Money is a story. Space was a story, once. A king tells us a story about who we are and why we’re […]
Why I love conference facilitation and design
Here’s an example of why I love conference facilitation and design. After setting up a Personal Introspective this morning (25 minutes) I turned over what happens to the small groups. Watch the listening and involvement of every person as I […]
Any questions? Rethinking traditional Q&A
How often have you heard “Any questions?” at the end of a conference session? Hands rise, and the presenter picks an audience member who asks a question. The presenter answers the question and picks another questioner. The process continues for […]