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What I learned about event professionals at EventCamp East Coast

Friday, November 26th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Here’s what I learned about event professionals at EventCamp East Coast.

event professionals EventCamp East Coast: Photograph by Karen Brown of Mitchell Beer & Gary Brown at EC². — Mitchell Beer & Gary Brown at EC². Photo by Karen Brown.

One of the reasons I love to facilitate Conferences That Work is that I get to learn interesting things about the culture of the participants. Whoever they are! Young developing leaders, childcare workers, in-house and outside counsel, information technology professionals, food policy wonks—each peer group responds a little differently when allowed to determine the form and content of what happens at the event.

At EventCamp East Coast (EC²) I discovered, not surprisingly, that event professionals have their own set of distinguishing features.

Event professionals like to talk

I made (at least) a couple of mistakes while facilitating EC², both related to participants’ loquaciousness. With other peer groups, during the opening roundtable ~30% of attendees don’t take the full time offered, typically 90-150 seconds, to answer the three questions. This did not happen at EventCamp East Coast! Just about everyone took full advantage of the 2½ minutes I gave them. In addition, I didn’t cut off the oh-so-charming Sam Smith when he went way over his allotted time. Naturally, some of the folks who spoke after him followed his lead. I was too chicken to call them on it. The end result was a roundtable session that ran nearly thirty minutes late. My bad.

I should add that EC² participants impressed me with how well they knew and communicated what they wanted to get out of the event. Not only do event professionals like to talk; they’re good at it!

Event professionals are great at listening to and following instructions

In the past, at peer session sign-up I’ve always found that some attendees ignore/don’t hear my repeated requests not to sign their names under topic suggestions until all the topics have been suggested. EC² #eventprofs were different! They listened to my instructions…—and followed them! EC² participants were also quick to point out that I didn’t cut people off when I should have (see above). They called me on not following my instructions. Love you guys!

Event professionals stay on task

A surprising finding from the interviews I conducted for my book Conferences That Work was that the median answer to the question “What is the percentage of the (traditional) conferences you’ve attended where you either left before the end (for other than practical reasons) or wished you had?” was 25 percent! At my events, I’ve found the percentage to be much lower. But some people always leave before the end for logistical reasons. At EC², few participants left early. And the level of concentration and involvement that persisted until the very end of the final group spective impressed me. This was followed by a wonderful volunteer group effort that quickly returned our LaSalle University venue to its original layout. Event professionals rock!

Event professionals are analytical about event process

While it’s not surprising that the level of feedback that I received at EC² about the Conferences That Work event design was far greater than at other events I’ve facilitated, I was delighted by the quality of comments and suggestions made. Usually, I get one or two good ideas at an event on how to improve what I do. EC² provided a steady stream of commentary and fresh ideas. Not only during the event, but also afterward via participants’ evaluations, several fruitful phone calls with individual attendees, and finally in a long Skype conference with my wonderful co-organizers, Traci Browne and Lindsey Rosenthal. I heard so many great proposals that, after I tried some of them out, I wrote an update for purchasers of my first book!

And yet…event professionals are not so different from anyone else

Despite these interesting comparisons between event professionals and other peer groups I’ve worked with, there are far more commonalities than differences in how peer groups respond to the “structured unconference” format of Conferences That Work. Comments like:

Deb Roth: “(the format) allowed us all to get to know each of the 40 people well, better then other conferences that I have been to with 2000 attendees”

Howard Givner: “It was literally impossible for anyone to fall through the cracks; everyone got immediately swept up into the flow of the event and was steadily woven into the fabric of group experience”

Sam Smith: “I have never been to a conference where I felt like I got to know so many new people so well”

Eric Lukazewski “…it was a spectacular thing to watch each individual “bring a brick” and marvel at the creations, knowing that WE EACH contributed to what was left standing” are responses common to every event I’ve run.

When it comes down to the bottom line, people are much more similar to each other than different.

Do you have other observations about the characteristics of event professionals? How are we different from other peer and professional groups?

Tags: eventcamp| Posted in EventCamp East Coast | No Comments »

EventCamp East Coast appreciations

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

I have a ton of EventCamp East Coast appreciations!

I’m still sorting out the lessons I learned from facilitating and organizing EventCamp East Coast, and I’ll be writing about them soon. But, while the memories are still fresh, I want to offer appreciations here for the incredible contributions the organizers, volunteers, and participants made to the event. During lunch on Saturday I shared these thoughts with the participants, and now I want to share them with the online community.

CAUTIONS: 1) I’m 59 and my memory is not what it was. If I’ve left people or assistance out or got details wrong, let me know and I’ll make it right. 2) This is my personal experience of EC²—I attended just three of the thirteen sessions offered, and did not manage to talk with every attendee, so please forgive me if your contributions and sterling qualities are not given the acknowledgment they deserve.

Volunteers
Paige Buck, you came all the way from San Francisco as a Conferences That Work trainee, and threw yourself into helping in every way you could: scribing the roundtable, working effectively on the peer session determination, facilitating the session Time, tools, & tactics: addressing planners’ pain points, and assisting with every logistical need you could. I appreciate you for the skills, charm, wisdom, and humor you brought to EC², and look forward to working with you in the future.

Carolyn Ray, you traveled from Montreal to volunteer at EC², and I was struck by your infectious calm & cheerful demeanor as you seemingly effortlessly dealt with a myriad of issues as they came up. Oh, and besides efficiently helping with peer session determination, you also led two sessions: Learning from event successes and failures and Conflict management & negotiation for event professionals (bet you didn’t expect that). I appreciate you for your enthusiasm, passion, warmth, and your willingness to share your surprising knowledge with others.

Peer session determination
Mitchell Beer, Andrea Sullivan, & Traci Browne – you, with Paige & Carolyn made peer session determination at EC² one of the easiest processes I’ve led recently. You worked with me late into the night while others were partying. I appreciate you for your quick thinking, expert advice on how to cluster topics, and whether to combine them, and unfailing good humor during the whole 14-step process.

Scribes
Paige I’ve already mentioned, but Cameron Toth, you were the scribe that gave that extra I hadn’t even thought to ask for: documenting the roundtable process and, without being asked, jumping up to fill flip chart paper with the salient points from the group spective. I appreciate you for your boundless energy, willingness to help in any way you could, and your continual flow of ideas and possibilities. Oh, let’s not forget your fashion style!

Session leaders

Carolyn Ray (Learning from event successes and failures and Conflict management & negotiation for event professionals) and Paige Buck (Time, tools, & tactics: addressing planners’ pain points) – see above

Traci Browne (Tradeshow layouts that encourage attendee interaction) – see below.

Jenise Fryatt (Social media 101 and Applied improv) – Jenise, I appreciate you for your ability to say YES when the moment comes, your thoughtfulness and accompanying clarity of expression, your kindness to all, your enthusiasm for new experiences, and your infectious cheerfulness and tact. AND… you’re a superb teacher of improv!

Debra Roth (Using design as a tool: how do color, form, and style affect your attendees) Deb, it was a treat to be invited into your creative world. I appreciate you for your straightforward manner, your kindness, your calm guidance during the session, and your evocative, creative talents.

Mitchell Beer (Repackaging conference content) I wish I could have attended your session, Mitchell. I appreciate you for your enthusiasm for my event design, your cheerful professional demeanor, and the blush worthy positive feedback you bestowed which means a lot to me, given your 27 years experience attending and recording conferences.

Andrea Sullivan (Brain-friendly ways to keep attendees engaged) This was the session I most regret missing. I appreciate you for the experience, ideas and energy you possess, and am looking forward to talking with you further next week.

Sam Smith (Integrating web and mobile technology at events) Sam, thank you so much for coming to EC², and your calm acceptance and positive response to an event design so different from what you dazzled us with at EventCamp Twin Cities. I appreciate you for your depth, your knowledge, your ability to make wise choices, your fundamental fairness, and your vocal support for this event.

Jay Daughtry (Social media 101), Jonathan Vatner (Beginning writing workshop), Kiki L’Italien (Advanced social media). Jay, Jonathan, and Kiki: I don’t know you well enough to say much (though I’m skeptical about that bacon-flavored vodka, Kiki), but I appreciate the three of you for stepping up to the challenge of leading event sessions with little warning, and reappearing triumphant at their successful conclusion.

Photos & videos
Karen Brown, Eric Lukazewski, Cameron Toth, Lindsey Rosenthal, Traci Browne, Heidi Thorne, Sam Smith, Jenise Fryatt: I appreciate you all for taking the time to snap, video, upload and tweet photos and moving images of EC². Your work will help to keep memories fresh, and show some of the atmosphere and abundant interactions at EventCamp East Coast. And Andre Flewellen Photography and Ken Kauffman Photography: thank you for donating your services to further document our time together!

Caterers
Susan and Ernie of The Twisted Gourmet – what a feast you provided us at EC²! What more could we have asked for? Thank you!

Hostess
Beth Brodovsky, what a hostess you turned out to be for our Friday night party! I appreciate you for graciously offering the use of your home by fifty strangers, and for your unflappability as we moved furniture from one room to another during the party, stuck paper all over your living room walls, and prepared food in your kitchen. (And on an unrelated note, I also appreciated your incisive contributions to Deb’s design session.) We all owe you a big vote of thanks!

Partners
We had ten wonderful partners at EC²: BizBash Media (represented by president Richard Aaron, and associate editor Anna Sekula), Grosh Backdrops and Drapery, Omnipress, EventMobi (represented by founder and president Bob Vaez), etouches (represented by vice president Suzanne Carawan), Echelon Design, Inc. (represented by marketing and creative director Eric Lukazewski), Promo With Purpose (represented by founder Heidi Thorne), The Conference Publishers (represented by president Mitchell Beer), CharityChoice, and Planet Planit. All of you made this event possible through your donations of services and/or financial support. As Lindsey & Traci are well aware, I am somewhat cautious and picky when it comes to working with partners for my events, but with you there was no need for caution. You supported EventCamp East Coast enthusiastically and we all benefited from the relationship. I thank you, as do all of us who attended.

My fellow organizers
Almost last, but far from least, are my two fellow organizers, Traci Browne and Lindsey Rosenthal.

EventCamp East Coast was held because Traci, whom I met at the original EventCamp in New York, bought my book, became excited about the event design and wanted to see what Conferences That Work was all about. When she asked me to help create a regional EventCamp, I accepted immediately. Without Traci’s belief in me and my work, EC² would never have been born. So Traci, I appreciate you for possessing that trust and belief. But there’s much more. I also appreciate your passion that fed us as we worked through one logistical problem after another, your forthright temperament to “tell it like it is” coupled with a surprising flexibility and tact that made you a delight to work with, your sense of humor, your integrity, and, perhaps most important, your big heart hiding under that superficially cynical exterior. I’d work with you again in a minute, and hope to do so often.

Lindsey, at Saturday lunch at EventCamp East Coast I described you as “a force of nature”. (That, in case anyone is unclear, is a good thing.) Lindsey, I am so grateful you joined Traci and me and took on so many of the responsibilities of making EC² a success—we could never have done what we did without you. I appreciate you for your wonderful, unique mixture of drive (don’t step in her way, folks) and charm (Lindsey can put anyone at ease in about ten seconds), as well as your burning integrity, the passion you wear on your sleeve, your hard work ethic, and, like Traci, a big heart.

Lindsey & Traci, I appreciate you so much for taking responsibility for the event logistics so I could concentrate on facilitating EventCamp East Coast.

You
Finally, I want to acknowledge all of the attendees of EventCamp East Coast. You created this event. None of you were passive spectators. I appreciate you for actively participating, for shaping EC² into the event it became, for freely sharing your knowledge and experience for the benefit of all, and for taking risks in what you said and did while we were together. Together, we made EventCamp East Coast into something unique and wonderful. Thank you!

Tags: appreciations, eventcamp| Posted in EventCamp East Coast, NoRepost | 2 Comments »

Provide clearings for your event

Thursday, November 4th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

In the 1920s, the German philosopher Heidegger wrote about the necessity for clearings: the making of space for something new to happen. I propose you provide clearings for your event.

At traditional conferences there are few, if any, clearings. The schedule is densely packed with sessions, decided on months in advance. Attendees sit in dark rooms, being led through a dark forest of content.

Why not include some event clearings for your attendees? There are several kinds you can supply:

Physical clearings

Providing attractive, comfortable lounges close to (but set apart from) your session rooms gives attendees a place:

to rest and recuperate;
to digest and integrate what they have heard, experienced, and learned; and
to meet and connect with other attendees as they choose.

Make sure these places are quiet. Why we are often expected to socialize while bombarded with loud music or constant announcements is beyond me.

Freedom clearings

Giving people the freedom to choose, to some degree, what happens at your event clears a psychological space in their minds. When we don’t constrain attendees to predetermined choices, and the event design supports and encourages them to create what they want, they get excited and motivated to actively participate, which improves their learning and facilitates meaningful connections while they’re together.

Permission clearings

I regularly run events that last several days. I’ve never expected that people would attend every session possible in an event this long. Yet I recently noticed (via evaluations) that some attendees believe they should attend everything, without a break, regardless of their stamina limitations. So now, at the start of a conference, I tell participants that we’re going to treat them as adults and explain that I don’t expect them to attend everything. I give them explicit permission to take breaks, to escape for a while as needed, knowing that they will return to the conference, renewed, with energy to enjoy and contribute to the sessions yet to come.

How do you handle providing clearings at your events? What other kinds of clearings can we offer our conference attendees?

Image attribution: Flickr user sheepguardingllama

Tags: clearings, Event design, event-planning| Posted in Event design | 4 Comments »

Process not product

Thursday, October 28th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Process not product.

“We shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us.”
—Winston Churchill

I spent the first twenty-five years of my life obtaining a Ph.D. What was more important, the achievement or the work and learning involved?

More recently, for about ten years I had a piece of paper thumbtacked at eye level on my office wall. It said:

Process not product.

I needed that piece of paper in plain view to remind me as I worked on projects that, ultimately, the process I use to achieve my goals is more important than the end result.

No, I’m not saying that the products of my work aren’t important; far from it. Rather, if I concentrate on my end goals to the extent that my awareness of the process I am using to obtain them suffers, then:

My end results will be inferior to what I could have achieved; and
I’ll be living a miserable life.

It took me ten years before I removed that piece of paper. Ten years to reliably remember not to plunge into achievement at the expense of mindful action.

Sometimes, old habits take a long time to change.

There’s a silver lining, though. By implementing change in small ways in our daily lives, we can better facilitate the change we seek.

Which is more important for you? Process or product?

Image attribution: Flickr user sixmilliondollardan

Tags: mindfulness, process, product| Posted in Soapbox | 3 Comments »

The myth of control

Sunday, October 24th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

The myth of control.

Misconception 7: Conflict is bad…The reality is that whenever you have more than one living person in a room, you’ll have more than one set of interests, and that’s not a bad thing.
—The Change Handbook by Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady

Why do we cling to traditional event structure?

One powerful reason is that we want to avoid dealing with messy differences of opinion. When we give attendees the power to choose what happens at our conferences, people will disagree. And when people disagree, there’s the possibility of controversy and conflict. Who’d want that at their event?

Perhaps you believe learning is some kind of linear process that happens painlessly. That’s certainly the paradigm we’re fed in school. Even though most of us struggle to learn there, the underlying message is usually “If you were smart enough, this would be easy”.

If you do believe conference learning should be painless, I ask you this. Think about the most important things you’ve learned in your life. How many of them came to you without disagreement, pain, or conflict? And how many of them did you learn while sitting in a room listening to someone talk for an hour?

Do you want your conferences to maximize learning, even at the cost of some disagreement or discomfort? Or would you rather settle for a safe second best?

Conference conveners are scared about not having control of our lives and our events. That’s why they lock down conferences, forcing their essence into tightly choreographed sessions. Attendees are carefully restricted to choosing, at most, which concurrent session room they’ll sit in.

The myth of control

The reality is that you never had control to begin with, just the myth of control. You’ve been kidding yourself all these years. Unless your constituency is bound to your event via a requirement to earn CEUs, members can withhold their attendance or avoid sessions at will.

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to give up the unnecessary control exercised at traditional conferences and give attendees the freedom and responsibility to make the event theirs. All participant-driven event formats like Open Space, Conferences That Work, and Future Search treat attendees like intelligent adults.

What’s amazing to discover is how liberating these event designs are for conference organizers too. When we give up over-control, we become largely freed of the responsibility to choose the content, format, and instigators of our conference sessions, concentrating instead on supervisory, facilitation, and support roles. Yes, the result is an event that is less predictable, and often more challenging. But the richer experience, the creation of an event that reflects what participants truly need and want, and the joy of uncovered valuable, unexpected, appropriate learning make it all worthwhile for everyone involved.

Tags: change, control, Event design, myth, participant-driven| Posted in Event design | 2 Comments »

Why The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Friday, October 15th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

A number of people have asked whether EventCamp East Coast (EC²) will be livestreamed. The answer is a qualified “no”, and since this is a different choice from those made at the original EventCamp in New York City and EventCamp Twin Cities I thought I’d explain why.

We’re concentrating on the face-to-face experience of the local audience at EC² for three reasons. Two of these factors are straightforward, while the third requires clarification.

The first reason is philosophical. The conference organizers—Traci Browne, Lindsey Rosenthal, and I—want to create an effective, uncomplicated event. Serving a remote audience well, as was done at the recent EventCamp Twin Cities, adds a significant level of complexity, not only to the organizer’s workload but also to the demands on presenters and the local audience to integrate the two audiences successfully.

The second reason is a matter of logistics. We three organizers enjoy busy professional lives, and possess a limited amount of time to make EC² the best conference we can. Creating an excellent remote audience experience (we wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less) would significantly shift our focus from other important components of EC².

The final reason is event design related and, perhaps, the most fundamental. The Conferences That Work design that we are using adds a default requirement of confidentiality to what happens during the conference. Let me explain what this means and why we’re doing this.

The thought of providing confidentiality at a conference may seem strange or counterproductive, especially these days where event sessions are routinely streamed and videoed for anyone who wants to watch. But in fact, there’s always been a need at some meetings for a commitment to confidentiality.

The classic example for a need for confidentiality is diplomatic meetings, where, to make best progress, participants need to be sure that what is said isn’t broadcast to the world. In this case, the reason for off-the-record conversation is to benefit relationships between the institutions that the diplomats represent.

But there’s another reason why confidentiality can be useful when people meet face to face; the personal benefit of the participants.

Perhaps the most well known example of events that provide this kind of environment are the 30 years of Renaissance Weekends, where participants “CEOs, venture capitalists, business & social entrepreneurs, Nobel Laureates & Pulitzer Prize-winners, astronauts & Olympians, acclaimed change-makers of Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Wall Street & Main Street, Republicans, Democrats & Independents” agree to the following policy:

All participants are expected to respect Renaissance Weekends®’ tradition of the candid and welcome exchange of diverse opinions, safeguards for privacy, confidentiality, and non-commerciality, and family ethos. Comments, behavior, or public references which could compromise the character of Renaissance Weekends® are unacceptable.

In my experience, all peer groups can benefit from this kind of environment. For example: more than once I’ve been told by different doctors I know that they regularly meet with a small group of their peers to confidentially discuss professional issues. In each case, the doctor I was talking with said, in effect, “There are some things that I can only talk about with other doctors.” The Conferences That Work format extends this kind of possibility to any peer group, and I believe that providing this opportunity can be important to any group of people with a common interest.

At every Conferences That Work event I’ve run, there are some sessions where the attendees decide not to share the proceedings publicly—in a few cases not even with other participants at the event. A common example is a frank discussion of the pros and cons of commercial tools and services available to attendees. And it’s not uncommon for a session or two to delve into work- or industry-related issues where attendees are looking for support and advice from their peers. Although these sessions are in a minority, it’s impossible to reliably predict in advance whether a specific session will turn out to require confidentiality.

All sessions at Conferences That Work have a recorder assigned to them, who makes notes or otherwise records the session. Because of the default requirement of confidentiality, unanimous agreement of the session’s attendees at the end of the session is needed for the recording to be made public.

In conclusion, it’s likely that the recordings of most of the sessions at EventCamp East Coast will be made available publicly, but they won’t be streamed live. So if you’re interested in fully experiencing EC², please join us on site in Philadelphia! I hope this article has explained why we’ve made these event design choices, and I welcome your comments and questions.

Tags: confidentiality, east coast, Event design, eventcamp, hybrid events, privacy, Renaissance| Posted in eventcamp, NoRepost | No Comments »

How 1984 turned out like 1884

Monday, October 11th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Unfortunately, 1984 turned out like 1884 in the realm of education.

‘While going about my day, I sometimes engage in a mental exercise I call the Laura Ingalls Test. What would Laura Ingalls, prairie girl, make of this freeway interchange? This Target? This cell phone? Some modern institutions would probably be unrecognizable at first glance to a visitor from the 19th century: a hospital, an Apple store, a yoga studio. But take Laura Ingalls to the nearest fifth-grade classroom, and she wouldn’t hesitate to say, “Oh! A school!”

Very little about the American classroom has changed since Laura Ingalls sat in one more than a century ago.’
—The 21st-Century Classroom, by Linda Perlstein

In her Slate article, excerpted above, Linda Perlstein, an education writer, muses about the effects that school classroom layout and design affect the learning that takes place. She even asks her readers to submit their “best ideas for transforming the American school”. She conflates this request with “asking you to describe or even design the classroom for today, a fifth-grade classroom that takes advantage of all that we have learned since Laura Ingalls’ day about teaching, learning, and technology–and what you think we have yet to learn”.

I think that Linda’s emphasis on transforming the physical learning workspace as the answer to our educational system’s woes focuses on the wrong issue.

Certainly, most modern school classroom layouts have changed very little from Laura Ingalls’ day. But this is a symptom of the lack of change in educational circles, not a cause. It’s often easy to alter the physical layout of a learning space simply by changing the furniture or rearranging it. (Get rid of those chairs with individual writing areas shown above!) And, see Paul Radde’s Seating Matters for a comprehensive introduction to this topic.

Why schools don’t redesign their learning spaces

The reason why schools don’t redesign their learning spaces is because the traditional all-chairs-face-the-front approach mirrors the teaching style perpetuated by our culture for the last 1,500 years. We get classroom layouts that optimize our teaching paradigm. Changing the classroom’s physical design and hoping that our learning environment will somehow improve is a great example of wishing that the tail would wag the dog.

First, change how we teach and how we expect to learn. Then, the need to change our physical educational environment will become pretty obvious. Laura, please use your considerable journalist skills to explore how we do and don’t learn effectively. Publicize what you find—we’ll all be the beneficiaries!

And then perhaps 2084 won’t look like 1984.

Do you think that changing our physical learning environments is the way to improve how well we learn? Or do you think that changing the ways we learn will lead to fundamentally different learning environment designs?

Image attribution: Flickr users buttepubliclibrary and dcjohn

Tags: 1984, classroom, Event design, furniture, Learning, seating| Posted in Learning | 8 Comments »

Anatomy of a name badge

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Let’s talk about name badge design.

name badge design: a photograph of an attendee holding a SXSW name badge with tiny print. Image attribution Seattle Times blog. — SXSW badge design failure

You look around the room. There’s that guy you had a blast singing karaoke with last year. Uh oh, he’s coming over—what’s his name? Squint at his badge, can’t read it, oops he saw me look, embarrassing.

Sometimes it’s the little details that are important.

Attendees spend large sums of money getting to an event that trumpets, overtly or covertly, the networking opportunities. And then, someone decides to save a buck on the name badges by using “the small ones”, or has them printed using 12-point type.

Not smart.

And yet, Google “name badge design” and you’ll get about 1,810,000 hits, of which two are about design (see my resource list below) and 1,809,998 are selling name badge products.

So I thought it might be interesting to share my current name badge design criteria. Your preferences may vary. But, whatever they are, think about your name badge design; don’t treat it as an afterthought!

What kind of badge?
Please don’t use those “Hello my name is” sticker badges unless your event is informal and lasts a few hours or less. For any other occasion, sticker badges say “tacky, unprofessional.” They will disappear for good when the sweater is put on or removed, and they can’t and won’t be transferred to new garments on the following day.

Just about every other kind of badge can look professional, whether they’re humble common laser or inkjet printed cards in plastic pouches, laminated badges, or fancy badges with magnetic stripes or RFID.

Size
This depends on how much information you’re putting on the badge, but I judge 3½” x 2¼” horizontal badges to be too small, while 4″ x 3″ horizontal badges are acceptable, and 4″ x 6″ vertical badges are my current favorite. The bigger the badge the bigger the type can be, and I think that’s a good thing. And bigger badges are less liable to flip around as attendees move about. The only downside of big badges is—they cost a bit more. I think they’re worth it.

What goes on the badge?

Here’s what I like to see on a badge.

Name: First name with a line to itself. Put the last name on the next line.

Affiliation: The company or organization you represent.

Twitter ID: This is becoming increasingly popular. Knowing someone’s Twitter ID allows attendees to find out a lot about them, and encourages interaction and connections via social media during and after the event.

Event identification: Holograms if you need them for security purposes, or a logo or event name if there are other events in the space or you feel you need to shout out to non-attendees why all these people are here.

Badge wearer’s role at the event: Organizer, volunteer, first-time attendee, returning attendee, speaker, panelist, and session facilitator: so many possible event roles. Have a way to indicate them on the name badge.

Schedule on the back: One reason to have a big badge. This isn’t usually practical for a 3+ day event, but if you’ve got the room it’s an extremely useful tool for attendees.

No organization title. Trade show staff won’t like this, but I’m on the side of the attendee here. Yes, I still haven’t forgotten being ignored by trade show staff in favor of the guys with the C-Suite titles on their badges. I’m in favor of event environments that don’t provide this kind of potentially prejudicial information upfront.

Layout and design
I’m not a graphic designer, but people who are (see resources) say that using a sans serif font in a point size large enough so that you can read someone’s name at least ten feet away (try it before you print them all) is the way to go. Sounds good to me. Make the first name the largest, the last name a bit smaller.

Remember, with any badges it’s important to preview them before they’re printed to make sure that long names aren’t truncated. If the badge is small, don’t reduce the font size for everyone to fit a few long names; instead, print those badges separately using an appropriately smaller font.

Make the affiliation and Twitter ID look a little different from the name (different color or different font) and about the same font size as the last name.

Event identification should be as small as possible consonant with the reason(s) you’re adding it to the badge.

The wearer’s event role can be indicated in a number of ways. For example, there are colored ribbons you attach to the bottom of the badge, or you can print the role in a smaller type, usually at the bottom of the badge. One issue is that a small number of people may have more than one role, and it’s good to show this on the badge. But this means you need enough space reserved for the maximum number of simultaneous roles a person may have.

I like to use color to code roles. If your badges are monochrome, one low-budget way to indicate roles is to use colored dots hand-affixed to badges—a little amateurish, but it works well.

If you’re printing a schedule on the back, use a readable font and make it as large as you can without omitting any schedule details.

Method of attachment
Here is my list of attachment methods, in order of least to most preferred.

Sticky badge. No! Enough said.
Pin. Can be appropriate for formal events, but pin badges are a drag to attach and remove and they invariably don’t look level.
Clip. Great if you have something to clip them to, but not everyone will: e.g. they don’t work very well on pocket-less tees.
Lanyard. Yes, they look dorky, but they are easy to put on and remove. Lanyard clips that have some width seem to solve the flip-around problem.
Magnet. [Update, October 6: Please see Traci’s comment for a warning about using magnetic badges. Having read this, I’m not going to advocate for magnet attachment unless I hear of a safe way to shield the field]. Magnet clips are a bit more expensive than the previous methods, but they work on any clothing and make it easy to position the badge right where you want it. Some people bring their own magnet badge to events and replace whatever they’re given. There are some enterprising businesses that make magnet badge jewelry (see resources).

One or two-sided?
If you don’t print an agenda on the back of your badge, consider duplicating the front there. Then it won’t matter which side shows.

Recyclable
There are badges these days that are promoted as recyclable; the plastic pouches are biodegradable. Frankly, I prefer to collect the pouches at the end of the event and reuse them at future events. A few quick announcements at the conclusion of the event will, in my experience, retrieve 80-90% of the badges used.

Resources
A great article by Mike Davidson on Building a Better Conference Badge.
A short but sweet post by Matt Cutts on the Ideal Conference Badge (lots of good comments).
Jason Santa Maria’s thoughts on badge design.
Two places you can buy magnetic badge holder jewelry are Lisa Bess and Amy T on Etsy.

Conclusion
I am not a name badge guru, just someone who needs event name badges and has opinions. As usual, I hope to learn more about what I don’t know from you, my dear readers. What have I missed? Do you agree with my preferences? Finally, what can you add to improve our collective knowledge of this simple but important part of every conference?

Image attribution for SXSW photo.

Tags: conference name badges, conference name tag design, conference name tags, design, event name tags, lanyards, name badges, tags| Posted in Event design | 59 Comments »

The cost of hybrid events

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Reading Sam Smith’s frank article about the resources and effort that went into the production of the remote component of EventCamp Twin Cities (ECTC) got me wondering.

I counted ten full-time staff needed to create the remote component of this amazing event, which delivered an impressive participative and immersive remote audience experience.

Virtual Event Design Consultant / Project Manager
Virtual Emcee: The Host of the Remote Broadcast
Tech Director: Calls the show, video camera shots and switches
Twitter Moderator: Captures questions, comments and ideas from the audience
Soundbyte Tweeter: Tweets Out Speaker highlights under the event’s Twitter ID
Main Session Cameraman
Studio Cameraman
Mediasite Tech: Manages video, audio and VGA feeds going into Mediasite system
A/V Tech: Manages the House signals
A/V Tech: Manages the Video and Audio Switches for Remote Audience

Most, if not all, of these people needed to be around for at least half a day before the live event. And none of them (I hope) are normally paid minimum wage.

The equipment and technology

2 Cameras: One for the main room and a second for the studio
2 Camera Tripods
3 Laptops for Virtual Emcee, Twitter Moderator and Fact Based Tweeter (if not the same person)
2 Studio Microphones (These are linked to webcast – but not house sound.)
3 House Sound Microphones
Riser – to make the tripod sit over everyone’s head
Media Site Player (this is the webcasting gear)
Video Switcher
Interview Studio (Table, Chairs Backdrop, Professional Lighting)
Twitter Hashtag
Event Twitter Account
Webcast Player (Mediasite provides this – but can be configured)
Intefy System (Virtual Front Door that shows video, schedule plus twitter streams)
Hosting Server for Storing and Hosting Streaming Video
Various and sundry cables to connect and power everything

All this does not usually come for free. I’m not privy to the financial details of EventCamp Twin Cities, but I do know that the companies and personnel involved donated much of the above. Such generosity is and was much appreciated by all of the local and remote attendees. These substantial sponsorships of the event made it possible to offer free remote passes to the remote audience, making it easy for 500+ people to tune in and enjoy a superb remote audience experience.

What I’m wondering about is the economics of creating hybrid events when the time of donations disappears, and the fine folks at companies like Intefy, SonicFoundry, and Allied Productions & Sales, need to get paid for their time, equipment, and expertise.

The economics

I’m guessing that the regular price tag for a setup like the one used at EventCamp Twin Cities might run in the region of $30,000. (Please, those of you who actually know what these costs are; stop laughing and enlighten us.) If so, that translates into a cost of around $60 per remote ECTC attendee.

Perfectly justifiable if that attendee would otherwise have to pay for a plane, accommodations, travel time etc. to attend in person.

But not free.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the costs to provide the two-way interactivity that was a hallmark of ECTC were largely fixed; they’d be more or less the same if 100 or 1,000 people had showed up. In the former case, the cost becomes $300/attendee—an amount that might be a concern for many event planners working with small or highly specialized target audiences.

I don’t see many possibilities for reducing the personnel numbers and outlay required to run a good hybrid event. I expect that equipment and bandwidth costs will decline in the future, but I’m willing to bet that the expense to add a remote audience with the capability for meaningful participation will remain a significant component of a hybrid event’s budget for a long time.

What do you think of the hybrid economics I’ve described? Can you provide better figures for the expense to add a remote audience to a hybrid event? Will the relative costs and rewards act as a deterrent to you to add a remote audience—or do you see them as an income producing opportunity?

Image attribution: Noah Wolf Photography

Tags: economics, eventcamp, hybrid events| Posted in Event design, NoRepost | 28 Comments »

How the Fisch Flip sparked an idea for conference design

Friday, September 24th, 2010 by Adrian Segar

Yes, the Fisch Flip has sparked an idea for conference design. This post by Jeff Hurt on applying the Fisch Flip to your conference model got me thinking.

If you haven’t read about it already, the term Fisch Flip was coined by Daniel Pink, named after a veteran Colorado schoolteacher, Karl Fisch, who realized he could be more effective in the classroom if he flipped traditional homework and schoolwork. Instead of lecturing in the classroom and giving homework exercises for students to work on at home, he started recording his topic lectures for students to watch for homework after school. He used his lesson time to help students apply the concepts he’d covered.

Use face-to-face time for interactive, participative learning. Flip the broadcast listening-to-the-teacher instruction to the time/location when it’s most appropriate: out of school, at the student’s convenience.

Simple…and brilliant!

When I read this my first thought was: “Whoa, the flipped classroom piece corresponds nicely to the Conferences That Work design, which generates mostly participative session formats.”

My second thought was: “But Conferences That Work don’t focus on pre-shared content, but on participants’ existing experience and expertise. So there’s not an exact correspondence.”

And then an idea: How about asking participants to share (via an online event community) before the conference interesting things they’ve done or learned, to prepare/stimulate participants for potential discussions at the event? A Conferences That Work design won’t guarantee in advance that a specific session will take place. But much of the pre-conference sharing will be useful and illuminating. Some of it will spark comments, questions, and ideas to explore when participants get together.

I’ll be trying this out at future conferences.

The Fisch Flip sparked an idea for conference design. Thanks for sparking it, Jeff!

Image attribution: Daily Telegraph

Tags: conference design, Event design, Fisch flip| Posted in Event design | No Comments »