Archive for » 2009 «
Today’s nonprofits are facing a myriad of new issues and challenges.
Associations must begin to consider and embrace new models of structure and organization or risk becoming obsolete and irrelevant.
Recently, Scott Oser started a discussion What If Associations Abandoned Hierarchies on ASAE’s Acronym Blog. Jamie Notter responded with The Trouble With Hierarchies. Most of the discussion on these two posts revolves around the fact that hierarchies help with decision-making. The primary thought has been that the absence of hierarchies means anarchy, chaos or a stalled association.
Many embrace a belief that organizations can’t exist without a hierarchical chain of authority. One of the problems with hierarchy is that it has too often bred authoritarianism, creating fear in some cases and dependence in others
W. Edwards Deming said, “In a strictly hierarchical organization, the only learning that takes place is the learning of the individual at the top. Everyone else obeys orders. An organization without learning will only survive in very stable conditions. In practice, of course, the lower ranks actually learn and adapt without being told to do so. But hierarchies tend to learn slowly, especially because a lot of effort goes into preserving the superior status of those at the top, inevitably an anti-learning activity.”
I have a different view on the traditional, top-down controlled, hierarchy. The Digital Age has created new methods of acceptable practices.
Gen Y and the Web 2.0 savvy are learning and working in different ways than the traditional hierarchy methods of Baby Boomers. That is resulting in new models of heterarchies and networks for collaborative efforts in both work and learning environments. Instead of top-down, command and control, authoritative, vertical structures of one-to-many, they embrace collective credibility and many-to-many peer collaborative heterarchies. Gen Y embraces authority determined by knowledge or function, and expertise of the crowd.
Wikipedia defines a heterarchy as a system of organization replete with overlap, multiplicity, mixed ascendancy and/or divergent-but-coexistent patterns of relation. In social and information sciences, heterarchies are networks of elements in which each element shares the same horizontal position of power and authority, each playing a theoretically equal role.
Wow, what if association’s employees each had an equal horizontal position of power?
Gen Y adopted learning without walls, unlike traditional hierarchy models. They are accustomed to commenting on blogs and Wikipedia, using Google docs for collaborative tasks, teaching themselves programming and figuring work-arounds to online video games. They follow links embedded in articles to build a deeper understanding. They comment on papers and ideas in an interactive and immediate exchange of ideas.
All these acts are collaborative and democratic, and all occur amid a worldwide community of voices. Gen Y and early adopters are bringing all of these concepts to establishments and forcing change or they are creating their own businesses and organizations with new models of structure.
Instead of seeing institutions such as nonprofits and corporations as a bundle of rules, regulations, and norms governing the actions within its structure, they are creating new models of organizations as mobilizing networks. They are tearing down traditional hierarchy silos in favor of networked cross-disciplinary arrangements where control shifts around depending on the project and the personality, skills, experience and enthusiasm of those who can make things happen. Much of the project work that is becoming common in large technology companies fits this kind of arrangement.
Reliability, predictability and trust are issues organizations must embrace alongside flexibility and innovation. Organizations, especially nonprofits, must rethink current structures and will be forced to adapt and change or fail.
I think that in the 21st century, the time is ripe for sustainable change in the ways that organizations get things done. What do you think?
My post for ASAE’s Acronym’s “Big Ideas” month for association bloggers.
What if associations provided brain-friendly annual conferences?
- Planning Brain-Friendly Conferences
If you wanted to create a conference environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like today’s conferences, meetings and workshops. If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you would design a full day of lectures in general sessions and breakouts. (Just like today’s learning institutions).
What if associations tore down old traditional conference models and started over?
Here are four brain-friendly principles from brain scientists that association leaders and meeting organizers should consider when planning their next annual meeting. (There are many more!)
Passive Listening Versus Movement And Interactivity
1. Your brain is not designed to sit passively for eight hours a day listening to lectures.
In the evolutionary process, our brains developed while working out and walking. The brain still craves that experience. Movement boosts brainpower. Physical activity is cognitive candy.
Suggestion: Conference organizers should encourage presentations that get people up, moving around and require interactivity, not sitting in chairs all day.
Your Short Term Memory
2. Your brain is not designed like a recording device—push record to learn new information and push playback to remember it.
German psychologist and memory researcher Hermann Ebbinghaus is best known for one of the most depressing facts in education: people usually forget 90% of what they learn in a class within 30 days. The majority of this memory loss occurs within the first few hours after the presentation. Wow, normal conference attendees only recall 10% of what they learn at the annual meeting. That’s low ROI.
The moment of encoding, or learning, is mysterious and complex. We do know that the process is similar to a blender running without a lid. The information enters the blender, is sliced into pieces and splattered all over the insides of our mind. Content and context are stored separately. Recalling that information requires more elaborate encoding in the initial moments of learning.
Suggestion: Conference organizers need to structure and provide emotional arousal, context and meaning which lead to more elaborate encoding and thus better recall.
Adult White Space
3. The brain is not an open vessel that you can constantly pour content into during an eight-hour day and expect it to recall the information at will.
Have you seen the film Mondo Cane? The Italian shockumentary consists of vignettes intended to raise Westerner’s eyebrows. One memorable and disgusting scene shows farmers force-feeding geese to make Pâté de foie gras. They stuff food down the throats of these animals and then fasten a brass ring around their throats, trapping the food inside the digestive tract. Repeatedly jamming them with an oversupply of food eventually creates a stuffed liver pleasing to the world’s chefs. The geese are sacrificed in the name of expediency.
Most conferences try to overstuff their attendees with several days of eight to ten hours of presentations. Subject matter experts shovel data dumps into attendees’ minds thinking more is best. Pushing too much information, without enough time devoted to context, meaning, connecting the dots and digestion, does not nourish the brain. The attendee’s learning is sacrificed in the name of expediency. The brain needs breaks.
Suggestion: Conference organizers need to schedule adult white space: time for attendees to discuss new learnings with each other. They should plan for moderated chats where attendees re-expose each other to the information and share detailed elaborations of their impressions. When attendees spend time in these gabfests sharing their new learnings, retention increases. Brains recall information that is repeated out loud. The more the experience is retold, the more the brain encodes it and the more likely it will be remembered.
Attention Spans And Boring Things
4. The brain does not pay attention to boring things. (I know, you’re saying, “Duh!”)
Research shows that presenters have 30 seconds to grab someone’s attention and only 10 minutes to keep it. Most conference presentations are 60 to 90 minutes long. If keeping someone’s interest in a presentation were a business, it would have an 80%-90% failure rate.
Presenters and conference organizers can help grab attention by ensuring every 10-minute segment is rich with meaning, stories and emotional connections. Connecting each segment to previous segments also helps the brain learn and remember.
Suggestion: Conference organizers should secure speakers that change their content and raise attention every 9 minutes and 59 seconds to restart the attention clock.
These four brain-friendly principles are just some of the things association leaders and meeting professionals can do to create brain friendly conferences. What others would you add?
Debra Askanase has an interesting post, Front Yard and Back Yard Conversations, about the progression of relationships in social media.
Go read it. I’ll be here waiting for you when you return.
She suggests that many social media platforms are like front yards and that relationships really develop in people’s back yards where the private conversations can continue.
I like her analogy. And, I’d like to offer a different twist on her analogy.
Social media platforms are like front porches and Greek porticos.
I live in an urban neighborhood, less than 2 minutes from downtown Dallas, TX. It’s a historic district with 1920’s style craftsman homes, big wrap around porches and large oak trees lining the streets.
It’s what I call a 21st century Norman Rockwell picturesque neighborhood as you see families of all ethnicities, religions, types and sizes, walking, bicycling, playing in yards, checking in on each other, sharing garden tips, going through life’s daily routine together. It’s hard to imagine that we are just seconds from blocks of skyscrapers, major highways and bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion.
It’s a culturally diverse and unique neighborhood. Our own urban oasis in a large metroplex of more than 6.5 million people.
Our front porches are the hub of activity. They are today’s version of the ancient Greeks porticos, the meeting places where conversations about life, politics, families, spirituality and the meaning of existence occur. Often, the kids play in our front and back yards simultaneously. If you’re walking in our neighborhood, you’re considered part of the community family and we wave from our front porch and greet you. Our porches with our porch swings and Adirondack chairs are the center of our lives. Gathering on each other’s porch is as common as buying groceries or talking on the phone.
I believe that many social media platforms have become today’s front porches and ancient Greek porticos. In social media, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook Fan pages often serve as our wave from the porch so to speak. Deciding whether you wave back is as easy as opting in or following someone. If you stop to talk to us, by sending us a reply or message in a social network, we may invite you to our porch to continue the discussion. Our porches are similar to blogs, Twitter Chats and eCommunities. They are places where we can have deeper discussions and continue the relationship.
But for that relationship to go deeper, we may invite you into our home. If we invite you into our house, you immediately gain “Refrigerator Rights.” Refrigerator Rights are special privileges to open our refrigerator door and help yourself. It’s similar to Creative Commons where we give you access to all that is ours.
The people on our porch and in our yard don’t necessarily have Refrigerator Rights unless they enter our home. And typically, we invite them in first.
For me, Refrigerator Rights are social media’s equivalent to moving online conversations to offline via phone or a face-to-face. Refrigerator Rights are when we connect face-to-face at a MeetUp or conference or have a meal together. It’s when we take the relationship deeper, exposing our hidden secrets that avatars and 140 character texts don’t show. Refrigerator Rights are the relationships with others that you feel comfortable, cared for and relaxed. They know the real you behind the avatar.
In social media and relationships, if we connect through a wave (social media message), have a porch conversation (deeper communication in an eCommunity or blog), we may invite you into our home and give you Refrigerator Rights-agree to extended conversations on the phone or in person. The beauty of social media is that it’s given rise to global front porches and worldwide Refrigerator Rights.
So, what analogy would you use for social media and relationships that reflect your part of the world?
Recently, several bloggers have written about conference speakers including their own personal experiences as a presenter.
Six things to provide to help your conference speakers succeed.
- Some have discussed how a conference organizer has surprised them with magnification of the Twitter feed on the stage while they presented. They didn’t know this was going to happen before they presented.
- Others like Patrick O’Keefe have written about the conference speaker’s responsibility to conference organizers and attendees.
- Michael McCurry posted about the importance of providing guidance to your speakers, especially if you are hosting a hybrid event.
- Midori Connolly provided Speaker Tips and Guidelines for those presenting to virtual audiences.
- TED Conference organizers shared their TED Commandments for speakers.
- Andy Sernovitz suggested ways to help your speakers talk about your event.
I’ve been on both sides of the presentation gig—as the presenter and as the customer or conference organizer. I know that the closer to the event, the more last minute minutiae the conference organizer handles, and the less likely he/she will think about the presenter. (I admit it. It happens to me as the organizer!) I also know that typically I’m not the only customer the speaker has as they are usually traveling from one conference to another.
Speaker Helpful Tips & Guidelines
If you’ve ever hired a professional speaker, you’ve probably signed a speaker contract that contains the details of the event and the deliverables. You’ve also probably completed a lengthy speaker questionnaire that asks the A to Z of the event and audience. (Speakers, if you don’t have a questionnaire for your customers, you might want to create one.) I also require all my industry speakers to sign a contract too.
When I secure a speaker, I’ve already done my due diligence to make sure their content is the right fit and that they have better than average delivery skills. While the signed speaker contract has all the important information, I know that my attendee’s satisfaction is directly related to my speaker’s success. So, it’s imperative that I help the speaker succeed and do the best they can.
In addition to the speaker contract, I require that all of my speakers complete the following documents. (Go ahead and download them for your own files. They’ll help!)
- An AV form with their specific requirements
- An audio/video recording release (I require all speakers to sign this, even if they are denying permission to record their presentation.)
- A travel and lodging form
- A Speaker’s Guidelines Form (includes information about using non-sexist and non-discriminatory language, the use of intellectual property, as well as a non-sales from the podium) This is an important form that protects you, the conference organizer and lets the speaker know you expect professionalism.
I also provide two more things:
- At least one conference call a couple weeks before the event to discuss all the last minute details
- A customized speaker’s tip sheet – this contains the speakers hotel arrival, departure, confirmation number, presentation room, av, etc.
If there were one take away I could give you to help your conference speaker succeed, it would be the customized speakers’ helpful info sheet. Your speakers will love you if you provide this a couple weeks in advance of their presentation. And, they’ll send plenty of kudos your way for it.
What other steps do you take to help your conference speakers succeed? Share your tips with readers.
Gary Hayes’ Social Media Counter shared through Creative Commons license.
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