3 Reasons You Should Leave a Session in the Middle
Our association runs a show just like most of you out there...and it has always irritated me the amount of transients who float between sessions, like vagabonds or railroad bums. 'How rude of them to leave a session!' scoffs my inner monologue as I kindly open the door and then let it close softly so as not to disturb our delicate speaker with attention deficit issues.
But, I think I have to admit these folks have figured it out...and the best part of being at someone else's show is you can do whatever the hell you want! I've stayed in sessions before when I wasn't getting much out of the experience; not to say that the speakers weren't giving, I just for whatever reason wasn't taking, but I stayed and frumped (inner monologue only). But this year I'm done with that. I've left two sessions and I'm proud of it! The sessions themselves were fine and I am sure helped many people, but they weren't what I was seeking.
So here are the 3 reasons:
1) You never know who you'll run into in the hall. I had a chance to chat with a web design consultant who looked at our website and told me what is wrong with it, in like 5 minutes! Man, that was huge.
2) You may be missing out in that other session down the hall. ASAE needs to write another 'Decision' book, called the 'Decision to get it together and choose which concurrent session you want to attend'. I normally want to go to 5 or 6 of these things, so if I am getting the sense up front that the session isn't for me, maybe I should bail and go to my next choice. What if it's that one piece of information that will move me from vague awareness to clarity?
3) I am supposed to do these in threes so I made this one up--I really only have 2 reasons you should leave a session in the middle.
See you in the hall!
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Comments
I think the third is the catch-all: it just isn't working for you for some reason and you could get more value by being elsewhere.
As long as people enter and exit courteously, it no longer phases me as a presenter. It's nice if those arriving late can politely hang back for a few minutes and get the feel for what has been going on or give me a chance to connect them to the larger conversation.
Posted by: Jeffrey Cufaude | August 30, 2010 2:14 PM
Brian:
You have aptly identified the traditional, old-school, old-guard unspoken presenter-attendee agreement:
• The conference organizers know what’s best for you. Accept it and attend all their events.
• The presentation description, if there is one at all, does not need to match the actual presentation.
• The presenter reserves the right to deliver a different presentation.
• This presentation is about and for the speaker, not you the attendee.
• Once you enter the room, sit down, be quiet, don't move and don't get up to leave out of respect for the presenter. They spent hours planning this for you. Consume it and be grateful.
• Eyes and face forward, watching the presenter intently. (Actually, looking at the back of the heads in front of you straining to see the presenter.)
• Take notes on paper quietly.
• Don’t speak unless spoken to by the presenter.
• Did we tell you to be quiet?
• Don’t leave until the end of the presentation, regardless if it’s not what you expected.
• Save all questions until the end of the presentation.
• Don’t complain. It cost the organization money, time and labor to set this up for you. Accept it.
• If you must complain, do it in the hallways quietly to your friends. And don't talk negatively about the experience.
Today's attendee-presenter agreement:
Take learning into your own hands. You are not held hostage by a presentation that does not meet your needs or is poorly delivered. Get up and do something productive instead of wasting time if it's not the right fit for you.
Actually, it's time for the conference attendee bill of rights. Think I'll write more about that.
Posted by: Jeff Hurt | August 31, 2010 4:31 PM