Posted by

Barry Siskind

UFI’s Community Manager

How do you develop the education portion of your exhibition? If you are like most of us, you follow a prescribed set of steps which include: a call for papers, selection of topics transmitting information to the selected candidates, creating the education agenda and promote to your visitors. According to a post of the US based website of consultants www.velvetchain.com this method may have lost its relevance.

The author’s argument is that in today’s business world it is imperative that organisers develop a “laser-focus on key customers.” What this requires is a thorough understanding of what your visitor’s need which requires a great deal of sophistication on the part of those charged with the responsibility of organizing and implementing the education agenda.

  1. Create an open and collaborative culture

Other studies have confirmed that large sessions with high-profile speakers have their place but many visitors hunger for an opportunity to share and learn from peers.

2. Respond Immediately With Relevancy

The authors asked key questions about the content of any education programme.

“Does your conference education help participants turn mountains of data into actionable insights?

Do you help participants reduce complexity and increase efficiency for their employers?

Do they know what agile processes are and how to shift to a model of taking successive sprints instead of running a marathon?”

3. Adoptive learning

The authors define adoptive learning as a focus on what challenges your visitors will be facing in the future. This in turn helps them understand how to make the crucial changes to their workplaces.

The post has much more to offer all of us and is worth passing along to your education committee.

http://velvetchainsaw.com/2015/02/25/the-next-frontier-of-conference-improvement-conference-education/