<p>In universities around the world, the teachers spend most of their time in the classrom doing what amounts to a monologue. Sure, the students may ask questions, and there may be some interaction but most students don’t. And even when they do, time available for questions and discussion is often very limited. This teaching paradigm has not changed for centuries and problems with the quality of learning that happens in this setting is well documented. Not surprisingly, the most of the value students get from the university experience happens outside the classroom. Students interact, exchange ideas, collaborate and learn from each other, and build their network. Most conferences imitate the universities, and they are broken similar ways. Sessions are organized like classes, presenter/speakers mostly engage in a monologue just like the teachers. There may be limited time reserved for a QA session at the end. And since the time is limited, most presentations barely scratch the surface of the topic they are about. Nothing in depth. And as it is in the universities, real value of the conferences is not the content of the sessions but the conversations that happens among the attendees outside the sessions. So why are we wasting very limited time in sessions? This is just nuts. Such a waste. Surely we can do better than imitating paradigms that were establish hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago, at least in the “tech” conferences. Conferences are about conversations. OK, if so, why not put the conversations at the center, and get rid of the monologues. Why not move the conversations from lobbies and hallways into the sessions? Can’t we have the presenters record their presentations prior to the conference and post them for attendees to watch before they attend the conference? Wouldn’t it be better if the presenters posted the videos, taking as much time as they feel needed, post any supporting material and links with the videos? Wouldn’t we all be more effective if the presenters made their case and propose points of discussion before the attendees even get together for the conference? I find myself yearning for discussions where informed people get together to delve into topics they are all interested in. Conferences are be the focal point allowing us to focus on the topics of interest, but conversations can start ahead of time and continue afterwards as well. It’s high time to bring some innovation into how we do conferences. <a href="http://twitter.com/berkay">@berkay</a></p>![]()
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