Ok, so I could have spelled out the title, but chose the hashtag - #asae10. Supposedly there were over 8,000 tweets with the hashtag, but probably countless more direct messages of messages that left out the hashtag but were conference related. Two years ago, we were using twitter as a backchannel to talk about speakers. Now, over 800 people sent conference related tweets. If you aren't on Twitter, you are already late to the party. Anyway, on with the post...
In no particular order, my thoughts on this years ASAE Annual Conference:
1. LA was a good venue. Lots to do. Hotels close by. Only downside was the rooms were a bit of a hike.
2. I missed Sunday because of family obligations. That really put me behind the 8 ball. Since I led a session, that meant I only got to go to 3 true sessions. Sorry, I don't count Joy Behar and the closing session. Although Marshall Goldsmith was good, I probably wouldn't have gone to see that speech as a Learning Lab.
3. Based on #2, I think ASAE has to look at the schedule again. There just aren't enough time slots for education sessions, and too many offerings during each slot.
4. I was surprised at how many sessions weren't recorded. When I did have a conflict of multiple sessions I wanted to go to, I looked at the book to see which one(s) were recorded to help make my decision. Many times, every one wasn't being recorded. As many of the sessions touted how easy and cheap it is to record, this was a surprise.
5. I know many are talking about it, Guilt by Association. I only saw the episodes on the last day, but that was more than enough. Take that budget and spend it on AV to record more sessions.
6. Some others and I talked about this conference in relation to Great Ideas. I would really like to see them really distinguish themselves with regards to level of education. I know you need a mix, but I would like to see it more defined.
7. Free wifi and the bottled water was tremendous. Every meeting needs this.
8. I liked not having the show floor on Tuesday. I know some exhibitors complained about the Sunday session overlap, but that's ok with me.
9. I am very curious to hear from those who were the Virtual attendees.
10. At the end of the day, it is all about people. No matter what, the meeting was AWESOME because I got to see some of the smartest, coolest people I know and spend time meeting new, smart, cool friends.
**PS**
I do want to state that overall I loved the conference. These are just my random critiques/observations. ASAE does a great job. I don't envy them one bit in having to put on an association conference for people who put on association conferences. Talk about open for criticism. But ASAE does a good job of taking it in stride, listening and trying to make adjustments. Just another reason I wanted to be sure to get this stuff down.
In no particular order, my thoughts on this years ASAE Annual Conference:
1. LA was a good venue. Lots to do. Hotels close by. Only downside was the rooms were a bit of a hike.
2. I missed Sunday because of family obligations. That really put me behind the 8 ball. Since I led a session, that meant I only got to go to 3 true sessions. Sorry, I don't count Joy Behar and the closing session. Although Marshall Goldsmith was good, I probably wouldn't have gone to see that speech as a Learning Lab.
3. Based on #2, I think ASAE has to look at the schedule again. There just aren't enough time slots for education sessions, and too many offerings during each slot.
4. I was surprised at how many sessions weren't recorded. When I did have a conflict of multiple sessions I wanted to go to, I looked at the book to see which one(s) were recorded to help make my decision. Many times, every one wasn't being recorded. As many of the sessions touted how easy and cheap it is to record, this was a surprise.
5. I know many are talking about it, Guilt by Association. I only saw the episodes on the last day, but that was more than enough. Take that budget and spend it on AV to record more sessions.
6. Some others and I talked about this conference in relation to Great Ideas. I would really like to see them really distinguish themselves with regards to level of education. I know you need a mix, but I would like to see it more defined.
7. Free wifi and the bottled water was tremendous. Every meeting needs this.
8. I liked not having the show floor on Tuesday. I know some exhibitors complained about the Sunday session overlap, but that's ok with me.
9. I am very curious to hear from those who were the Virtual attendees.
10. At the end of the day, it is all about people. No matter what, the meeting was AWESOME because I got to see some of the smartest, coolest people I know and spend time meeting new, smart, cool friends.
**PS**
I do want to state that overall I loved the conference. These are just my random critiques/observations. ASAE does a great job. I don't envy them one bit in having to put on an association conference for people who put on association conferences. Talk about open for criticism. But ASAE does a good job of taking it in stride, listening and trying to make adjustments. Just another reason I wanted to be sure to get this stuff down.
Comments
Matt:
It was great to meet you in person! It's really about the people; especially those that you've met digitally and want connect F2F.
I agree with #3 that the schedule needs some major revamping and #5 - the sitcom was, well, outdated and not necessary. I think Mike Huckabee's TV show is scoring higher ratings than the Guilt By Association sitcom - and that's not saying much. Put the money into better general session speakers that wow us and stop with all the video advertisements! These were the worst general sessions I've ever seen and I've been to a lot.
Free wifi and bottled water were two additional highlights for sure. More conferences should follow their model!
Meeting friends for face time, a couple homerun education sessions, free wifi, bottled water and the parties were my highlights for sure.
I'd like to add to number 7: I learned in the exhibitor round-up that the bottled water (and lanyards) will be more sustainable next year. It was a real bummer that there weren't more recycling outlets on the floor and throughout LACC.
I just want to emphasize the people part. Being a vendor that provides online learning, I'm very accustomed to the phone, web and video, but I have never lost touch with the importance of face to face interactivity.
I LOVED seeing my friends and building relationships in 3 categories:
- clients
- prospects
- other vendors and competitors
One thing I thought was really cool was how openly we and our competitors were with each other. Despite the battlefields, we sincerely enjoy each other, the business and the industry.
It's all about the people to me.
Dave Will
I echo your comment about more education slots (#3).
I also think if they're going to do two days of unopposed exhibit hall scheduling, they need to make it compelling to go into the hall the second day - beyond lunch. An innovation theater showcasing X vendors who provide similar services, or offered replays of sessions from the previous day, taught people how to use Twitter and why they might want to, or offered education about 'behind the scenes at ASAE10'(how and why do we get books for everyone, how does the daily paper work, how are they monitoring the #ASAE10 hashtag and why, what they hope to achieve by giving away iPads and Kindles in the bookstore, etc.).
All in all, though, a great experience.
So now I ask...how do you think ASAE measured up?
Maybe I should rethink that, but I don't want people who pay for a recording to be upset that they get a lot of dead air from an interactive session.