Stage Left: How Conferences Are Failing Their Attendees...and Speakers

My life has been creating, building, covering (editorially), speaking and attending industry conferences for the better part of two decades now, as part of the two companies I have built. And this has always bothered me: how little thought goes into on-stage programming, into the in-room attendee experience, into the speaker experience (so, so underrated) AND into frankly, creating quality environments in that big spotlight room and around it.?

I have seen conferences do everything around programming right AND still miserably fail with boring, mind numbing, sensory deprivation caverns. I have seen conferences be very good at the logistics working with DMCs or the likes of Freemans/Maritzs of the world. ChatGPT tells me this part of the events industry is called Experience Design, I just call it common sense and thinking attendee first.

As a speaker that means they would be so good at getting me details on how to get to the venue, how and when to get picked up, second by second update on my driver, what time do I have to be on stage, will hound me on sending the presentation weeks in advance, all valid things, and yet ZERO handholding on the actual presentation, help hone it for the audience in the room, the interplay between text and audio or video in the presentation, what the stage set up will be, zero prep or sense of what other speakers talking about, zero feedback on actual themes and why they matter, zero sense of pacing, moderating, stage etc. AND then after all this, run behind schedule by tens of mins and usually more and then have no sense of why that's a terrible experience for everyone involved!

Another thing I see time and again: these conferences’?pursuit of superficial allure—aiming for a “cool” and “gravitas-filled” ambiance through gimmicks rather than focusing on genuine on-stage quality.?

Some examples: organizers frequently bring in music/bands/local artists on stage, particularly for international conferences, as a way to showcase local culture and if organized by Western organizers, always lean into exoticized and orientalist cliches of these destinations. And even if some of this is a valid thought – I do see merit in the idea – there ends their creativity for the rest of the day, bow tied.

Another one: frequently international conferences lean on what I term the faux gravitas of washed up former or current BBC and CNN anchors with little expertise or connection to the topic at hand as moderators, or worst, “hosts” of the conference, versus expert industry moderators with a history of connections to the topics and speakers. And then of course there are the dreaded 5-6 person “manels” on stage…they still happen every day all around the world, in 2024, I promise you! And oh, motivational or celebrity “outside” speakers you pay for to show up? Most of the time, they are the most useless part of the program and it a sure sign you have no idea how to build substantive programming for your sector.

And my pet peeve, the award for the most cringe worthy part of the conferences, cheered on by acolytes and attendees because they are too embarrassed to say it out loud otherwise: organizers singing or dancing onstage or in the venue, to bring that we-are-hip vibe, while everything else they do before and after this giving the totally opposite vibe. And worst, posting it on social media to indicate their..coolness. I mean, either everything you do is quality and coolness, buzziness, gravitas etc comes from it, OR you are just force feeding all of this at the end of a terrible overall editorial experience…same as when companies assume free bagels and foosball tables creates and denotes cool culture in their companies.

This is why everyone says that no one goes to conferences for the speakers and sessions, only for networking, because the conference industry has let this become conventional wisdom by not thinking and focusing on quality on stage and everything before, during and after that enables it. Logistics is only the start of it.