Meeting Support Institute

The typical one-day conference attended by managers or professionals in search of in-spiration is packed with PowerPoint presentations and offers little opportunity for in-volvement or knowledge sharing. Behind the conventional conference format lurks the transfer model of learning, which finds little support amongst serious students of learn-ing. The professional conference as a forum for knowledge sharing is in dire need of a new learning theory and a more enlightened practice. The notion of human flourishing is offered as basis for theory, and four simple design principles for the so-called “learning conference” are proposed: People go to conferences to 1. get concise input, 2. interpret it in the light of their ongoing concerns, 3. talk about their current projects and 4. meet the other attendees and be inspired by them. Six practical techniques that induce attendees to do these things at the learning conference are presented.