venues Archives : Conferences That Work

Events, Faith Communities, and the Public Square

Monday, August 12th, 2024 by Adrian Segar

Religious meetings are a small, fascinating subset of the meeting industry. I learned about them when I presented at The Religious Conference Management Association annual conference in 2014, and I’ve written about what meeting designers can learn from religious services. However there isn’t much academic research into event management, so I was happy to discover Ruth Dowson and Daniel H. Olsen‘s paper Events, Faith Communities, and the Public Square.

The article explores the evolving role of Christian faith communities in the public sphere, particularly in the context of increasing secularization in Western societies. The authors analyze how religious communities, specifically in the United Kingdom, engage in the public square through various events and activities, contributing to the Eventization of Faith.

2016 photograph of a crowd of around 200 Evanston, Illinois residents and faith community members meeting at Fountain Square. The event was organized to show solidarity with those in the city feeling marginalized after the recent presidential election. Photo attribution: Daniel Tian, Senior Staffer, The Daily Northwestern — Evanston, Illinois leaders and faith community hold post-election unity rally

Key Points

Secularization and Religion’s Role

The article begins by discussing how secularization, particularly in Europe and North America, has led to a diminished public presence of religion. Despite this, global trends and events have intensified the visibility of religion in the public square, especially through the actions of religious communities that engage in public dissent and events.

The Eventization of Faith

The concept of Eventization of Faith is central to the paper. It refers to the process of turning religious activities into events that create a public presence. Such events, sometimes contestational, are seen as a means for faith communities to assert their identity and influence in a secular public space.

“Even in places where religion is believed to be best served as a muted witness in the private realm, Jews, Christians, and Muslims share a long tradition and heritage of political dissent, such as gathering on street corners to express their faith and their views. This political dissent is often guised in the form of events as a method of creating a public presence…”

“…Contributing towards the development of the concept of the Eventization of Faith, this study interprets ‘events’ broadly, through a critical events perspective, acknowledging the contestation of secular spaces for sacred or faith-related purposes, as well as the potential for contestation of sacred spaces used for non-faith events.”
—From the abstract of Events, Christian Faith Communities, and the Public Square, Dowson, Ruth (Rev.) and Olsen, Daniel H. (2023), International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage: Vol. 11: Iss. 4, Article 13.

The Venuefication of Sacred and Non-Sacred Space

Venuefication refers to the transformation of both sacred (e.g., churches, and temples) and non-sacred spaces into venues for events that may or may not align with their original purpose The article provides examples of using secular venues for sacred events, and taking over outdoor public spaces and an entire city for religious events. It highlights potential tensions regarding the appropriate use of these spaces, especially when the events held there contrast with the original religious or cultural significance of the site.

Public Space and Contestation

The article also discusses the broader theoretical framework of public space and contestation, highlighting how different communities, including religious ones, vie for influence and representation in public spaces. The authors emphasize that events organized by religious communities are often not just about religious expression but are also a form of political and social contestation.

Conclusion and Future Perspectives

Overall, the article argues that despite the challenges posed by secularization, faith communities continue to find innovative ways to maintain and even expand their presence in the public square through the strategic use of events. This engagement reflects a broader trend where religious groups use public events as a platform for political and social expression.

Tags: eventization, faith, religion, sacred, venuefication, venues| Posted in Event design | No Comments »

Six reasons why unconferences aren’t more popular

Monday, September 11th, 2023 by Adrian Segar

Why aren’t unconferences more popular?

Events and media consultant Julius Solaris shared at the Unforgettable Experience Design Summit that he was initially very enthusiastic about unconference format events. He thought conferences would eventually adopt unconference models. But Julius didn’t see them catch on and now focuses on other aspects of the meeting industry.

I’ve been a facilitator, designer, and proponent of unconferences (aka peer conferences) since 1992. I still believe that these events, when well-designed and facilitated, offer the best attendee experience for the majority of conferences that are held today.

So, why aren’t unconferences more popular? Here are my six reasons.

1—Unconferences that aren’t

According to Wikipedia, unconferences are participant-driven meetings where the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting.

Unfortunately, far too many event promoters either haven’t a clue about what an unconference is, or, worse, deliberately call their events unconferences when they aren’t. They use “unconference” as a marketing buzzword to make their event sound cooler.

Let’s be clear. An event that:

Asks potential presenters to submit pre-event proposals for sessions isn’t an unconference.
Includes breakout sessions as well as presentations isn’t an unconference. [No, really, some folks say this!]
Claims unconference means that you get to choose which sessions you want to attend isn’t an unconference. [Don’t believe me? That’s how Google defines its annual Search Central unconference! <sigh>]

When attendees have a poor experience at what I call “ununconferences” that they’ve been told and believe are unconferences, naturally they will conclude that unconferences are nothing special.

2—Poor unconference design

Half a century ago, as a lowly graduate student, I attended tons of traditional academic conferences. And I hated them.

Many people have the same experience. So it’s understandable that when they have the desire or opportunity to create a conference themselves, they decide that they will open up the choice of program sessions to the attendees. They will hold an unconference!

The problem is that they often have no experience of what’s needed to create a good unconference. The tendency is to assume that because you’re rejecting the rigid format of traditional conferences, you can get away with less structure.

In reality, unconferences require a fair amount of structure. And it needs to be the right structure. For example, figuring out what attendees actually want and need to talk about doesn’t happen at the drop of a hat. Introducing attendees to each other and then facilitating connection around relevant content is an art, not a science. Closing sessions that meet personal and group wants and needs are often absent.

Because many so-called unconferences suffer from non-existent or poor design and/or facilitation they often turn out to be chaotic and unsatisfying. Such attendee experiences further reinforce the myth that unconferences are no big deal.

3—Overlooking the space needs of unconferences

Novices who try to hold unconferences invariably underestimate venue space needs. Compared to traditional conferences with the same number of participants, unconferences need larger general session rooms, because participants need to move about and meet in small groups, rather than sitting in fixed dense sets of tables and chairs. They also need more separate breakout spaces for participants to meet. Venue room capacity charts don’t include these designs. The result is that novice-organized unconferences rarely have the venue space they need to work well.

The solution to this is to design your unconference before choosing the venue. When this doesn’t happen (sadly, most of the time in my experience) the conference design, no matter how good it is, suffers.

4—Non-existent or insufficient pre-unconference attendee preparation

Unconferences are fundamentally different from broadcast-style meetings. Unconferences are led by participants, while traditional meetings are led by presenters. For an unconference to be successful, attendees need pre-event preparation. This is not a big deal, but it needs to be done. Conveners of well-designed unconferences explain, in general terms via pre-event communications what the unconference will be like and how to prepare for it.

One way to introduce conference newbies to a recurring unconference is to use a buddy system. Pairing returning participants with newbies and having the pairs get in touch with each other before the event is an excellent way to prepare folks who haven’t experienced an unconference before.

5—Assuming that “unconference” is synonymous with “Open Space”

Open Space is the most well-known unconference format. For many who plan an unconference, it’s the only format they’re aware of.

Don’t get me wrong. Open Space is an excellent format for short unconferences, and I’ve used it frequently myself. But it is not the only format available and is often not the best choice. I’ve written about this in my books; here’s a short critique of Open Space. In a sentence, Open Space provides little opportunity for participants to discover important peers, privileges extroverts, may not meet the actual wants and needs of participants, and uses a rather crude closing process.

A well-facilitated Open Space unconference is often an improvement over holding a traditional meeting with the same participants. But it is far from the only format that organizers can and should use.

6—The “unconference track” trap

Some event stakeholders make the well-intentioned but disastrous mistake of adding an unconference track to their traditional conference.

It’s the biggest unconference mistake you can make.

Most attendees don’t know what an unconference is or have had a bad experience at a poorly designed event. The result is that very few people will attend an unconference track. The event organizers notice the poor attendance, decide that providing an unconference “option” is not needed, and go back to a fully traditional conference format at subsequent events.

Well-designed unconferences are alive and well

People are holding well-designed unconferences all the time. Very few are large or high-profile. The variety of organizations and communities that run them might surprise you. (For example, while writing this I heard about the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association unconference, about which they made an excellent video.)

IBTTA July 2023, Nashville unconference (click to watch)

To get a taste of what’s going on, I maintain a peer conference calendar that lists unconferences that I hear of or are told about. Check out my calendars of past and upcoming unconferences. And if you’re holding one, submit the details and I’ll happily add it to my calendar!

To conclude

When designed and executed well, unconferences tend to endure. The one that began my meeting design journey, has now been running (apart from a COVID hiatus) for 33 years.

If I can help you design and facilitate an unconference for your organization, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Do you have other suggestions as to why unconferences aren’t more popular? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags: Event design, logistics, open space, popular, unconferences, venues| Posted in Event design | No Comments »

Venues on notice: meeting planners are demanding flexible meeting space!

Tuesday, December 29th, 2015 by Adrian Segar

Two-thirds of meeting planners now rank flexible meeting space as a top priority when choosing a venue, according to Destination Hotels’ fourth annual State of the Meetings Industry survey.

“Among the nearly 68 percent of respondents who said that flexible meeting spaces rated an 8, 9 or 10 in importance when choosing a meeting site, two factors are driving this need. First, the objective of in-person meetings is to deliver information and insight at a level that tech-based meetings cannot; second, today’s attendees require variety in their learning environment to remain stimulated, attentive and receptive to information and different perspectives.”
—The fourth annual State of the Meetings Industry survey (October 2015), conducted by Destination Hotels

In 2011, at a webinar I gave for the International Association of Conference Centers, I recommended that venues develop and feature flexible meeting spaces, to prepare for the growth of Conference 2.0 formats. Four years have passed, and meeting planners are now demanding these spaces.

Venues, are you ready?

Image of Apple Campus II floor plan courtesy of Office Snapshots

Tags: flexible, IACC, International Association of Conference Centres, meeting planners, meeting space, venue, venues| Posted in Event design | 1 Comment »

A post about posting (on walls) at events – part 2

Monday, August 8th, 2011 by Adrian Segar

In an earlier post, I complained about the practice of some venues to prohibit posting materials on the walls of meeting rooms. So I thought I’d summarize here some ways of posting on walls that avoid wall damage. These methods should be acceptable to any venue. Robert Lucas’s The Big Book of Flip Charts, an exhaustive guide to what you can do with those pads of 27″ x 34″ pieces of paper that we know so well, describes many of them. I’ve divided the methods into two groups: attachment solutions and wall treatment solutions.

Attachment solutions

Masking tape

If allowed by the venue, masking tape is a convenient method to hang paper and cards on a wall. I recommend 1″ wide, fresh, name-brand (e.g. 3M, Scotch) tape. A couple of 3″ strips of tape placed at the corners will hold a piece of flip chart paper securely. If you are going to be hanging many sheets of paper, you can use a continuous strip of high-quality double-sided masking tape e.g. 3M 9415PC. Run the strip horizontally at about a six-foot height, and you’ll be able to hang paper anywhere along its length.

Self-adhesive pads

Although much more expensive than plain paper pads, flip chart pads with a 2″ strip of tacky adhesive at the top of each sheet provide a convenient method of quickly hanging flip chart paper without having to mess with strips of masking tape.

Self-adhesive paper rolls

One way to create large drawing surfaces is to tape roll paper to a wall using continuous strips of masking tape. If you have to move the drawing surface a few times, consider using an adhesive-backed paper roll. Two products I have found but not yet used are manufactured by Pacon: GOcraft! and GOwrite!

GOcraft! banner paper is available in 12″ x 40′ and 24″ x 25′ rolls. The paper is backed with a post-it-like adhesive. The manufacturer claims it will adhere indefinitely to a clean, hard surface and to textured surfaces like fabric-covered walls for several days. You use a permanent marker to write on the product and Pacon claims that no bleed-through will occur.

GOwrite! is available in 18″ x 6′ or 20′ and 24″ x 10′ or 20′ rolls which provide a dry erase surface to use with any dry-erase markers. According to the manufacturer, GOwrite! erases cleanly without whiteboard shadowing. You attach the product by removing a peel-off removable liner sheet. It will adhere indefinitely to most hard surfaces, but will not stay on textured walls for extended periods. Pacon claims that removal will not ruin surfaces. You can move it “two or three times” before its adhesion deteriorates and the corners start to curl.

Sticky notes

Sticky notes are a great tool for “cards-on-the-wall” group techniques, like affinity grouping, and they are often the only things that venues will allow you to attach to their walls. For small groups, 3″ x 5″ notes may be large enough, but I prefer to use 6″ x 8″ Post-it® Brand Super Sticky Meeting Notes for large groups.

Pins

Thumb tacks, if allowed by a venue, are a convenient method for attaching paper and cards to corkboards. Buy map style not flat head pins. At a pinch, you can use straight or safety pins to attach flip chart paper to draperies.

Cloth panel adhesive strips

For mounting to fabric-covered walls, use these mounting squares. They provide an adhesive side that attaches permanently to paper or card, and a velcro-like side that provides strong yet removable adhesion to fabric-covered walls.

Cloth panel wall clips

Cloth panel wall clips provide another convenient method for attaching paper and cards to fabric-covered walls. They are more expensive than adhesive strips, but you can move and reuse them over and over again.

Vinyl Dry Erase Pads

Vinyl dry-erase pads are 27″ x 34″ white sheets, packaged in a roll, that stick to a wall by static electricity. They will not stay up indefinitely, but work fine for temporary use during an event. Because they stick to everything, they are not easy to install. So, put them in place before a session begins. You can write on them with either permanent (preferable) or dry-erase markers. Like most inexpensive whiteboard substitutes they are hard to erase completely. Expect to replace sheets after a few uses.

Wall treatment solutions

IdeaPaint

Ideapaint is a treatment that turns any smooth flat wall into a dry-erase surface. You must apply it correctly and it’s not cheap ($175 – $200 for 50 sq. ft. coverage), though Ideapaint’s price compares favorably to the cost of a high-quality whiteboard.

Steel or corkboard or wooden wall strips

One of the simplest ways to make a venue wall attachment-friendly is to install horizontal strips that can be used to attach flip chart paper. Such strips are available in various materials: steel (use magnets to attach), wood or metal-framed corkboard (use pins), and wood (use appropriately spaced straight pins or nails on which binder clips can be hung). Steel and wood can be painted to match the wall decor, while corkboard strips are generally attractive and unobtrusive

Whiteboards

Whiteboards offer a permanent solution for writing and posting on venue walls. At prices of around $15-$20 per square foot, they are not inexpensive, but they offer perhaps the ultimate flexibility for meeting activities that require a vertical posting or drawing surface. The older (and less expensive) melamine surfaces suffer from “ghosting” of dry-erase markers over time and are not recommended for institutional use. Nowadays, most whiteboards use a hard porcelain finish over steel, which allows the use of magnets to hold materials on the surface.

There are probably other methods available for non-destructive posting on walls that I haven’t mentioned here. What have I missed?

Photo attribution: Flickr user ezu

Tags: posting, venues, walls| Posted in Event design | 1 Comment »

A post about posting (on walls) at events – part 1

Friday, August 5th, 2011 by Adrian Segar

Recently I’ve felt frustrated and baffled. No less than three venues (two hotels and a conference center) in the last month told me that I couldn’t post anything on the walls of the room I was meeting in.

I couldn’t post anything. No flip chart paper, masking tape, stick pins, thumbtacks, sticky notes, or wall clips.

That’s a blanket “no”

To add insult to injury, none of the venues apologized or offered any suggestions on alternative ways I could display materials on a vertical surface. None of them had any substitute surfaces, like large portable notice boards or whiteboards available.

One conference organizer wondered if I could use tables instead. Unfortunately, tables are not a comparable substitute for walls for two reasons:

On walls, notes or cards can be placed anywhere in a seven-foot band between the floor and where people can reach. On tables, human reach limits us to a three-foot band.
Many more people can easily see information placed on a wall compared to a table.

Why we need to be able to post on walls at meetings

Some of the most powerful techniques available for group problem-solving require ways to display multiple pieces of information to an entire group. Members can easily and publicly move items around to cluster, list, sort, and map relationships. Schools have used blackboards (chalkboards) for two hundred years to display information to students. Thumbtacks (aka drawing pins) have existed for over one hundred years. Masking tape was invented in 1925. We’ve been using Post-it Notes for over thirty years. These are not new technologies, folks, why are venues banning them from their walls where we meet?

I understand that people use venues for many different purposes. Wall damage, through incorrect use of attachment technology or marker bleed-through, costs money to repair. But “wall work” is an essential component of group problem solving, and for a venue to prohibit its use while offering no alternatives makes it hard to hold many kinds of useful meetings.

In the second part of this post, I’ll cover some of the technologies now available for posting information on walls, including some that you may not know about. Stay tuned!

Have you had venues not allow you to post materials on their walls? What did you do?

Photo attribution: Flickr user pierrelaphoto

Tags: participation techniques, posting, presentations, venues, walls| Posted in Soapbox, Venues | 3 Comments »