10 Whys About Conference Education

“In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on things you have long taken for granted.” ~ Bertrand Russel

It’s time for us to hang some question marks on the ways we have provided conference education for the past decade.  Here are ten questions for our established conference education methods.

Jeff Hurt

1. Why are most conference education sessions a talking head presenter?
2. Why should the average education session be 60-, 75- or 90 minutes long?
3. Why do we think that a panel of four talking heads is better than a lecture with one talking head?
4. Why do we feel industry experts make good presenters?
5. Why do we allow committees to select content and speakers for our annual meetings?
6. Why are most conference education session rooms set theater-style, in straight rows?
7. Why do we believe that if the room is buzzing with talking participants that no one is learning?
8. Why do most conference meal functions serve as a platform for our conference sponsors and advertisers at the expense of our participants’ learning?
9. Why do we allow our marketing departments to write and spin session descriptions and learning objectives?
10. Why do we demand presenter’s PowerPoint presentations 30-60 days in advance of their presentation?

What institutionalized conference education methods would you hang a question mark on? I’d like to hear your thoughts.