The Big Picture

Tips for Conference Un-Bloggers (and Bloggers too)

In the latest edition of his Cool Tools newsletter, Kevin Kelly points to a free e-book by Bruno Giussani and Ethan Zuckerman, Tips for Conference Bloggers. Many of the tips in the book I have explored before through my own conference blogging, for the American Society of Association Executives and MHA's own annual conference.

Last year, I confessed that oftentimes the only continuing education I get is my deskside un-conference. But when I do get to go to a conference, I always make sure to be a blogger (whether I'm "official" or not). And the reason is because I retain so much more information if I go to each session with the forethought that I will be blogging it later (even if I don't).

So I'm saying that even if you are an un-blogger, treat yourself like a conference blogger: research the speakers, research the topics and pretend you will blog all the sessions you attend.

You'll listen more carefully, think more deeply - and learn much more.

Ad-hoc Learning

Rich of The Westerfield Group was wondering earlier how blogs would change conferences. Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users has an interesting example of the blurring lines between presenters and attendees at conferences with Foo Camps. O'Reilly's FOO Camp, an annual gathering/camp-out at the O'Reilly campus in northern California, breaks the traditional barriers by putting the learners in control. (See the CNN write-up on the original Foo here.)

No pre-arranged sessions. Just a giant board - which you see above - where attendees wrote down what they wanted to learn before they left. (Kathy's blog came from such a conference. She wrote "creating passionate users" on the board.)

It's the un-conference.

And, by the way, what would you have put on the board that you didn't learn from this year's ASAE annual meeting?