I love adventures. Doesn’t matter if they’re small adventures, or big ones, or any size in between. I especially love ‘em if they have something to do with learning.

     Here’s an adventure I had a couple of weeks ago – the first of what I’m sure will be lots of learning adventures in 2012!

Build-your-own learning

     Are you looking for a cool new way to offer learning at your conferences? Take a hint from the Learning Lounge at PCMA’s recent Convening Leaders conference in San Diego. The lounge offered a build-your-own experience, allowing conference participants to choose from a variety of bite-sized chunks of learning.

     Exhibit Hall F at the San Diego Convention Center was given over entirely to the lounge. Lots of activities were going on simultaneously in clusters of comfortable seating and mini-theaters scattered around the hall. I had the good fortune to be invited to participate by Jeff Hurt and Dave Lutz of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, who organized part of the lounge activities – the Really Live Chats and the Big Ideas Pavilion. Both areas featured a number of experts in growing attendance, expo and sponsorship, and designing meetings for learning.

     For the Really Live Chats Jeff and Dave identified, in advance, 22 thought leaders in conference learning, growing conference attendance, and sponsorship generation, then interviewed them via Skype video. The resulting 10-minute video clips were available for viewing in each of three mini-theaters clustered together. I was one of several chat facilitators who played clips (chosen by those present) and then facilitated informal discussions with people who came and went as they chose. Some marvelous spontaneous conversations and idea-generation occurred!

     Over the three days of the conference, the Big Ideas Theater featured 40 or so TED-style presentations offered by a number of meetings and learning experts. Each presentation was made in front of a small live audience, and about half of them were live-streamed during the conference. I was privileged to be one of the speakers in this venue, offering two presentations: Moving from Presentation to Participation and Event Learning: Moving from “Ho-Hum” to “Oh, Wow!” Lots of great content in 15-minute chunks…take a look at the other presentations, which Jeff and Dave posted here on Slideshare. 

     Brilliantly, the Learning Lounge was situated right next to the general session room, which was in Hall G. Conference participants had to walk through the lounge to get to the general sessions; additionally, light breakfast items and afternoon breaks were in the back of the room each day. Both provided the ideal way to catch conference-goers’ attention, and that’s what happened. The lounge was open throughout the conference, except during general sessions and luncheons.

     Lots of other things were going on the Learning Lounge: the 2012 Virtual Edge Summit was co-located with PCMA’s event; an area of the Learning Lounge was devoted to its “headquarters” in-person audience space. “App4U” featured experts in technology and social media conducting short 15-minute classes on using mobile devices – everything from “Twitter 101” to the best apps for iPad and using mobile technology for productivity. There was even a “BYOD” area (Bring Your Own Device): a space to get questions answered by the experts. “Society” was a space for informal conversation on comfy couches and chairs – there were scheduled conversations here, yet most of the time this space was open for general use. With a nice amount of space between each activity cluster, there was a comfortable buzz in the room without being intrusive from cluster to cluster.

Now it’s your turn…

     Is your association experimenting with ways to expand/differentiate conference or other types of learning opportunities? Perhaps what you’re doing would help someone else who’s struggling a bit. I invite you to comment: what are you doing. and how is it working for you?

Another ASAE annual meeting has come and gone…yet it wasn’t just another ASAE annual meeting. If you were there, and/or follow the Twitter stream (#asae11) and the association blogosphere, you know that already. There was just something about this meeting that struck a very positive chord throughout the association community.

I suspect it has a lot to do with ASAE’s responsiveness to the significant criticism of the 2010 event in Los Angeles. ASAE listened (and perhaps St. Louis did, too), a critical association skill I wrote about early in the week, and made a number of changes in response. Kudos to everyone involved in those changes! The ones I noticed the most were the wide variety of session possibilities (Game Changers, Ignite, Deep Dives, Learning Labs, Conversations that Matter, Innovation Exchange) and the spaces opened up – near all the action, this time – for participants to gather and discuss topics of their choice or just relax (Flash Learning, Online Engagement Lounge, and others). It was probably the first ASAE meeting in a long time (and I’ve been to a lot of them) in which I truly wish I could have cloned myself to avoid having to choose from among what all looked like wonderful sessions.

My biggest regret…

…that my Tuesday morning session on “Deconstructing John Medina’s Brain Rules” was scheduled opposite Joe Gerstandt’s “How to Fly Your Freak Flag” session. Being somewhat of a closet freak myself, I wanted to attend this session. Alas, it was not to be. And once I read all the buzz about it on Twitter and heard people who were there talk about how powerful it was, I felt like I’d missed something important. I hope ASAE will invite Joe back to offer this session again; meanwhile, I’ll take Joe’s advice and do my best to let my freak flag fly.

Missing Joe’s session in no way diminishes…

My biggest joy…

The people who attended my aforementioned session on Tuesday morning. As we explored how John Medina’s Brain Rules might apply to association learning, it was heartening to see you all so fully engaged in the session. I think I can safely say we proved the point that you can have fun while learning, and having a portion of your anatomy attached to a chair isn’t a prerequisite. Thank you so much for all your kind words then and throughout the rest of the day. I’d love to hear from any of you who share with your own subject-matter experts the active learning tools you experienced in the session…let me know how it goes!

I’m still contemplating a number of other perspectives taken from the ASAE meeting and plan to explore them in blog posts I’ll write over the next week or two: big themes, small details, learning (of course), and more. Meanwhile, I’ll be trying to keep up with the post-event musings of other bloggers (BTW: thanks, ASAE, for Scoop.it!); one sign of a great meeting is, after all, that it provokes thought in those who participate.

Strategy is an important element in association management. Whether your mantra is “strategic planning is dead!” or “long live strategic planning,” there is no doubt that in today’s world we need to be strategic about where we’re going and what we choose to do.

In one Sunday session I attended at ASAE’s annual meeting, “Future Trends: State-of-the-Art Environmental Scanning in Associations,” content leaders Jim Dalton and Alan Balkema highlighted new research on trends and environmental scanning, including 50 trends identified in the relatively recent book Designing Your Future: Key Trends, Challenges, and Choices Facing Association and Nonprofit Leaders. The research included how (and if) associations are engaging in environmental scanning. Dalton distinguished two context types associations might use: the general environment – scanning the entire universe using categories known to be major change areas – and the task environment, which is a focus on the immediate conditions faced by members by demographics and market segments. ASAE, for example, used a STEEP model (Social, Technology, Economic, Environmental, Political) for its general environmental scanning. Sunday’s session was recorded, and an article by Dalton on environmental scanning appears in the August 2011 issue of Associations Now.

Dalton offered two critical questions to consider about each of 50 trends on the list:  

(1)    Will the trend have significant bearing on your members?

(2)    If so, how and why will this trend have an effect on your members?

In answering these questions, Dalton says, you convert a trend from the general environment into a strategic issue in your members’ task environment.

I was excited to see a number of these trends relating directly to learning, because in similar trend lists identified over the years, learning issues have been more inferred rather than being the focus of trends themselves. The rise of these trends demonstrates the increasing importance of learning to association management.

So what are these learning-focused trends? They fall into four of the five STEEP categories and are listed below (one in the fifth category can be inferred). Think about them using the two questions above, and you just may identify some strategic learning issues to which your organization should be paying attention. Note: emphasis placed is mine.

• Social: A growing segment of the world’s population fully expects part of its education to be delivered online.

• Technology:

    -  More people use web and communication technologies to consume media, learn, work, and play.

    -  Savvy individuals will be better-educated because they have used online personalized resources to learn in ways that suit them best.

    -  Employers and managers will reap benefits from the increased use of social media in recruitment, hiring, efficiency, and training.

    -  Businesses and government agencies increasingly use blogs, Google Docs, Facebook, and LinkedIn to publish and collect information.

    -  Professions will become hyper-specialized, creating knowledge gaps and communications issues between specialties and subspecialties.

• Economic:

    -  Businesses and organizations cut back or shorten events and activities to conserve resources due to continued economic uncertainty.

    -  Free online event promotion tools create more free events, which compels unique, interesting content to move customers to pay for events.

    -  The incoming potential workforce does not meet employers’ expectations for their education level and experience.

• Environmental: the only trend category with no direct link to learning, although its role can be inferred in this one: Eco-literacy and ethical consumption become entrenched in the marketplace as business responds to the shift in societal values. 

• Political:

    -  Governments fund training to try to reduce welfare costs, cut or prevent unemployment, and speed the economic recovery.

Considering these 11 trends (out of 50) and identifying how they impact your members could open new possibilities for association learning opportunities. What connections do you see between these trends from ASAE’s research and the work you do every day? What possibilities do you see for your association?

I travel quite a bit in my role, and my first-choice airline is typically Southwest. Among other things, I “LUV” their sense of fun and their customer service. And I really enjoy Spirit, their in-flight magazine. The company’s fun culture comes through loud and clear in its eclectic content mix. Reading the August issue en route to St. Louis yesterday for ASAE’s annual meeting, I came across an article very timely for the association community as we gather to learn and share ideas.

Today’s the first full day of the meeting, and there are lots of tweets, sessions, and expo booths focusing on engaging members in today’s rich social media environment. A lot of what I’ve seen so far seems to focus on how associations can innovate, be creative, and engage members. All fine and good; yet the message that appears to be missing (so far) is the importance and value of listening to members. Not just giving them the latest tools and content…really listening to member conversations. We have so many tools we can use now to “eavesdrop” on those conversations to inform so many aspects of managing our associations, not the least of which are the learning opportunities we offer.

Writer Nicholas Webb, in his Spirit article “Hear Hear: How the best companies are succeeding by listening,” says this:

The days of carefully vetted press releases, a polished brand image, and corporate separatism are over. Also gone are the rampant focus groups and surveys intended to tap customer thought. The transformation has been so complete that companies no longer own their message; rather, the message is shaped by rapidly growing and vociferous online communities. For some businesses, particularly those accustomed to controlling the message, it’s a scary phenomenon; for others, it’s manna from heaven.

Sound familiar? Associations are jumping onto the social media bandwagon in droves; however there are still those having problems letting go of message control and doing more pushing out instead of pulling in. The article highlights what companies like Kodak, Dell, and the U.S. Army are doing to listen to their customers. One thing that really struck me is that one company, Kodak, even established a new position: Chief Listening Officer.

It seems to me that associations spend a lot of time telling members, when they should be spending a lot more time listening. How well does your organization listen to its members? And what could happen if you listen purposefully? Hmmm…here’s a thought: is it a new staff position, or the responsibility of every member of the association’s staff and volunteer leadership? What do you think?

The annual migration of the species “associatus executivas” has begun…!

Like a few thousand others of the species and its various branches, I’m in final packing mode, preparing to fly to St. Louis early Saturday morning for the ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition. I always look forward to this event – it’s a great opportunity to get a fresh infusion of ideas and perspectives as well as see long-time friends and make new ones.

I’m really looking forward to engaging this year at a number of levels…face-to-face and in at least some of the backchannel spaces. Last year in Los Angeles, I was relatively new to Twitter…and following the event Twitter stream added an incredible dimension to the meeting. This year, in addition to tweeting, I’ll be blogging throughout the event here on the Learning Evangelist blog. While it’s the first time writing from a live event for my own blog, it’s not the first time I’ve blogged an ASAE event! I was part of ASAE’s annual meeting and Great Ideas Conference blog teams several times before Acronym was established, and found it a great way to contemplate and share the new ideas I heard during these meetings.

In no particular order, here’s a little of what I’m looking forward to in St. Louis…

•  Visiting a city I’ve been to only once, and that was just to change planes en route to somewhere else.

•  A whole lot of Ignite sessions with really intriguing titles…like “Lady Gaga, Timesheets, and Harrowing Commutes” (Kiki L’Italien), “Innovation’s Eulogy” (Jim Flanigan), “What Prince Can Teach us About Association Management” (Stefanie Reeves, CAE), and “Why Profanity Kicks @$$!” (Joe Gerstandt).

•  Experiencing different approaches to conference learning opportunities, particularly the Innovation Exchange and Flash Learning Room. I can’t help wondering how different they’ll really be…!

•  Holding in my hands two new ASAE-published books I’ve contributed to: 199 Ideas: Enhancing Learning Experiences, and the 2^nd edition of Core Competencies in Association Professional Development.

•  The opening-night concert under the Arch, and the closing night party on Washington Avenue – a couple of chances to see more of St. Louis than the convention center!

•  Mixing and mingling with friends and colleagues from all over the association community.

And, I’m looking forward to sharing and learning during my session “Next Generation Learning: Deconstructing John Medina’s Brain Rules” on Tuesday morning from 9:00-10:15 a.m. Come join me and discover why adult learning principles and practices work…and what that means to your learning opportunities!

If you’re coming to St. Louis, I hope our paths will cross at some point! Say hello…and I’ll do the same. If you won’t be there, stay in touch with what’s going on via the Annual Meeting hub!

I really admire Elliott and the work of The Masie Center, his “think tank” in Saratoga Springs, NY. He’s one of those “bleeding edge” kinda guys who is always out there trying new things and freely sharing what he learns. He’s probably the first person I ever saw speak remotely…via live video as a keynote speaker at a local ASTD chapter’s one-day conference. That was years ago, before most people even started thinking about doing anything like it. And he continues to stretch the proverbial envelope when it comes to learning effectiveness.

If you aren’t familiar with Elliott’s work, he and his team regularly seek out trends, conduct research, and share practical information for learning professionals around the world. Well, they’ve done it again…The Masie Center has just released a free, open-source e-book focusing on learning strategies. Titled simply, Learning Strategies, it’s a 104-page compilation of contributions from companies as diverse as the CIA, CNN, Farmers Insurance Group, Waste Management, Inc., and others. While its authors are from the for-profit world, what they have to say about learning strategy and how you create and use it is applicable – maybe even required reading – for anyone who manages learning functions in their organizations.

From the opening chapter by editor Nigel Paine about what makes a successful learning strategy to the closing interview with Elliott about his perspectives on developing and implementing learning strategy, this book is a keeper.

As Nigel says in his opening review of the chapters:

…each chapter reveals that a learning strategy is neither an academic exercise nor a “box ticking” process. It is not abstract and unaligned or irrelevant and unusable. It is truly a device for building the future; a means of engaging your whole team in the process…both a statement of commitment and a testimony to engagement.

While some – not all – of the role and purpose of learning in associations is a bit different than it is in for-profit companies, underlying both is the need to have what Elliott calls “a GPS that maps out how the investment in learning will contribute to the overall success of the organization.” To entice members to come to learning events, associations need to share exactly that: how will members’ participation in this, or that, event contribute to their success? A solid learning strategy can support your message, because it also drives the kinds of programs you offer and why you offer them.

How does your organization approach learning? Is your learning strategy defined and purposeful, or something else? If the latter, what could a purposeful strategy contribute to the success of your learning opportunities? Download Learning Strategies and take a look at how some highly successful learning organizations approach learning strategy.

This year has really flown by, hasn’t it?

     For me, a contributing factor is likely the travel I’ve enjoyed the past few months. In conjunction with client work, I’ve been to Minneapolis; Alexandria, VA; Seattle; Allentown, PA; Atlanta; Washington, DC; and Wilmington, DE…some of these cities more than once. Tucked in the middle was a trip to San Antonio for a family celebration of life and a too-short visit with some friends.

     The highlight of the year (so far!) – and my first international client engagement – was a week-long trip to Singapore at the end of May. I had the pleasure of facilitating a three-day workshop for 24 of this new client’s in-house trainers, who came from eight different Asia Pacific countries. I always enjoy leading SME workshops; it is great fun to see the “light bulbs” come on as these folks discover how to increase the effectiveness of the training they lead. I always learn something from participants in workshops I facilitate, and Singapore was no exception! I discovered a lot about learning in other cultures even as I led the group – who spoke English far better than I spoke most of their languages – in exploring how they could make their training more effective.

     I’ve been asked, on occasion, whether the adult learning principles and practices we utilize in the U.S. apply in other cultures. At least for this group, the answer was a resounding yes! Every one of these participants – whether from Singapore, Malaysia, India, China, Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand, or Australia – wanted to know how they could better engage participants in their own training sessions. In part of the workshop they were able to share the similarities and differences in their approaches to delivering content and work together to reach consensus in key areas. In short, the workshop was much like any I facilitate in the U.S., with the addition of a very rich multicultural environment.

      If you’re responsible for learning in a global organization, do you reach out across borders to…

• provide development, mentoring, and/or coaching programs so individual SMEs can build their skills and knowledge?

• encourage your subject-matter experts to regularly share ideas and techniques to raise the quality and level of learning for everyone?

• provide formal opportunities for your SMEs to gather with their colleagues from other countries?

      An effective (and effectively used) learning and development program is the best competitive advantage in today’s global economy. Help your organization make the most of that advantage by ensuring those who lead learning have everything they need to be successful.

…even as it remains the same.

     Every business (and association!) evolves over time…adapting to customer needs, new conditions, new environments, or through rethinking its operations and focus. Sometimes, evolution is simply about aligning perspective with reality.

     Since well before I started my business, I have considered myself a “learning evangelist.” My passion for learning is part of my father’s legacy; in my own life learning is akin to breathing – I can’t imagine not doing it. In the earliest stages of creating my business, I needed an email address and wanted one with a unique domain. I thought long and hard about using “learning evangelist;” I even had some people tell me not to use it. Yet the more I thought about it the more it made sense to me.

An “evangelist,” after all, is “one who passionately shares beliefs.” While the connotation is often religious in nature, the definition is not confined to religion. One might choose to be an evangelist about anything – and since the conscious act of choosing my domain name back in 2003, I’ve positioned myself as an evangelist for learning.

Announcing…

In an exciting (for me) step in my business evolution, I’ve recently aligned my business name and the identity I created when I “hung out my shingle” as a learning consultant eight years ago. My consulting firm, formally known as CompassPoints, is now the Learning Evangelist, LLC…bringing together my perception and positioning of myself with the reality of my business entity.

My philosophy, values, and mission remain the same.

Philosophy:   

Learning is a thread that runs throughout everything an organization does, and a learning mindset is at the core of organizational effectiveness. If we’re not learning, we’re stagnating. No individual or organization can ever afford to do that, especially with today’s realities.

Values:

Learning:  Every activity is a learning laboratory for the next one – no matter how many times it’s been done or has yet to be done, it can always be done better.

Creativity & Innovation:  Continually seek creative and innovative ways to solve the challenges faced by individuals and their organizations, whether by developing new ideas or by applying existing ideas in new ways.

Integrity:  Be honest, forthright, and consistent; when making commitments, dedicate efforts to ensure success.

Results:  Partner with clients and their stakeholders to create results that matter.

Mission: 

To create effective learning environments and strategies, regardless of the setting − partnering with clients to develop appropriate strategies, programs, and tactics to advance learner-focused opportunities in their organizations. It doesn’t matter what format learning takes; it doesn’t matter what message content leaders want to convey. What matters is what learners take from a learning opportunity and are able to apply back in their work environments.

    I ask my clients and their subject-matter experts to join me in the role of learner advocate…always keeping learners top-of-mind when doing all the strategy and planning, implementation and evaluation activities that organizations do. That’s the way to success in creating effective learning environments and strategies: give learners what they need to succeed.

If we know that adult learners want active engagement in learning opportunities, why do so many webinar speakers still just “talk at” participants?

Lately I’ve been thinking about what makes webinars successful, for a couple of reasons. In some recent conversations about learning, I’ve heard use of webinars almost tossed aside as a viable learning tool because of their one-way, lecture format. That caused me to do a double-take; I know webinars can and should be very engaging.

As for anything worthwhile, it takes some focused planning and preparation to create a good webinar. It’s easiest to lead a webinar as a lecture…for the presenter. Not so great for the learners, though, when you consider that one of the most basic adult learning principles is that adults want to be active and engaged. As John Medina says in his book Brain Rules, “we don’t pay attention to boring things” (rule #4). Bored learners get busy doing other things, and your webinars suffer as a result.

Back in December, I wrote a white paper for KRM Information Services about helping webinar speakers actively engage their participants. As a result of that paper, I’m leading a webinar for KRM this week in which we’ll look at ways to increase the webinar engagement factor. And we won’t just talk about the tools; we’ll play with them a bit too!

If you’re interested in sharing ideas for enhancing the learning experience offered to webinar participants, considering joining us from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET this Wednesday, February 23^rd. Learn more and register here, and join us on Twitter before, during, and after the webinar, at hashtag #krmlearning.

I hope you’ll join us – for the webinar and for the Twitter conversation.

Meanwhile, what do you think? Do you see a place for one-way webinars? Or do you think the way to go is planning for every webinar to be an engaging learning experience?

We hear a lot about “innovation” in business…about the need to innovate to hold a competitive edge, for example, or innovate to attract people to our association’s conference year after year. Whatever the reason, we’re always on the lookout for how we can be more innovative in our work.

I’d like to postulate that what we want isn’t innovation…it’s imagination.

Last Friday I wrote about the vision held by the Challenger 7 families and the organization they founded, the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. That got me thinking, in the funny way our brains work, about the role of vision in learning, which led me to recall a blog post I’d read in early January. That post from Jonathan Fields featured JK Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement address, in which she makes a pretty strong case for the power of imagination and failure. A little later in January, Fast Company featured in its daily e-newsletter 13 “radical ideas” for spending $100 million dollars to really save education, a response to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million contribution to the schools and city of Newark, NJ last September.

And then yesterday morning, another article in the Fast Company e-newsletter introduced me to No Right Brain Left Behind, an intriguing 5-day challenge to the creative industries to “concept ideas that can help the creativity crisis happening in U.S. schools today.” One reason for this emphasis, cited in a slide presentation about the project: a lack of creativity in schools and a recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identifying creativity as the “#1 competitive edge for the future.” Yes, schools have become much more about standardized testing than about sparking the creativity and critical thinking that foster imagination. Without building those skills, will tomorrow’s employees even be able to tap the innate creativity that leads to true innovation?

Can we truly innovate without creativity…without first imagining what could be? Innovation can, I think, occur without imagination; ideas new to your organization don’t have to be original to your organization. Think about how often you ask how others have faced and overcome the same challenges you’re facing. Conferences are loaded with case-study sessions; books are filled with “real-life examples;” and we listen and read and figure out how we can adapt what’s been done elsewhere to our own situations. Do we really want to do nothing more than repackage what’s been done before?

Let me be clear: I don’t believe there’s anything inherently wrong with avoiding “reinventing the wheel.” I just wonder if it’s enough to help our organizations and our stakeholders succeed over the long haul. I’m curious about the possibilities that could arise if we imagine more, and adapt less.

It is the ability to allow our curiosity to take over and imagine that truly encourages new methods, new concepts, new ideas to surface. We don’t allow nearly enough time in our days to explore and imagine. It’s true that not every idea is a winner. Yet the value of imagining goes far beyond the ideas it generates. Dr. John Medina says, in his Brain Rule #12, that we are “powerful and natural explorers…despite the classrooms and cubicles we are stuffed into.”

Our lives are busy, packed with things to do and schedules to meet. I wonder, though…what could happen if we allow a little more curiosity and imagination into our days?