Educational Sessions: A Different Experience

A typical conference session looks something like this: A speaker stands behind a podium at the front of a room, faces the audience and uses a power point presentation for visual demonstrations. After 45 minutes to an hour, the speaker takes questions from the audience.

“Not very many people like to be lectured to,” said Doug Bolger, chief learning officer at Toronto-based L(earn)², a company he founded in 1989.

Bolger discovered a way to run conference programs differently with something called experiential learning: audience members collaborating and sharing ideas – without a speaker. Instead, L(earn)²'s programs have a facilitator who explains the activity and then encourages the audience to take over.

“It just works,” Bolger said. Plus, the audience uses more than one skill at the same time. “You're never just listening. You're never just communicating. You're never just problem-solving,” he added.

Several associations use L(earn)² to change the way conference programs are done.

“We started it at our 2006 annual meeting in Philadelphia,” said Glen Ramsborg, senior director of education for the Professional Convention Management Assn., of experiential learning.

Ramsborg, who has a doctorate in education, quoted a Confucious proverb to describe his dedication to this type of learning: “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.”

What the PCMA educational programs do is put the learner in a venue that relates to the program, he added. For example, one of the L(earn)² programs at this year's PCMA's Annual Meeting Jan. 13-16 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle is a session to be held at Tully's Coffee in which participants will learn to identify the characteristics of a gourmet coffee blend, how to pair coffee and food, and to differentiate between various blends and beans.

PCMA isn't the only association taking this step with its learning programs. The Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners also practices experiential learning. In fact, it also uses L(earn)² to facilitate some programs for the association, said Sandy Biback, a CSPEP member who volunteers to organize educational programs.

“At this year's conference, we tried a couple of new things,” she said. “I must say, when PCMA first did this, I was blown away and likely adjusted some of my ideas from them.”

According to Biback, one of the most popular sessions CSPEP offers is one on pricing available every other year at its Annual Education Conference, using sample RFPs.

“The audience figures out what they would charge for the project – we are all small business owners and meeting consultants,” she added. “Then we use audience response systems to see where we all are.”

That allows members to compare their pricing to that of their peers, Biback said.

“Then we have discussions about it,” she added. “That gives us a pulse on how our members are charging and what they are charging.”

The Ontario Assn. of Veterinary Technicians also has instituted a hands-on learning experience facilitated by L(earn)², the Living and Breathing Professionalism and Ethics session it offers at its annual meeting and three other times each year, said Kim Hilborn, registrar for the association.

“Doug's group came highly recommended by our conference planner,” she added. “I found Doug's initial presentation to be very intriguing.”

The program started in 2006 after the OAVT became a self-regulating body and needed to develop a professionalism and ethics course – a mandatory requirement for registered veterinary technicians, Hilborn said. The session is filled to capacity each time it's offered.

“Our members have thoroughly enjoyed the course,” she added. “Even members who are not required to take the course are lined up to take it.”

Bolger said he thought associations have taken a little longer to become comfortable with experiential learning programs than his other clients, but in the past three years he's seen an increase in the number that are open to it.

One reason it's taken time, he added, is because it costs more than a speaker.

“A lot of them, they needed to get around (the fact) that they actually needed to pay for something,” Bolger said. “I would say that everyone is realizing that change is necessary.”