Conference 3.0

Conferences are about telling a story, together with speakers, public and facilitators. Conferences are about strategic, tactical and operational excellence. At least: at surface level. At a deeper level they are abut connecting spirits, minds, souls, about transformation of practice, transformation of people. Nothing esoteric: its simply about making it happen through connecting the powers of kindred and inspiring spirits. Of knowmads.

Almost in with this much of the conference thinking is still firmly stuck in what I call the conference 1.0 and 2.0 thinking.

Conference 1.0: put an inspiring speaker (or a series of inspiring speakers) on stage who inform, educate and entertain the public with their thoughts. There is limited time for interaction with the speaker(s) - if there is time at all. The goal of these conferences: to inspire and educate. To show a new horizon, new ways forward.

Conference 2.0: combine inspiring speakers with workshoplike formats, thus allowing for interaction between members of the audience and speakers.

The conference 3.0 format that I can see arising, is the type of conference where the audience learns from the audience. Where the audience is it's own teachers, facilitated by professionals who know how to connect people and how to connect knowledge. Action learning in groups and teams. Unconferencing. Away from the top down method. Onto a method where you put value to the audience and their knowledge. People will hardly come to your conference to hear something new. The new is out there, in the social media. And the other new - original thinking - is out there in conferences like TED. Which are great, but not every conference can be a TED experience. And not every conference should aim to be. Conferences are about your public and about your goal. It is a working form, a means to reach and end. Not an end in itself. 

People come to conferences, to share their experiences and learn from others. They come to transform their organisations and their own functioning. 

If you want a conference, note these trends, give some thought to whether a conference is the right means for your end and if so: give these new forms some thought if you want a conference. Dare think about this and dare to do it, before you start organising on the automatic pilot on the 1.0 and 2.0 format. 

(hand)book on conference management for the non profit secto

June 2010 we temporarily closed MK5060 full circle projects to enter a time of reflection. I had lived and build up the business for 7 years, guiding myself and the people in my network through turbulent years, working with new people on new fields...turbulent and great years. But it was time for reflection and although this did not work out on the bicycles we did get our time off and we finally find now that there is room in us for new ideas, adventures and projects. Probably the overriding conclusion for me is that I will consciously work on creating synthesis.

For a number of my clients I am a passionate conference organiser, others see me as a marketeer with a deep understanding of the subject and apt at market research whereas for yet others I am a project manager whom you hire for projects that need strategical, tactical and operational attention. Projects that need peoplemanagement. Rarely the marekting, educational and organisational angles come together. So for 2011 that is one of the things that I will aim to create.

As a first step I have started to write. Something that I have always done but that as of late lost the battle with the tremendous amount of work that came my way. Don't get me wrong: I am not complaining. I mean: you start your own business and you have to good fortune to hit the ground running and to keep on running which is a gift, a treasure. But I have agreed with myself now (and aren't those the hardest agreements to keep) that one day a week I will write, with the aim to create a (hand)book on conference/eventmanagement for the non-profit sector. I am itchting to address the gap in eventmanagement between the strategic level and the level of operationalisation. To write on how one can and should address the needs of the guests. How to put hospitality and speakers center stage, how to leave your ego at the door, opening yourself completely to the needs and wants of your public and your speakers so that the story that needs telling, the goal for which you organise the conference or the event is reached.

I just drafted the first table of contents to focus my thoughts. I would love to make this a joint venture and I need your input. Please let me know what you would want to find in a (hand)book on conference management for the non profit sector, either by sending me an e-mail or by responding to this blog. I look forward to hearing from you!

DE conference 2010

Straight upon our arrival back home an e-mail arrived. "We're sending you two mails. This is the first one: we're ever so sorry about what happened!" The second e-mail read: "This is the second mail: now that your back, would you be available to assist us with DE conferentie?" (DE conferentie is that national version of DISH). How could I possibly refuse? Actually, on the plane I had already said to my husband that I would be delighted if DEN and I could keep up with our tradition. And yes, we could! I have been with this conference from the very start, being one of the developers of the conference concept. I couldn't help but reminisce a bit. When we started out with the conference in 2004 we were so happy with just over 100 participants. It was a new conference back then and although DEN and I as well were convinced of the need the proof of the pudding is always in the eating.

From the get go the conference has met the need. The number of participants has grown steadily over the years. This year was no exception: over the course of two days we had 500 participants. More wanted to come but we were simply full so we had to close the registration. Amongst the participants were many new faces, first timers at this conference attracted by this years theme: education and digital media for heritage instutions. So we have managed to reach a new traget group! Coming from archives, museums and libraries the participants reflected a good mix of the cultural heritage sector. Also in terms of knowledge: some have just started thinking about doing "something" with education and digital media, others could quite possibly succesfully apply for a job as innovator with google or the likes:-) The digital heritage price went to Deventer library.

As an organisation I think we have grown tremendously over the years of developing and organising this conference. From the conference bags and the badges to how we run things to the information market: it's all so much more professional then when we started! Which is really miraculous when you realise that the people at the DEN office organise this conference, do all the administration and everything else involved with this event in addition to their normal jobs. Arianne for example does the entire office management while organising this conference. Janneke and Ralph do their normal communication tasks in addition to the conference. The same goes for the Director and all other DEN people involved. To be capable of that and then run a conference in good spirits with guests, speakers and sponsors feeling comfortable and very welcome is a true victory. I am delighted, proud and honoured that I was a part of this years conference again!

PS: below a picture with Janneke, Ralph, Arianne and myself. And no, Janneke and I were not on purpose color coordinated!