Event Education. What is it all about? Part 2

Sit for 5 minutes with any idea and you are certain to come up with more to say. Hence a part two to my last blog post. I wanted to spend a bit more time on bullet 5 from the last post: Events can be content for education/there is education in the experience.

This appears to me so obvious, it strikes me as surprising that experiential learning at event conferences tends to be a foreign idea. There is this tremendous rivalry between the "social" events and the "education" sessions, but I have never understood why the two have been put at odds, other than to say that there is a track record of "social" events produced as parties, not as educational tools. But I find it truly unfair as a paying attendee (and recently a producer of one of these events) to be short-changed by conferences panning off these events as purely social exercises. Without fail at each conference event I can point to lessons and learning (important caveat) I have made. I can count on one hand the number of meaningful educational class sessions I have attended in the past six years.

Ask me and I will tell you that part of the problem is that the showcasing and award events at conferences do not know what purpose they really serve (or are not open to serving as a formal educational opportunity, though they inevitably always serve as passive education). While I am certain people will disagree with me, the role of an event at an event industry conference HAS to be bigger than networking and celebratory. These experiences should represent the best of what the business can do - displaying the process or professionally producing an event, emerging technologies, ideas, strategies and practices in delivering event experiences. They must be more than pretty parties. They must have goals and stick to them; they should take calculated risks and be OK falling forward when some don't pan out and others succeed.

If I ran a conference, I would love to attend this class: The day after the big showcase event or awards ceremony, the event team which worked on the event sits on a panel with a strong facilitator to discuss with the audience the process and design of the event, what was successful, and what challenges were faced and how were they overcome. This is NOT a class opportunity for the event team to brag, but requires extreme vulnerability on the teams part to host this live "actors studio" type discussion on the creation and execution of an event experienced by the audience. The audience can pose questions and help examine the choices that made that experience in 360 degree fashion. Now that would be a fun class.

Event Education. What is it all about?

I am home from my second event conference of the year and after a successful week of networking, attending great events and teaching (however successfully) classes, I find myself reflecting again on a perpetual question-argument-debate at every conference. Just what is event education supposed to be about?

At each conference this year I was fairly disappointing with the turnout in the education sessions. Feel free to blame the speaker (me) or the timing (last day, early). Here I was, about to teach a class, in a massive room with, in one case, (ugh), convention theater seating, and in the second case, (ugh), classroom tables for rows set-up and the always to be expected one participant per row

First, my soap box: Come on people! We are in the event business - we have to do a better job at designing breakout and general session spaces to be conductive of learning. Why do we insist on putting so many barriers in the way of interactivity: a podium on a riser (for 20 people, really.) Classroom tables. Uncomfortable theater seating, where I have to put two chairs in-between myself and the next person because A) I don't fit in the chair with no gap between myself and my neighbor and B) because I am lugging around this big conference bag of materials. While "comfortable" and expected, these items act as barriers between a speaker and the audience. And if you believe, like me, that education more about facilitated dialogue among the crowd and less about what I the speaker know, then these set-up really just get in the way. (And don't ask me about the screen which was set back at an angle such that 1/3 of the room couldn't see it!)

But to the bigger question. Staging conference education is a lot like staging an event. In any given audience you will have someone enthralled with what you do, someone bored silly with what you do, someone who is passing time, but the content will sink in later, and someone distracted by the latest disaster/news being reported 140 characters at a time over their mobile device. It is a vast audience with so many specific ideas and needs it will make your head spin. The repetitive issues seem always to be the same: Content is too junior! Content is too senior. Content is lacking all together.

So what is the deal? Here are my rules:

1. People want content. (period.) Celebrity status means nothing anymore and doesn't cut it to fill an hour. Sexy titles may win selection, but often are empty...and more and more crowds will walk out of classes in which nothing is being said. Audiences want solutions (to their issues) and ideas.

2. Let the audience provide your content. Who knows what they want better than the audience. So let them talk. Whether they enjoy participation or not, the most successful solution to education is a facilitated conversation among the audience by a great facilitator because the audience is smart. And we can not forget that they are smart.

As a session speaker I have taken this one specifically to heart and open my sessions with the following:

"This class is a conversation. I want to hear from you. I want to know if you agree with me or think I am full of it. Yes, I have things to say and have prepared a presentation, but I am just fine throwing that out of the window to discuss what you want to talk about. Because this class is about you (the audience) not about me. Your education is in your hands, so tell me what you want to hear."

3. Aim high with course work and provide challenging content. Again your audience is smart - so stop talking down to them. Engage them where they are at with a discussion that they want to have. But don't forget a track for the newby's. But be cautious. There is often a belief to make education experienced based, but I think education should be comfort based. Newby doesn't mean beginners or young people and Expert or MASTER doesn't mean old or experienced. Rather, each should speak to those who feel more or less confident on a given topic.

4. Look beyond the borders of your industry. There is so much knowledge and learning that can happen by linking relative outsiders to the industry for dialogue. You have to invest in good education content, not rely on free volunteers. Or your audience will stop attending.

5. We are in the experience business. So why is education presented in classrooms. Get out. Walk around. Sit comfortably. Engage in the environments around you and in the event experiences around you. Every one of these conferences stages events, and yet the integration of those experiences into the educational track is not to be found. Turn those events into more purposeful parties: make them learning opportunities.

Re-Blogging some great Props!

Wow! It is amazing how kind people can be when you present them with an idea to think about. As Executive Producer for the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards, I have had the distinct pleasure to interact with some brilliant people. To see they share a respect for the ideas we tried is in a word, tremendous. So to steal from Twitter, (and because it gives better content than I can produce) I am going to "RB" - ReBlog - some of the interesting posts I have had written about me in recent weeks.

From the special events blog ready2spark.com author Lara McCulloch-Carter:

Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know corporate event producer, Ryan Hanson of BeEvents. Ryan is in 2 words an Event Provocateur. Convention irks him…instead, I do believe he spends his sleeping and waking hours trying to determine how to redefine events and our roles within them.

Last week I attended one of Ryan’s events in Las Vegas. He produced the Spotlight/CATIE Awards…and he lived up to his reputation. Gone was the stage – instead, the entertainers wove their way throughout the crowd and, as a result, we were intertwined in the entertainment. Gone were the table rounds – and the feelings of stodginess went with them. Gone was the traditional ‘In Memoriam‘ – it was replaced with all of the themes, trends and concepts that have died a horrible death over the years (i.e. client budgets).

I have a lot of respect for people who are not afraid to take calculated risks and are willing to wag their finger in the face of convention. This is why I asked Ryan Hanson if he’d be interested in a short interview…Read the rest here.

From Ruth Moyte of Red Dandelion Creative:

...I’ve been to a lot of awards shows and I hear a lot of complaints about the quality of presentation and what we as an industry should be doing in the production of our awards shows. This year, someone has risen to the challenge. I admire his entrepreneurial spirit. The willingness to take risks and have a vision for something different. I’m speaking of Ryan Hanson of BeEvents. He’s an inspiration to me. He’s an inspiration to the industry as he forges the way for what is surely to come.

When I spoke with Ryan Hanson, Producer of this year’s show, I became even more impressed with his insight, talent and positive attitude. Ryan shared with me his vision for the Award show. “My big push is to do the basics really well: can people see, can they get a drink, get food, have a seat? Does the show move along? I really wanted to underplay the build-up of the show – use non-traditional channels for communicating the messages, and not promise the biggest bang around ... I would much rather have people come with questions and leave pleasantly surprised and happy by the experience, than fall short of big pre-set expectations. That is more true to our business today with real clients, and that is the kind of awards program we should be showing – one without a stage, one where an industry embraces its collective identity and abilities, and celebrates itself among itself.” Creative? You bet. Risky? Yep. Admirable? Most certainly.

It’s a well thought out vision and one that I’m hopeful our industry will respond to. Things are a changing and if you’re not adapting you’re going to get left behind. The state of the industry is changing. We need to change with it, and I’m excited to see someone that is willing to try something different to see if it will work. Some will probably love it. Some may dislike it. Some may not even get it. But, I hope that everyone will see the potential in it.

I look forward to seeing just how it all plays out…either way, I’ll be cheering Ryan’s attempt (and hopefully a successful one) to mix it up and show some new potential to our industry at large.

Hats off, Ryan. You have one big fan cheering for your success!

Read the full post here.

This Event Provocateur is riding high today! ;o)

CrowdCampaign 3: You Pick the Drinks!

Time for our third campaign and this one has to be a favorite. It is Cocktail Time!

What is a party without the drinks!? But what to order? View the video of one of the Mandarin Oriental’s bartender shaking and stirring five classic libations. The top options will be passed during the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards.

Awards Show Cocktails from Spotlight & CATIES on Vimeo.

CrowdCampaign 2: You Pick Dessert!

We are back at it. Having successfully Crowdsourced our design inspiration for the 2010 Event Solutions Spotlight & ICA CATIES Awards, we are on to campaign #2: Dessert.

Whoever said dessert should be eaten first, was right. But mom said “not until after dinner!” So, in accordance with mom rules, you will have to wait until after dinner to find out which mini-versions of the three desserts presented by Executive Pastry Chef, Gianni Santin, of the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, will be served to patrons as they leave the 2010 Spotlight/CATIE Awards.

Watch the video then please choose 1 of the 3 decadent dessert choices!

Awards Show Cocktails from Spotlight & CATIES on Vimeo.

Want to vote? Check out our CrowdCampaign site. Campaign #3 for cocktails comes around on Wednesday!