AS the count down to the technology conference season gets shorter, it MAKES me think what I expect from to take away from conferences.
The simple answer is “insight.” But three recent conferences I’ve attended in the last nine months left me disappointed because they didn’t deliver what I expected. I left one here in Southern Califonia stewing in discontent. The conference’s producers flat out failed, I believe in several specific areas. First, they assumed they didn’t need to prove their street cred and they threw out conclusions on emerging trends without any subordinate facts.
But really ticked me off was that the executive producer apparently didn’t communicate expectations to panel moderators or panelists. I began my slow simmer ten minutes into the panel when the moderator began serving softballs to a panel. I had hoped the panelists—most of whom was from the entertainment industry, would rise to the occasion with hard data. They didn’t and the moderator lacked the instinct to stop and pose drill-down questions that could have blown open the information flood gates—thus providing value to the paying attendees.
I was extremely disappointed. Frankly, I expected more from the veteran industry reporter who was the moderator. But what became immediately clear to me was the conference’s executive producer was too busy back stage to pay close attention to the information flowing to the audience from his stage. The idea that a conference producer would lose sight of what information their attendees were receiving, or not receiving is inconceivable to me.
During the break, I sought out the moderator and asked “did (the producer) outline their expectations over and above what was printed in the program or what they would say in their introductory remarks?” The moderator’s deer in the headlights response spoke volumes, although in fairness the moderator did have a small deck of index cards with her questions. What they didn’t have was the hard data the reporter had used in recently published stories.
There were two obvious failures: 1 the executive producer (or one of speaker coordinators) had not set expectations before the event; and secondly the moderator either had not done their homework or spent time with panelists beforehand.
Conferences need to be to go well beyond the “Lets Rent a barn, Sparky, and put on a show” premise. Producers need to introduce segments using critical market information.
Panels and sessions at many conferences need to increase the relevancy of the information they provide paid attendees and press assigned to cover such events. Without relevancy conferences become self- serving social networking events which companies can ill afford in tight economic times.
Conference panels can be mother lodes of information, if attendees take the time to engage panelists, moderators or producers. My interest in medical and health elated startups and willingness to engage a panelist produced one of my all-time “Aha” moments of Demo Spring 2011. I asked a physician presenter what national healthcare might or should look like if it’s implemented in the US. The answer I expected was “VA Healthcare.” The answer I got was the name of my HMO, Kaiser Permanente.
My 60-minute lunch with the physician founder CEO at Demo 2011 was my Demo 2011 high water mark. The doctor knew his business plan, and understood the critical importance of understanding his potential market. In exchange for his insight I passed along some ideas for his onstage and Demonstrator Pavilion pitches. If you listened to his six minute pitch on stage, you came away understanding that the flood of incoming Medicare recipients wasn’t a problem, it’s a multimillion dollar multi-level market opportunity.
Getting attendees to engage at conferences is something skilled producers need to understand, notes Chris Shipley founder of start-up consultancy GuideWire Group in Redwoo City, CA, and veteran Demo Conference executive producer.
Providing conference attendees with thought provoking panels is part of a producer’s job, which should involve setting expectations for panelists and moderators—Jim Forbes on February 2,2012.
Mandatory disclosure: I was the founding producer of DemoMobile but am now retired.
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