Taking meetings to the next level...

It is a common error, and one that I made early in my career. Because bringing participants together is so costly to the company, and because it happens so infrequently, there is a natural tendency to cram as much information as possible into the available time.

We say networking or networking events when we talk about putting people in a room with drinks and music. Yet what happens at such occasions is that most people will find their fiends and enjoy the evening together.  People have the totally acceptable and natural tendency to stay on well-known/safe territory and the amount of networking can be expected to be low.

"Networking is far too important to leave it to receptions and lunches." says Ib Ravn.

And right he is!

Networking is Important. It may even be the final buoy, saving meetings from going under all together, especially in an already challenging economy,

Learning (watching presentations) you can do on-line, but meeting new people, works really only face to face. The power of random; encounters is really unique to meetings: innovations are the sparks that sometimes fly around when one bumps into a stranger at a meeting.

Learning for Business Impact Convener of Learning 2006

(in Februari 2009 Sam Smith moved from Switzerland to the USA.) A presentation about technology for a meeting industry audience. It informs about technology from Voting systems to Social networks. Ideal as a pannel with technology providers (based on the Meeting Support Institute members). Sam Smith coordinates and has a presentation to introduce the topic. Each panelist gets time for a short presentaton. This Interactive session is moderated, facilitated by Sam Smith. as seen at EIBTM 2009, Barcelona, Spain.

Based in Washington, DC, the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 148,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide.

This Dutch monthly magazine has, in every issue, 4 to 10 topics that are applicable in meeting architecture. For the Dutch speaking meeting professional with an interest in psychology, sociology, cognitive science and neurology this is a great resource. Every issue publishes research results, short versions of theses,  and articles from international publications like Nature, Monitor on Psychology and more.

Who We Are Based in Washington, DC, the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 148,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide. Comment: Search for learning or networking or Motivation or a combination. The monthly magazine Monitor on Psychology is on line.

Research from the US psychologist Blascovich shows that humans in virtual environments behave exactly the same towards virtual people as they do towards real people in the real world. Even if those computer animations do not look very realistic. It seems that the human mind has a built in mechanism to react in a social way. Writes Blascovitch It is nearly impossible, not to be fooled. Comment: