The new standard for meetings and conferences (from Seth Godin)
Category Presentations
From Seth Godin's blog: The new standard for meetings and conferences
If oil is $130 a barrel and if security adds two or three hours to a trip and if people are doing more and more business with those far afield...
and if we need to bring together more people from more places when we get together...
and if the alternatives, like video conferencing or threaded online conversations continue to get better and better, then...
I think the standard for a great meeting or a terrific conference has changed.
In other words, "I flew all the way here for this?" is going to be far more common than it used to be.
This is something that I really hadn't thought about, as I always expect a conference to be really good if I'm going to travel there. But he's got a good point... it's getting more and more expensive to travel, and much more convenient to get content without the hassles of trying to get somewhere.
Here's what a speaker owes an audience that travels to engage in person: more than they could get by just reading the transcript.
And here's what a conference organizer owes the attendees: surprise, juxtaposition, drama, engagement, souvenirs and just possibly, excitement.
This both thrills and scares me to death. It thrills me that we should be expecting to get more value, and that the bar should be raised for those providing these events. And it scares me that I'm going to be judged on these higher values.
I've never felt like I could "mail it in" when it comes to a presentation, nor do I take the privilege of presenting lightly. But this is a wake-up call for those of us that choose to put ourselves out there in front of our friends and colleagues. The expectation of value from those in front of us continues to increase, and it's up to us to provide it.
From Seth Godin's blog: The new standard for meetings and conferences
If oil is $130 a barrel and if security adds two or three hours to a trip and if people are doing more and more business with those far afield...
and if we need to bring together more people from more places when we get together...
and if the alternatives, like video conferencing or threaded online conversations continue to get better and better, then...
I think the standard for a great meeting or a terrific conference has changed.
In other words, "I flew all the way here for this?" is going to be far more common than it used to be.
This is something that I really hadn't thought about, as I always expect a conference to be really good if I'm going to travel there. But he's got a good point... it's getting more and more expensive to travel, and much more convenient to get content without the hassles of trying to get somewhere.
Here's what a speaker owes an audience that travels to engage in person: more than they could get by just reading the transcript.
And here's what a conference organizer owes the attendees: surprise, juxtaposition, drama, engagement, souvenirs and just possibly, excitement.
This both thrills and scares me to death. It thrills me that we should be expecting to get more value, and that the bar should be raised for those providing these events. And it scares me that I'm going to be judged on these higher values.
I've never felt like I could "mail it in" when it comes to a presentation, nor do I take the privilege of presenting lightly. But this is a wake-up call for those of us that choose to put ourselves out there in front of our friends and colleagues. The expectation of value from those in front of us continues to increase, and it's up to us to provide it.
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