Meeting Support Institute

MPI’s PEC-NA was themed Meet Different, and after Mary Boones presentation there, I looked up the article she mentioned from BusinessWeek about Unconference. Interesting reading material and food for thought. First thing that comes to my mind is 'un-conference'? How bout re-conference? We are moving back to the real conference, where people confer, or discuss, talk.
A little bit less of the big central screen and the expert on stage, and a lot more time for participation. The audience become participants once again. Like in the Cafe Conversations from Mary Boone, where the participants could even bring their own topics to the table.

Reading the BusinessWeek, one realises that many people don’t. There is a whole industry out there and it's starting to change the way conferences are conducted. This article confirms the cliché that meetings are boring, unproductive, passive, sleep inducing and other features. It also confirms we should address this image seriously and make sure most meetings become interactive, fun, educational, open and all the positive characteristics of web 2.0 that young people have come to accept from life. Let’s look at this unconference movement as what it is: another name for an increasingly popular format that real meeting professionals can choose from to design (parts of) their meeting. A format like the Learning Meeting, Open Space, Pecha Kucha, Wiki Workshops, Café Conversations etc. Such formats allow conference organizers to add essential moments of interactivity, involvement, democracy, crowd sourcing, reflection and fun. And yes, most conferences today can do with some of that. Google - Unconference business week – and it is top of the list.

I would suggest you read it, and leave a reaction.
BusinessWeek - May 14, 2007 - INFO TECH - By Scott Kirsner http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_20/b4034080.htm