|
How to Use the Conference Navigator Guides Effectively
Plan your introduction to ask: do you take notes and never look at them?
It makes people wake up and think!
What most people see is a 50 to 60 page colorful journal. It fits comfortably in their hand with its size and textured paper. People will see note pages plus editorial pages. What people don't notice at first is that the Guide summarizes processes to help them get more from the event. These are processes for listening to different types of speakers, selecting workshops, making notes, and acting on their ideas.
As such, conference uses the Navigator Guides include an opening session, much like a mini opening keynote to ensure that people use the Guides. Numerous conferences MCs or association presidents explain the Navigator Guide in their opening remarks. Many are insistent that people engage in the conference. The following overview is taken from a manual will you receive when you invest in the Guides.
1 Present the Navigator Guides properly to delegates
Plan to hand it separately to each delegate at registration. Prepare a script for the registration team to use when handing a copy to each participant… "Here is your navigator guide. It's for your conference notes and ideas." It takes most people about 30 seconds to look at their Navigator and many will say, "Wow! This really is a great idea! Thanks."
2 Introduce it at the start of the conference
Add a 10 minute overview of the importance of finding and acting on ideas at the beginning of your event. Tell people to write in it. Some think it is too nice to write in. This gets the majority of people excited about the Guide.
3 Encourage its use throughout the conference
Find opportunities to encourage the use of the Navigator Guide during the conference. Encourage the conference team to ask participants about the use of the Guide during the conference.
Don't forget that Ed Bernacki is a speaker.
Both the Conference Navigator Guide and the Seven Rules book are products of the innovative mind of Ed Bernacki. He has spoken at many conferences since 1996. His specialty is prompting people to think in new ways. The concepts of innovative thinking apply equally to executives as to nurses and public servants. He translates concepts into jargon-free presentations. Here are some presentations:
1. How to find more ideas at this conference
If Ed is speaking at your conference, he will also provide an opening 15 minute 'mini' key note that will turn your audience into 'conference navigators'. He provides insights into:
- listening for ideas
- recording what counts
- listening to different types of speakers
- networking to collaborate
- taking responsibility for what you take home from the conference
2. Creating your own idea factory: growing your skills to innovate
This presentation is a crash course in the key issues for managing ideas into action. Whether from a business, government or not-for-profit perspective, Ed will help people make decisions that support innovation. He will link this session to the strategic issues of your audience. All people have one thing in common: they need new ideas to solve their challenges.
3. How to avoid killing ideas…and the people who create them!
It is easy to with people who think like you but can you work with people who don't think like you? This is the theme for this presentation on problem solving style (cognitive diversity) and its importance for building teams of people who must collaborate creativity, not just tolerate each other. This workshop or keynote provides insight into the reasons we sometimes kill creativity without knowing it.
4. Turning your conference into an idea factory
This is his specialty: designing participative workshops to get people thinking and generating ideas. The goal is to be a catalyst to help your participants solve a problem or create new ideas. Imagine 100 or 500 people focused on solving a specific problem or generating hundreds of new ideas. This session will involve, inform and inspire.
5. Moving ideas into action: closing keynote workshop
People often admit that nothing happens with their conference ideas. To change this Ed Bernacki can provide an 'ideas into action' segment that focuses on the Navigator Guides and the ideas people will act on afterward. This workshop replaces a closing keynote with an opportunity for people to review their notes, handouts and objectives for the event. It prompts people to see the value of the conference and what they will do after the event.
|
