I have had the pleasure of going to many sought after conferences in the last few weeks. It seems as soon as October hit, everyone decided it was a really good time to start re-energizing our brains after the summer stand still. I am hyped up on new information and can’t wait for a way to use it all.
Each fall, I venture into a new realm of exploration. Last year, it was politics of the municipal elections and how to make a community engagement impact, this year I am doing the same but with education. I have been going to a variety of education conferences with the usual sprinkling of design, city ecology and social innovation. I tend to favour the unconference model, but am also going to a few conference type events.
It all started when I joined the Edcamp Toronto planning committee and has rippled into the Art, Science and Brain: ArtSmarts Knowledge Exchange and the People for Education Conference and unConference on “What is Success?”. I also dabbled in the “Community Innovation Summit” at the Centre for Social Innovation and Innoversity: Roadmap 2030 and this week I went to Skills for Change “Diversity @ Work”
All these learning events have one thing in common, flow of experience. The content changes, but the experience you are giving your audience is what you want them to walk away with. The conversations they had, the way they moved in and out of the space, the way there was time for questions and the connections they left with. All of these points are created by the design of the day. This is the space that you can’t see or touch, but it is the space that you end up mesmerized with or disappointed with.
I am starting to analyze the foundations of this space and see if I can build a layout. There is an architecture to this structure and I am fascinated.
Inspire Yourself!
Jenn