@Traci – thanks for adding to the discussion. I agree the old model served for a time. Now people want engagement with each other, engagement with the content, engagement with the vendors, engagement with messages. That requires intentional planning on the part of the organizers.

@Kate
Excellent points and thanks for sharing them. I really like your suggestions for new sponsorship ideas and ways to have attendees get involved.

@Adrain
I’ve not read your book yet and it’s on my “to read” list for sure. Whether it’s a traditional conference of the peer conferences you suggest, both require planning and intentionality. Yes, amazing things can happen when we allow radically relational conferences.

When we provide sessions that reflect actual participant needs and desires, and real opportunities in the formal conference for attendees to connect and reflect, both individually and as a group – amazing things happen. I’ve been running events like this for eighteen years now, and they are a joy to be a part of; not because of the hard work that goes into organizing each one of them but because I see the “transformative radical relationships and social connections” they generate, and that’s very satisfying to me.

In the past, conferences could get away with focusing only on the information provided. Now, when information is everywhere, conferences are the new connectors. It’s so rare that so many people gather in one place face-to-face — if conferences can bring them all together, provide valuable information and help them converse, all the better.

That means – as you mentioned Jeff – giving attendees space to go and meet other people.

Sponsors can help by bringing together different spaces for people to gather. Instead of sponsoring a table — sponsor a room with coffee gatherings, or perhaps a series of people at the event that are doing interesting things. Use sponsorship to help connect people and highlight what’s interesting.

Speakers can help by using twitter, socializing at the conference (some speakers only stay on for the main event and leave after), providing a forum for people to interact after the speech, and also highlight the people from the event on your blog/twitter account with photos or videos. Again — it’s about the audience.

/ kate

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jeffhurt: Radically Relational: The Social Conference #eventprofs #pcma10 http://ow.ly/WXRR…

I’ve often come home from a conference that had great information but felt as though I had very little time to actually network and exchange ideas with those present. The best sessions I’ve been to are where my peers had the opportunity to talk about what worked for them in their organizations. Adding more dialog is easy to do but requires good moderator skills. The good news is, this can be taught.

I’m looking forward to seeing these changes begin to take hold.