Meeting News - March 24, 2008 - (Page 6)

Inside the Meetings Industry Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com National Speakers Association Rocks the House YouTube’s ‘Science Guy’ and the Paul Green School of Rock Band make noise at National Speakers Association meeting emphasizing creative speaking approaches San Francisco—To highlight changes to its educational sion was “Exploding Soda and Flying Potatoes: How to format, the National Speakers Association (NSA) hosted Create Unforgettable Learning Experiences that Spread its annual winter meeting from Feb. 14 -17 under the Like a Virus,” which urged speakers to find alternative heading “SpeakerPalooza!” More than 440 professional ways of demonstrating information to turn events into speakers, speaker bureau executives, and meeting profes- unforgettable experiences. The presenter, Steve Spangler, sionals attended the event at is known widely as the “Science the San Francisco Airport Guy” and is a YouTube video Marriott in order to learn how star. In a wildly popular video to create a more significant snippet, Spangler demonstrated impact on the audiences they how to create a spewing geyser serve. from combining Diet Coke and Meeting organizers wanted Mentos mints. to create an alternativeWhat’s more, the Paul Green format conference in keeping School of Rock Band, the — Mark LeBlanc, president with the organization’s theme nation’s premier performanceNational Speakers Association for the year, “NSA Rocks!” In based music program for studoing that, the association mixed a few longer, more dents age 7 to 18, provided entertainment at one evening intense educational sessions dubbed “School of Rock.” event, playing rock standards from Led Zeppelin to Jimi The sessions lasted a full three hours and were more inter- Hendrix to Journey, and had attendees standing on their active and team-oriented than the traditional 60-minute chairs and waving lighters. breakouts also utilized at the conference. “There are so many ways to be successful in the speakThe topics that generated the most buzz at the show ing business; getting together with other professionals to involved the use of Internet research tools, as well as Web share best practices is priceless,” said NSA President Mark 2.0 and social media. Perhaps the most well-received ses- LeBlanc. Hot and Not: Training and Education Pr os Shar e S t r a t e g i e s Eureka moments are out; continuous learning and game formats are in Atlanta—At Training magazine’s 2008 Conference & Expo, held Feb. 4-6 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, more than 2,400 training professionals were urged to branch into virtual worlds to better educate their workforces. Tony O’Driscoll, a professor at North Carolina State University, told the audience, “Your training material is important, but bringing it to life is even more important—something that 3-D worlds, such as Second Life, excel at. Content is king, but context is the kingdom.” The “collaborative co-creation” enabled by Web 2.0 environments like Wikipedia, means learning and innovation is “continuous and just happens,” O’Driscoll added. In other words, no more sequestered sessions with big “eureka” moments, but rather numerous small epiphanies occur in a continuous, open forum. A breakout session titled “Making learners the co-creators of knowledge” reinforced this notion. Even the sessions addressing faceto-face training strategies offered unusual possibilities. One breakout emphasized that while experiential exercises can be effective, they often require so much preparation time that putting the activity into a business context is neglected. So, presenters showed planners how to create brief simulations called “jolts,” which have longlasting effects. Another session showed how work-related game shows can greatly increase knowledge retention. Training is a sister magazine of MeetingNews. www.meetingnews.com “Getting together with other professionals to share best practices is priceless ” Qualified Leads NSA members include experts in a variety of industries, who reach audiences as trainers, educators, humorists, motivators, consultants, authors and more. Since 1973, NSA has advanced the skills, integrity and value of its members and the speaking profession. The organization serves as a resource for planners looking for qualified speakers for their events and meeting programs. Visit NSA's website at www.nsaspeaker.org. DMAI’s Washington Destination Showcase Hits a High Note Washington, DC—On Feb. 7, the largest one-day conference and expo in the meetings industry came through the Washington Convention Center with its largest audience yet. Nearly 1,200 meeting professionals attended Destination Showcase, which mixed attendees with destination marketing organizations—mostly convention and visitors bureaus— 6 MeetingNews March 24, 2008 from around the globe. Destination Marketing Association International hosts the annual event. Twelve morning education sessions covered topics ranging from the effects of globalization on meetings, to planning international meetings, to incorporating environmentallyfriendly elements into meetings and exhibitions. And, one unusual session had planners roaming the back of the house at the convention center, led by sales and service personnel, to better understand how things get done behind the scenes. At midday, the networking luncheon featured a keynote by Stan Kasten, president of the Washington Nationals baseball team. Afterward, planners were let loose to interact with representatives from more than 200 destinations. The next Destination Showcase takes place June 25 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, just outside Chicago. Next year’s DC event will be held Feb. 26, —Section by Robert Carey 2009. r http://www.nsaspeaker.org http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - March 24, 2008

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