Have attended and indeed spoken at a few events in last month or so and some experiences have been better than others. This is my personal guide / checklist to enjoying/ benefitting from / enduring a conference / briefing etc
1. short - concise - brief please. This is a massive personal thing and driven by my inability to concentrate for longer than about 5 minutes on anything. I am happy do a breakfast briefing for a couple of hours or an afternoon. 3 days in Birmingham - not so much.
2. Limited in scope (clearly impacts on Point 1) - I LOVE a topic that I can legitimately feel that 2 hours later I will know a lot more and be able to retain some of that info - rather than too much info and retain nothing.
3. I don't actually mind a sales pitch as long as its clear, to the point and relevant
4. Interactivity can be bloody hard to get going - but if you can - everyone is happier
5. Venue - doesn't need to be 5 star luxury but easy to find and accessible helps
6. Different - (again can be trickier than it sounds) but some speakers could do with taking a year off the circuit...
Sounds easy - yes???
