Gary's got the right concept that conferences need to become more interactive. We should just implmement it differently.

The brain is not designed to sit passively in chairs for six to eight hours a day and listen to lectures. It cannot retain all of that information. 90% of what is taught or learned at a conference is lost within 30 days. To change that stat, conference organizers need to build in more “Adult White Space” as I call it. It's time for attendees to talk with each other.

So for instance a ballroom presentation by a speaker could occur for 45 minutes. Then spend the next 20 minutes allowing attendees to talk about what they just learned with each other. Using a moderator or facilitator as a meetings chauffer guiding the discussion, the attendees would be repeating their takeaways with each other. That helps the brain encode the learning differently and retain the information.

Social netorking has risen to the top as a new engagement tool for a reason. It allows people to engage with each other. Now, we need to take the element of social and let conference attendees engage with the content and with each other onsite.

Gary's got the right concept that conferences need to become more interactive. We should just implmement it differently.

The brain is not designed to sit passively in chairs for six to eight hours a day and listen to lectures. It cannot retain all of that information. 90% of what is taught or learned at a conference is lost within 30 days. To change that stat, conference organizers need to build in more “Adult White Space” as I call it. It's time for attendees to talk with each other.

So for instance a ballroom presentation by a speaker could occur for 45 minutes. Then spend the next 20 minutes allowing attendees to talk about what they just learned with each other. Using a moderator or facilitator as a meetings chauffer guiding the discussion, the attendees would be repeating their takeaways with each other. That helps the brain encode the learning differently and retain the information.

Social netorking has risen to the top as a new engagement tool for a reason. It allows people to engage with each other. Now, we need to take the element of social and let conference attendees engage with the content and with each other onsite.

I have been to (and organized) Larry Lessig's presentations and his “method” perfectly suits how he wants to tell his story, and he is so effective because he is not pretending to imitate someone else way of presenting.

Regarding the recruiting process for speakers and the eternal dilemma between having “famous” names (ticket sellers) as opposed to interesting names (top satisfying) that requires an entire article on it's own

The Q & A formula advocated for by @garyvee is a good one, and the ability of the presenter to dance on their feet and provide great value for the audience will require recruiting speakers who know their stuff backwards and forwards, understand the needs of their audience and are comfortable in a “Bring it on” environment.

This clearly isn't the entire spectrum of presenters we saw on stage at #leweb, or even close to it. Some of the brightest lights in online blogging and reporting – sadly, are poor presenters on stage.

Gary's points taken into consideration, some presentations are performances. Lawrence Lessig comes to mind. Give me a front row seat for one of Larry's presentations and I don't want to interact or engage with him, as well, the online version of his presentations will fail to fully capture the value he brings to every presentation.

I think the large conference format itself may be broken. Smaller breakout groups are really valuable and providing access for Q & A is critical.
We've all seen how conference question askers can sometimes take over a conference though and this can often be mitigated by having a great speaker who can still control the flow of information.

Are we recruiting the right speakers for our conferences? Do panels work at all?
Big names will put bums in seats, but the outcomes of any value come from off-stage interactions. This will never change.

Julius