I help founders and executives solve problems they can’t give to anyone on their team. Been around the world a few times.
Joined February 2009
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This is the path to a more useful conference experience.
Going to give away some conference facilitation alpha here:
Most trade organizations are valuable because of the accumulated knowledge / best practices of its members
Most trade conferences give very little time to helping members actually connect with each other
Breakout sessions, speakers, presentations- these are often planned with assumptions about what people need or want. And they are mostly one way: a speaker to a group
I’m helping facilitate my independent garden center conference this week and I wanted to flip this on its head
Instead of trusting that people would just find / connect with each other in between the “real” sessions- what if we could get people’s most pressing concerns, get input from *everybody* on those, and turn those into breakout sessions designed around peer-to-peer best practices sharing?
So we did that and here’s the process:
- end of day 1 when people are loosened up and excited: put a Slido QR code onscreen and asked, what’s the one thing that you need to take away from this week? Collect & show responses in real time
- I had Claude categorize & rank responses (including number of upvotes) and condense into eight topics
- Each topic got a flip chart + an amateur volunteer facilitator; I gave them minimal instructions
- Flip charts spread out around the main ballroom; the group picks a first one to start out at
- I instruct them: this is quick surfacing of ideas and questions, don’t go deep, we’ll discuss solutions in a later breakout group
- Round Robin: the whole room rotates around to each station. After the first group, the next groups can add votes to existing items instead of adding new ones. Everybody goes to every station
- Claude accurately lifted the text, ranked items by vote, and created breakout facilitator guides (plus written structure I gave all facilitators)
- Now they’re in breakouts doing deep dives into crowdsourced solutions that have actually worked
- I’ll add the resulting flip charts to my file and create a nicely formatted best practices PDF with everything in it to send to all our members after the conference
The result: people are dialed in, the energy is high, the discussions are laser focused on what they just told us is most important to them. Zero wasted time. Already getting great feedback about this format
I really appreciate the team who let me take a risk with my crazy idea that we should change up our normal conference rhythm to radically focus on P2P collaboration and I think this is setting a new standard for the value of this event
(I can help you with this at your conference too- DM me)
Billy Dempsey retweeted
Japanese engineers developed a “Sword Tip Visualization System” for the Fencing World Championships, and it makes fencing look absolutely incredible to watch.
She had a profound impact on rural conservation efforts and championed care for the poor and sick.
May the Queen Mother of Thailand rest in peace.
Thailand's former queen Sirikit dies aged 93 bbc.in/43szkhS
Hitting the home stretch on this build.
I started prepping for this one about two years ago. Permitting was a beast and threw a lot of new challenges my way. Glad to stop by and see what it has become. Our team built a great one for a great client.
Billy Dempsey retweeted
One of my favorite days as a young Tar Heel fan was going to @UNCFootball and then walking down the hill to Blue-White @UNC_Basketball.
I've got four UNC-Clemson tickets for someone to take their family (B-W basketball is free). Follow/RT for chance to win.
Billy Dempsey retweeted
Do not listen to people who celebrate the murder of someone they disagreed with politically
Do not listen to people who use the murder of someone they agreed with politically as a call for war against their ideological opponents
Do not passively and continuously consume media that makes it harder for you to do these things
Do redouble your efforts to create things, moments, culture, relationships that are good, true, and beautiful, in whatever sphere of influence you have, with whatever resources you have
Those Halloween stores should sell school supplies in the off-season.
There’s never enough on the shelves of Walmart and Target.
Billy Dempsey retweeted
Sharing because it’s the best clip I’ve seen in a few weeks.
“Who are you jealous of?”
“Anybody who’s still got little kids at home.”
The purpose of life is to be a parent. To create an unbreakable family unit with a true partner.
Everything else secondary.
The Beautiful Game.
🚨🌎 GOAL | PSG 3-0 Real Madrid | Fabián Ruiz
FABIÁN RUIZ SCORES AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PSG ARE HUMILIATING REAL MADRID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#PSGRMA #PSG #RealMadrid #ClubWorldCup #FIFACWC
xitter.gq/sixersandgo/status/194…
Teaching my son important life lessons. When you have a foot issue, @Superfeet is the answer.
Despite a heel injury yesterday, he’s ready for @TheRealAAU regionals tomorrow.
Thanks @FleetFeetSports
