Reflections on the Conference by the Organizer
The Conference on Michigan's Future just wrapped up a little more than 48 hours ago, and now it is time to start unpacking all the mental stuff upstairs. Being the organizer of an event like this can be rather stressful, while also very exciting and satisfying.
First off, I really do need to do some serious reflection on how to find others committed to helping organize the conference and to do much of the leg work. This time, unlike the last conference, I took on a greater fraction of the work, not just things that only I could do, but also things that others could have done. And while it may have taken less total man hours to complete all the tasks, I did not really have as many hours left as I needed to focus on some important aspects of the conference.
Here are tips to myself for next time:
1. Have a person designated as the MC, but not you. They need to be in charge of keeping time, and doing intros. They can read questions of panelists as well. This time you felt like you needed to do it yourself to guarantee that the diverse group didn't have disruptions from those with strong opinions. That was probably not as necessary. Also, being on the stage all the time, while a lot of fun, still seems like it diminishes from the time you are on stage.
2. Have all the bios, blurbs, and powerpoints at least 14 days in advance, but better, get the first two at least 1 month before the first day of the conference, and actually, the earlier the better. THEN, make sure that all of the bios are properly formated and ready to go. They need to be short, so make a requirement of 100 words max, and they will be CUT at the 100 word mark. If possible, have an online form for pasting in the bios, so that it will only accept that length. For the bios, it would be nice to include college degrees, and home towns, in addition to places of work. The blurbs should be available for the web site and the literature, but they also should be required to be impartial and not sensational. There were quite a few like that, which would have been impossible to read. But, most important, have all the bios ready, in a ringed binder book (or two identical books), with a nice big 16 point font, so things are ready to roll. Time keeping is really essential because the networking breaks were cut short. Better to end early for break then to go over. Twenty minute breaks were good length, probably not good to any shorter in most cases.
3. Make sure all speakers know exactly how much time they will have, and explain that you will be cutting them off if they go over. The TED conference uses an 18 minute rule, and that is really plenty for most of the talks. It allows for a 1 minute intro, and there can still be three talks in one hour, with a second hour of one talk, and one 20 minute panel of four speakers. The use of the precise number 18 is also nice because people can focus on the precision of that, it isn't a round number like 20.
4. Work on own talks well in advance. Make sure to write a script for them as well, because they will be impossible to effectively repeat without a script. While some got it in the Mechanism of Mischief this time, the point wasn't well made, not so well as the Calvin or the DC talk. Also, make sure to make them short talks, 18 minutes are really good, and then make them build on each other. Three times to the stage is probably the max. Recall the Calvin conference and the talk on Sunday was fun for you but was off target as it was about the problems and not about the solutions. At Crystal, the talk at lunch had good things, but wasn't very well delivered, and certainly wasn't rehearsed enough. The visioning one wasn't so good either, as you referred them to their agenda first, and then they were off reading ahead instead of listening to you. The intro one was fairly good, but there was a limited audience for that one. Again, a seperate MC is necessary to add the proper set up and boost "standing" as a speaker.
5. This conference, as the last, people didn't connect as much as they might have. There need to be the MC up there having people turn to each other to have little discussions in their seats. This needs to be planned in advance. Also, the idea of having the regular group that meets together and then one from each group goes to the organizer and gives feedback. This networking component can't wait for the last day, and the discussion part helps people get focused. Albert Bates mentioned this over dinner on the last night, and others have mentioned how important this is as well, to be integrated in.
6. A good idea about having a continental breakfast for the hour prior to the first session. That might be really good at getting people there, and might be quite reasonably priced. The addition of snacks during the day seemed to be appreciated. All the cookies and muffins were eaten.
7. It is really important to schedule planning meetings from months out right up to the conference. They should be regular, and help keep things on track, and keep people involved. Again, while it is possible to do it all on one's own, you need that time for doing the more detail work, plus the others can really add things that you would not have had time to do, or would not have thought about.
8. Jim MacInnes help was excellent. He was instrumental in getting just under half of the speakers to the conference, and for getting most of the sponsors. He also was very good at listening, being supportive, making connections, and of course Crystal was an excellent venue for the conference, particularly for the business/corporate folks, and I imagine for all the others that could comfortably afford to stay as well. The conference center was plenty big, and the upstairs is very nice. Which reminds me, it was nice to have the couple of receptions for the media/speakers.
9. About questions on notecards: This will require some more thinking. First, why they are good: they help get all the questions to the front so the most relevant and interesting ones can be selected. They also help more questions get in. The cards can also be given to the speakers so that they can consider the questions. And, perhaps most importantly, they prevent people from going on and on prior to asking, or sometimes not asking, a question, and this is very frustrating for everyone involved. There were three of the 200 (perhaps more) that really disliked this. The argument for no cards is that it much better connects the speaker with the questioner. Perhaps having the questioner putting their name on the card would help. Again, this is one to consider again.
10. The time schedule. The Saturday 8 a.m. to Sunday 1 p.m. seemed to work fine, but there were a number that didn't make it by 6 p.m. on Friday, and many did not stay after 2 p.m. In reality, the 2 p.m. was sort of a structured wrap up, and those that stayed were invited to do some group and individual work. Now, this time really needed some more planning, because it could have been much more. It was okay, but not as good as it could have been. What was good at the end was the one-hour business meeting to get some conclusions from the conference.
NOW, there are certainly more things to remember for next time, like getting the print ads in two weeks early, perhaps having a less condensed schedule, doing more plenary and not doing plenary during a breakout time, and taking the name tag printing job to the copy store, but I'll save those for the next post. Oh, one final one, it would have been okay to let people eat and chat at their seats on Sunday for lunch. You got really impatient when everyone wasn't in their seats by noon, and ended up playing the "Life Connected" video, which you didn't introduce all that well, and which does have a few shots that aren't appetizing. A connected comment was about doing the Dorothy Stang story over a meal; that made for some queazy bellies.
First off, I really do need to do some serious reflection on how to find others committed to helping organize the conference and to do much of the leg work. This time, unlike the last conference, I took on a greater fraction of the work, not just things that only I could do, but also things that others could have done. And while it may have taken less total man hours to complete all the tasks, I did not really have as many hours left as I needed to focus on some important aspects of the conference.
Here are tips to myself for next time:
1. Have a person designated as the MC, but not you. They need to be in charge of keeping time, and doing intros. They can read questions of panelists as well. This time you felt like you needed to do it yourself to guarantee that the diverse group didn't have disruptions from those with strong opinions. That was probably not as necessary. Also, being on the stage all the time, while a lot of fun, still seems like it diminishes from the time you are on stage.
2. Have all the bios, blurbs, and powerpoints at least 14 days in advance, but better, get the first two at least 1 month before the first day of the conference, and actually, the earlier the better. THEN, make sure that all of the bios are properly formated and ready to go. They need to be short, so make a requirement of 100 words max, and they will be CUT at the 100 word mark. If possible, have an online form for pasting in the bios, so that it will only accept that length. For the bios, it would be nice to include college degrees, and home towns, in addition to places of work. The blurbs should be available for the web site and the literature, but they also should be required to be impartial and not sensational. There were quite a few like that, which would have been impossible to read. But, most important, have all the bios ready, in a ringed binder book (or two identical books), with a nice big 16 point font, so things are ready to roll. Time keeping is really essential because the networking breaks were cut short. Better to end early for break then to go over. Twenty minute breaks were good length, probably not good to any shorter in most cases.
3. Make sure all speakers know exactly how much time they will have, and explain that you will be cutting them off if they go over. The TED conference uses an 18 minute rule, and that is really plenty for most of the talks. It allows for a 1 minute intro, and there can still be three talks in one hour, with a second hour of one talk, and one 20 minute panel of four speakers. The use of the precise number 18 is also nice because people can focus on the precision of that, it isn't a round number like 20.
4. Work on own talks well in advance. Make sure to write a script for them as well, because they will be impossible to effectively repeat without a script. While some got it in the Mechanism of Mischief this time, the point wasn't well made, not so well as the Calvin or the DC talk. Also, make sure to make them short talks, 18 minutes are really good, and then make them build on each other. Three times to the stage is probably the max. Recall the Calvin conference and the talk on Sunday was fun for you but was off target as it was about the problems and not about the solutions. At Crystal, the talk at lunch had good things, but wasn't very well delivered, and certainly wasn't rehearsed enough. The visioning one wasn't so good either, as you referred them to their agenda first, and then they were off reading ahead instead of listening to you. The intro one was fairly good, but there was a limited audience for that one. Again, a seperate MC is necessary to add the proper set up and boost "standing" as a speaker.
5. This conference, as the last, people didn't connect as much as they might have. There need to be the MC up there having people turn to each other to have little discussions in their seats. This needs to be planned in advance. Also, the idea of having the regular group that meets together and then one from each group goes to the organizer and gives feedback. This networking component can't wait for the last day, and the discussion part helps people get focused. Albert Bates mentioned this over dinner on the last night, and others have mentioned how important this is as well, to be integrated in.
6. A good idea about having a continental breakfast for the hour prior to the first session. That might be really good at getting people there, and might be quite reasonably priced. The addition of snacks during the day seemed to be appreciated. All the cookies and muffins were eaten.
7. It is really important to schedule planning meetings from months out right up to the conference. They should be regular, and help keep things on track, and keep people involved. Again, while it is possible to do it all on one's own, you need that time for doing the more detail work, plus the others can really add things that you would not have had time to do, or would not have thought about.
8. Jim MacInnes help was excellent. He was instrumental in getting just under half of the speakers to the conference, and for getting most of the sponsors. He also was very good at listening, being supportive, making connections, and of course Crystal was an excellent venue for the conference, particularly for the business/corporate folks, and I imagine for all the others that could comfortably afford to stay as well. The conference center was plenty big, and the upstairs is very nice. Which reminds me, it was nice to have the couple of receptions for the media/speakers.
9. About questions on notecards: This will require some more thinking. First, why they are good: they help get all the questions to the front so the most relevant and interesting ones can be selected. They also help more questions get in. The cards can also be given to the speakers so that they can consider the questions. And, perhaps most importantly, they prevent people from going on and on prior to asking, or sometimes not asking, a question, and this is very frustrating for everyone involved. There were three of the 200 (perhaps more) that really disliked this. The argument for no cards is that it much better connects the speaker with the questioner. Perhaps having the questioner putting their name on the card would help. Again, this is one to consider again.
10. The time schedule. The Saturday 8 a.m. to Sunday 1 p.m. seemed to work fine, but there were a number that didn't make it by 6 p.m. on Friday, and many did not stay after 2 p.m. In reality, the 2 p.m. was sort of a structured wrap up, and those that stayed were invited to do some group and individual work. Now, this time really needed some more planning, because it could have been much more. It was okay, but not as good as it could have been. What was good at the end was the one-hour business meeting to get some conclusions from the conference.
NOW, there are certainly more things to remember for next time, like getting the print ads in two weeks early, perhaps having a less condensed schedule, doing more plenary and not doing plenary during a breakout time, and taking the name tag printing job to the copy store, but I'll save those for the next post. Oh, one final one, it would have been okay to let people eat and chat at their seats on Sunday for lunch. You got really impatient when everyone wasn't in their seats by noon, and ended up playing the "Life Connected" video, which you didn't introduce all that well, and which does have a few shots that aren't appetizing. A connected comment was about doing the Dorothy Stang story over a meal; that made for some queazy bellies.