First, the digital divide by age is not as prevalent as you think. The Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that being online and the adoption of social media by Baby Boomers is one of the fastest growing demographics. in 2010, 74% of adults used the Internet. Today, nearly 60% of adults access the Internet via wireless. Twitter is mostly used by those 35-55. 85% of American Adults own a cell phone and one-fourth of homes are cell phone only.

In my opinion, it is an association’s job to lead their members into today’s current communication trends and help them understand them. This is especially true for the education community.

Second, the research about education and learning shows that sitting and listening to an expert provides the least amount of ROI, learning and retention. I have heard this excuse for the past 20 years, and once you start educating people about the truth and facts, based on science and research, about learning, they are more than willing to be more actively involved.

Your dilemma is not unusual. I suggest that you create a mix of sessions and make sure that you secure people who understand today’s research about learning. The sessions that provide audience engagement and interaction will score higher and be well received. Word of mouth will travel and you can eventually offer less and less of the traditional “Stand and deliver” models of didactic sessions.

Thanks for adding to the conversation.

I think many industries are seeing a downturn in event attendance this year, especially associations. I personally believe that people want that human interaction and smaller “boutique” experiences provide the “social,” where everyone knows my name type element that people crave. People crave connections with others. They just don’t want to sit passively listening to speakers. They want to engage with others and find their tribe, their place to belong, to grow and learn.

Even within large events, I feel event organizers need to design some smaller boutique interactions for people. I was surprised that one of the comments I heard most from our annual conference was that our attendees wanted more time to talk with each other, learn from each other and be in small groups. And we provided a lot of that this year any way but they still wanted more.

It will be interesting to see how conferences and events evolve during the next three to five years.

Thanks for your insightful tips, enjoyed the article.

Elise

Thanks for adding to the conversation, especially from the perspective of how the brain is inspired and learns. I’m a huge advocate of the education design of a conference or event especially when thinking about how the adult brain learns. If more presenters and facilitators would take some of your advice, conferences would be a lot more exciting!

In my case the content is new and fresh and applicable so people really get into it:-) Thanks for the great tips and thoughtful communication!

I am also reminded of the value of facilitating folks so they can meet others in meaningful discourse and that’s always the part I really enjoy most too — so your reflections make me look forward to this big event and remind me of the parts I like most.

People need to find reasons to be inspired and the brain has many, they need more assets and those are available too. So I think in the economic downturns the brain holds answers to help folks turn their lives around and enter new frontiers because they did. Do you agree?

@John – always a pleasure to have you drop by and add your comments. Yes, I agree that Twitter has become a norm at most conferences. Actually, social media has become the norm at most conferences whether conference organizers embrace it or not.

@Debra – Thanks for adding to the discussion. I agree that people are attending conferences more to network and connect with others than for the content. With so much free online content in webinars, live streaming and posts, associations are facing increased pressures to provide better content and act as catalyst helping people connect with each other. For me, the attendee registration list is driving my attendance at some events. If I can connect with those people that are in my social network, like you, John Haydon and Jeffrey Cufaude, that’s more of a draw than the presenters. I suspect it’s probably because I’ve been in the association world for a while and want to learn from peers and colleagues than sitting passively in a room listening to a presenter. I know others see it differently though.

Also, the rise of social media that enables us to have many hundreds of weak ties across the web. Thus, points #11 and 13 become increasingly important: we need time at the conferences to strengthen weak online ties and create new ties that we can strengthen later, online or offline. My very wise friend once told me “it’s not what happens at the conference, it’s what happens afterwards that matters.” If you think of conferences in that light, then creating opportunities for people to connect before, after and during the conference using social media.