Among conference designers, a best practice has emerged: treat the event as a journey from start to finish. We have adopted the idea and planned a flow of events that will help participants experience a transformative effect that will last.
Pre-Conference
The average participant arrives at the CaribHRForum Virtual Conference looking for no more than minor tips and tricks that will help them become a better professional. They also expect to be moderately entertained, but not deeply engaged: they expect to do chores such as checking email in the slow moments.
Why?
Our working theory is that in the past they were excited by their own learning and loved attending classes and listening to lectures or being part of a learning team. This experience helped bring them into the HR/L&D world in the first place and they thought that their careers would be exciting as they moved from one insight to another, becoming better professionals in the process.
However, they discovered that learning takes a monetary investment which their managers have not been able to make. Executives may have talked a good game, but when the start of the fiscal year came, training budgets were always cut. Eventually, dedicated learning and development professionals were let go, leaving HR to focus only on basic operations.
Yet, even when there was extra money available, it never seemed to work its way back to HR/L&D budgets. This was no deliberate strategy, just an apparent byproduct of weak economies and other priorities which were always higher. The company was undergoing a period of hardship.
But so were HR professionals. Now, it seemed that the company expected to invest nothing in growing its human resources function, but wanted new capabilities in return. Somehow, in their minds, HR should be able to do more and increase its capacity without either additional money or time being made available.
Over time, in response to these obstacles, HR professionals became jaded, giving up on their dreams of continuous learning. A certain resignation set in.
So…we at CaribHRForum expect participants to arrive at the conference with low expectations, looking only for minor improvements. Even so, they are happy to have an opportunity to pursue their self-development because such opportunities are so rare nowadays. They have no idea that we intend to provide them with a transformation.
The First Morning – Thursday
In the first core session, their mixed feelings are openly acknowledged. While they are grateful for the opportunity, they don’t think it will make difference with their CEO or their country’s economy – the real enemies to further learning.
However, a different picture emerges as they hear positive stories from their colleagues and presenters. There are people just like them who are, for example, using the latest technology to transform their companies’ learning, and also their own. They have made a conscious decision to take care of their own learning first, before that of others. They keep on putting on their own masks first.
These pioneers live and work with the same circumstances and challenges, but appear to reside in a different, larger world. It’s big because they are supporting breathtaking ideas, sharing them with some of the world’s best experts. They use Zoom, online communities, elearning, podcasts, virtual conferences and all kinds of other technologies to open doors.
In fact, some are even producing their own content, interacting with international thought leaders and growing as they develop and share their ideas. An astounding fact emerges: they are doing all this with almost no budget. On mere shoestrings, they are expanding themselves at a rapid rate.
The First Afternoon – Thursday
As they continue to view speakers’ sessions they keep hearing one success story after another. The first reaction is defensive: many think they are are not tech-savvy enough and will never be – they don’t have the youth, talent or personality.
But this idea isn’t supported by the facts. People of all kinds are teaching themselves how to use new technologies and approaches at an amazing clip, making participants think that it’s not a matter of something immutable. Instead, it has to do with an individual way of being, a culture they have adopted that has not served them.
It begins to dawn on summiteers that the key to escaping the trap isn’t outside them, it’s inside.
The Second Morning – Friday
By the next day and in the first core session, they conclude: “I have fallen behind, but it’s not the fault of my company, the economy or my personality: it’s something to do with my mindset.”
If they could somehow make a shift, they could use it to do great things, like transform their company or start their own consulting firm.
They hold onto this possibility for most of the day.
However, as they take more sessions and tune into the first live Q&A’s, they realize they have a different problem: the number of changes they need to make is overwhelming. The prospect of returning to the virtual conference the next day looking for even more ideas makes them feel as if they are drinking from a fire-hose.
The Third Morning – Saturday
Fortunately, they are offered some assistance. The core session that morning offers them a way to think about adding new skills one at a time, rather than all at once. They start to create a new plan of improvement based on what they have learned, which uses this new mindset.
When the event ends later that day they are hopeful. The sessions have provided them with practical advice, but interactions with their colleagues have opened up a new vision of who they could become. A transformation has begun.