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What I’ve Been Up To Lately
- I'm tired of listening to jazz or classical music when I'm workign.. I need some fist pumping Techno to get me GOING!!!... Battling! =) 6 hrs ago
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Posting tweet...
Death of the Big Conference
This past weekend I attend the National Youth Worker Convention as a Social Media Volunteer. It was a typical large conference. It had great speakers, professional musicians, crazy lights and a sound system that goes beyond just hearing the music but to feeling the music.
I am no stranger to the conference world. I’ve been to a countless number of conferences. At one point of history, conferences were like the high holy days of the evangelical world. More recently, big conferences with big speakers, big budgets, big venues, and big hype seem to be coming to an end. After attending NYWC09, the reality of the death of big conferences seems to be immanent.
Don’t get me wrong, the conference was great. Don Miller, David Crowder, Francis Chan, and so on killed it. But their inspirational talks only served to pacify hurting/struggling leaders. The biggest need of hurting/struggling leaders was not a pep talk, but a place to process and flesh out practical solutions.
The highlight of NYWC was a new addition to the schedule called “Open Space.” Instead of packing the schedule with big room session and multiple workshops, the NYWC carved out a whole afternoon where leaders would gather together in a big room and begin to flesh out ideas, problems, thoughts, and dream in community. The phrase that was used was, “the collective knowledge of the crowd is always greater than an individual.”
How the Open Space Worked:
- 2000+ Youth Workers gather in a room
- 1st hour – individual youth workers would briefly present (1 min) topics, questions, dreams, issues, and problems with the whole group.
- 2nd – 4th hour – The large group organically breaks up into small groups to deal with the individual topics, questions, dreams, issues and problems that was presented during the 1st hour.
- The small cohorts begin to flesh out in community the various issues.
The response to the Open Space was extremely positive. Leaders came away with very practical/wise counsel. There was no big budget, no big speaker, no big hype; just regular leaders collectively pooling their wisdom/experience together.
I believe that this is the future of conferences.
- Communal/Tribal
- Collective/Collabrative
- Personal and not Program
- Organic over Organizational
- Gathering and not attending
- Free/Open Sourced
At the end of the day, NYWC09 was a good conference but even the organizers (Youth Specialties) recognizes that the conference world is changing. To not re-invent is to become irrelevant. It is commendable that Youth Specialties is trying to re-invent themselves not for the purpose of staying alive, but for the purpose of serving youth leaders. As for the future of big conference, the game is truly changing.
What will the future of the conference world look like? Call me a victim of the Idea Camp, but the Idea Camp-like model seems to be the prototype of the future of conferences…. FOR NOW!
[Further Thought as result of Conversations]
So after some discussion, I thought it be good to add some further thought to this entry.
- I think there is difference between the idea of big conferences and big tribal gatherings. I believe that large gathering will alway exist.
- People will pay to be a part of a gathering (community) and not to hear a speaker
- Big speakers will function as tribal leaders or communal catalysts that provoke thought, but conferences will not end there.
- Large conferences will be begin to adapt a tribal/organic feel.
Tags: conference, NYWC09, The Idea Camp
Agreed. However, peopel will always go to big/huge events. Comic Con comes to mind. However, for the types of issues we will e dealing with in the Christian world I’m sure this model will do ok.
Jonathan, I see your perspective on this, as I too was spoiled by attending The Idea Camp in Irvine. Also–as crazy and peculiar as this is going to seem–the way you described the future of conferences was in essence how things were done at my seminary. We had big name speakers such as Max Lucado and John Ortberg come speak to us. However, the time spent in cohorts sounding off ideas and coming together to discuss ideas on how to make them work was the most valuable for me. So, I definitely like the model you proposed. However, I think you and I are currently in the minority. Just like in churches across America, I believe there is a large element of people that want the energy and excitement that comes from being entertained for a few hours. Sure, they may take a lot of notes and use expressions like, “It’s like drinking from a firehose.” in reference to all the great teaching they are getting. They may even talk about how authentic the worship experience was for them as they sang with David Crowder Band or Hillsong United. However, in the end, it’s a chance to breakaway from everyday life and go meetup with celebrities that really fuels a lot of conference attenders. I don’t think that will ever change.
Not a direct example, but a point of comparison is the music concert. U2 recently was in NYC and people spent a lot of money on tickets and merchandise. However, they made an appearance on Saturday Night Live during their NYC visit, so anyone could have watched them perform free on broadcast tv. In addition, U2’s songs are on the radio and available for download or purchase on CDs. Therefore, why spend so much money and set aside a few hours of time to be in a crowded stadium to see them perform live? As people are choosing not to spend less money on local bands, yet still spend money on acts like U2, I believe it’s the draw of celebrity that creates a sense of excitement that can’t be manifested through hearing a CD or even watching a live stream video over the internet.
Where there is a celebrity, there will be a fan willing to spend money for the experience of being in the same room with them. No disrespect here, but imagine if you and I were the main speakers on stage at Catalyst. Regardless of what experience or perspective we could share, people wouldn’t be willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket or travel to come hear us speak. It’s not really about the material, it’s more about the experience and people will continue to feed off of that experience.
@dave I think large conferences will attempt to carry more of a smaller/organic/tribal feel to it.. The marketing of conferences will not necessarily be the BIGness of it but the community of it. For every tribe there needs to a tribal leader(s). I think this will be the function of “celebrities.” Instead of being the reason for gathering, it will be more about the tribe and not about the individual.
[...] Jonathan Chan wrote an interesting post about the event we recently participated in, The National Youth Workers Convention. I agree with many of his assesments about how large events need to adapt. I am excited about the Open Space idea that was tried at this event. I think it moves people from spectator to collaborator, from consumer to participant. We need to allow people to shape the conversations we are having if we expect them to continue to engage in our events. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)A To-Do List for LiteratioWerk in progressAdd a moogle to your event with Final Fantasy XI’s player event support! [...]
Jonathan I could not agree with you more. I felt this way two years ago at NYWC but wondered if I was in a wierd funk I skipped last year and went again this year and it was not only my small group of friends that get together at this conference that felt that same. We got the most out of sessions that were very open to conversation and discussion and very little but a momentary high from the Big Room (Donald Miller really did kill!). I was most upset that so few people over all took part in the Opne Space and really hope that YS does not take this as a bad sign. I found the biggest problem was some theological perspectives that were not open to discussion. I convened a group on how to fully integrate and respect Gay and Lesbian students into your youth group and some people were just not interested in even talking and left. The conversations were mostly rich and exciting and even when they were not the conclusion was drawn that “well I guess this is not much of a subject!” and people moved on.
YS I know you are listening. You can’t keep telling us to stop treating students like consumers then treat this conference like we are consumers! You will get what you reward every time! Keep stirring things up!