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ActKM should abandon its conference
Filed in Knowledge.
I would like ActKM to abandon the speaker-audience model in their conferences and adopt something radically different—discussions. Dave Winer sums the problem up beautifully:
The problem with most conferences is that the intelligence is sitting in the dark with its hands folded, falling asleep while a bunch of idiots on stage with PowerPoints talking nonsense because they are so scared they need crutches to keep from having a nervous breakdown. This has been going on for twenty years. It's time to try something new.
Right on!
As I reflect on the ActKM conference I realise the reason I enjoyed it so much was the great conversations we had, but they didn’t occur during the presentations, they happened in the coffee break area. David Glynn-Jones, this year’s organiser, specifically made the coffee area a focal point and it was an excellent decision. That was definitely a step in the right direction but why not convert the entire conference into a organised coffee break. I believe this was the thinking that also led to Open Space approach to meetings.
Check out Dave’s post because it describes how such a conference could work. He calls it unconferencing.
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Comments
From you as one of the particularly engaging speakers at the conference, that's somewhat provocative Shawn! (I declare an interest... I was also one of the "idiots on stage with Powerpoints").
There is one big reason why the speaker model works well: first, you get to see a display of what somebody knows, composed in a thorough and careful way, and presented systematically, in a way that does not emerge so effectively in discussion or conversation. If it's done well, it means you have the starting point for a conversation to follow. I guess it's the difference between a short blog and a well-worked monograph or article. Both have their value.
As you know, I'm a big believer in open space... in fact, I practice it at conferences. I use my two feet to either attend or not attend sessions, and if I'm not at a session, I'm having conversations with the other people who are stepping out, resting, conversing.
So I don't agree, I'm afraid... I like the ACT-KM model the way it is! We don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick Lambe at October 31, 2005 5:53 PM
I was chatting to Andrew about this today and we discussed your presentation which was a highlight at the conference. It started us thinking that some of the conference would benefit from well thought out and presented arguments, like yours, and the rest composed of discussions.
I thought the best session of the two days was when we sat in a circle and discussed how the ActKM list actually worked (or didn't). Getting viewpoints from a range of people was extremely valuable and in 60 minutes we had contributions from 6-8 people instead of one.
Posted by: Shawn Callahan
at October 31, 2005 6:03 PM
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