Most conventional conferences consist of a string of presentations followed by a few panel discussions. The one-way approach leaves the audience out of the conversation and impacts on their learning outcomes. The good news is that making these session formats more interactive is not rocket science! In this presentation, you will learn a number of interaction techniques that we have picked up while helping over 10.000 events engage their delegates. We saw that if these, often simple, methods are applied well, they can transform conferences and help attendees to learn more effectively.

2. What is number one driver of event attendance?

3. 91%
Source: Decision to Attend Study – Phase One http://www.iaee.com/resources/decision-to-attend-study
of participants indicated learning as the top driver

4. Zzzz! instead of Aha!

5. Physical things that affect the body & Intellectual elements that nurture the mind
Meeting design
Balance

6. Andragogy
“the method and practice of teaching adult learners; adult education”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andragogy

7. Source: http://elearningindustry.com/9-tips-apply-adult-learning-theory-to-elearning

8. 1.
Highlight objectives

9. “Adults are in charge of their own learning.”
“Adults want to know why they need to learn something before they learn it.”

10. Why not start with asking people why they came?

11. 2.
Make sessions super-relevant

12. “Adults are motivated to learn if they see that it’s relevant for them and helps them in life.”

13. Get to know your audience with live polls to tailor content

14. Relevant content is a stepping stone to great interaction

15. Split the panel in 3-4 parts and
collect audience opinion with live polls

16. 3.
Improving Q&A sessions

17. 74%of adults are scared of
public speaking
It’s hard as

18. Mismatch between what the speaker is saying
and what the audience wants

19. Use audience response systems such as Slido to bridge the gap
Crowdsourcing Questions
Live Polling

20. Prepare people for Q&A in advance & have them come up with Qs before the talk

21. 4.
Replace keynotes with conversations

22. Fireside chats or #AMA

23. 5.
Tap into audience experience

24. Adults bring a great deal of experience to events and
“the richest resources for learning reside in the adult learners themselves.”

25. Roundtable Discussions

26. Campfire Sessions

27. 6.
Endorse Networking

28. 3/4
of your audience expect networking opportunities
Source: Decision to Attend Study – Phase One http://www.iaee.com/resources/decision-to-attend-study

29. Create meaningful breaks

30. Seat Swaps

31. Speed networking

32. 7.
Tie things together with a wrap-up

33. Collaborative wrap-up

34. Looking for more meeting design tips?
slido.com/blog
jholub@slido.com