I have, over recent years, spoken at, attended, chaired very many conferences and apart from a one or two notable exceptions have been appalled at the design of the events.

Too often, talks are packed in back to back, often in multi-streams with little or no time for questions and answers and genuine discussion - never mind - networking among the participants. And the participants (I call them participants not delegates) are seated in neat theatre style rows reminiscent of the worst of class room teaching. 

Speakers are not sufficiently briefed or disciplined and run over time; insufficient time is allowed for coffee breaks and for lunch and no time is built in to the day for conversation and reflection. 

What's worse is that these conferences are about 'learning and knowledge management' - the organizers are just not walking the talk! 

But of course there is good reason for this. By and large it is intentional - the organizers pack in as many speakers as they can as it looks good in their marketing material. The aim is not to create a great experience for the participants but to pack 'bums on seats' ! 

But as Bob Dylan once sang "the times they are changing" - it need not be that way and increasingly smaller conference organizations are seeing the light and running more participatory events. 

I took this short video clip at one of Knowledge Cafe workshops in London. It captures the passion and energy of a Knowledge Cafe..

Browse this Knowledge Cafe to get a taste of the format and again the energy in the room.

Here is a brief introduction to the Knowledge Cafe and what it all about.

Posing a good question is important

Knowledge Cafes can be run virtually but they are not the same

Conversations over dinner

Some good resources