The end of conferences as we know them? (@noahsapprentice)

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1209813

I believe 2012 is going to be a very different year. Not just for me personally (which I won’t bore you with right now) but I believe we’re going to see some major changes in the way we do things. Anyone who has read my last couple of posts here on Big Bible will know I’ve predicted a sharp rise in collaborative creative projects but I’m going to stick my head above the pulpit (as it were) and also predict a change in the way we do conferences.

My good friend Seymour Jacklin and I have been discussing this for sometime and he forwarded this post from Sean Bonner. Sean points out some things he likes / dislikes about conferences and they really resonated with me.

Things I’ve seen that make events suck:

Sales pitches from sponsors/speakers
Audience feeling like they are just spectators
Huge audience with little interaction
Boring venue
More attractive location walking distance from the boring venue
Single topic brought up again and again and again
All attendees/speakers from one field

Things I’ve seen that have made events awesome:

Hard to tell difference between speakers and audience
Presentations that are open ended and spawn conversation
Small audience with lots interaction. Under 100 total attendees is ideal.
Inspiring venue
Seclusion. No other location walking distance from the main venue.
No clear connection from one topic to another, forcing the attendees/speakers to talk about the different ideas and how they relate
Speakers and Attendees from diverse fields

It got me thinking… Why is it that we spend our hard earned cash to get up extra early on a Saturday (to leave plenty of time to get lost finding the venue) to go to conferences where we sit and backchat the ‘expert’ speakers have a pretty average lunch (if it’s provided at all) and then go to the pub where the actual useful conversations / discussions happen?

Surely it would make more sense to provide a space where people can explore a topic together, have decent food and come away feeling challenged yet encouraged and inspired?

I think this conversation incorporates many of the other discussions that have begun in the last year or so, for example; Vicky Beeching asked us what we thought about ‘concert worship‘ – something I was uneasy with and felt was unnecessary at a conference I was at after New Year.

Perhaps I feel uncomfortable with current formats as I’m more interested in creative exploration than academic presentation/ discussion but from my research I find it’s not just me – so what are we going to do about it?

My prediction for 2012 is that people will start to explore this change in conference ethos and events will begin to take a different shape. Some of you will remember the online survey that I conducted after the Christian New Media Conference in 2011 (the results of which can be found on the anewloom website) but I’d be really interested to hear any opinions on what you find exciting or challenging about current conference formats.