9 ms·

But a single keynote is far less effective than a 2 day conference in terms of what you learn. Send 2 people. Have them prepare conference notes and present to

But a single keynote is far less effective than a 2 day conference in terms of what you learn. Send 2 people. Have them prepare conference notes and present to the 40 when they get back. It will be keynote x 10 (things you learn outside a single keynote) x 40 (all the employees that get to learn from the 2 that went). Keynote is such a minor part of attending a 2 day conference that 10x is a conservative estimate. Edit: And that's just "things learned" that doesn't even count the 20-30 conversations had that can spark collaborative efforts. Keynote is minimal.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
untog 9y ago
Sending two people and having them paraphrase the talks they saw based on the partial notes they took doesn't exactly sound like an efficient process. I don't think the OP was suggesting you hire the keynote speaker to come, deliver their keynote and leave. The point is that you could do a lot more than that.
- killjoywashere 9y ago
  > Sending two people and having them paraphrase the talks they saw based on the partial notes they took doesn't exactly sound like an efficient process. Don't think of it as education. Think of it as spies debriefing the station crew at the embassy.
  - tnecniv 9y ago
    This is the right way to think about it. The talks are probably recorded anyway. Really, you want to get some people to go out, see how others are doing things and solving problems, and bringing back the parts that are relevant to your current problems ("Oh, this guy solved problem X, which is really similar to what Ted was stuck on when we left!")
  - untog 9y ago
    I mean, if I'm thinking about it that way, why am I sending developers on a spy mission? I'm not sure developers are naturally skilled at parsing presentations (done by other developers, who also often aren't fantastic presenters) into meaningful presentations to give back in the office. Not that conferences aren't worth it, I'm just not sure they're worth it for that.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

untog 9y ago

Sending two people and having them paraphrase the talks they saw based on the partial notes they took doesn't exactly sound like an efficient process. I don't think the OP was suggesting you hire the keynote speaker to come, deliver their keynote and leave. The point is that you could do a lot more than that.

killjoywashere 9y ago
> Sending two people and having them paraphrase the talks they saw based on the partial notes they took doesn't exactly sound like an efficient process. Don't think of it as education. Think of it as spies debriefing the station crew at the embassy.
- tnecniv 9y ago
  This is the right way to think about it. The talks are probably recorded anyway. Really, you want to get some people to go out, see how others are doing things and solving problems, and bringing back the parts that are relevant to your current problems ("Oh, this guy solved problem X, which is really similar to what Ted was stuck on when we left!")
- untog 9y ago
  I mean, if I'm thinking about it that way, why am I sending developers on a spy mission? I'm not sure developers are naturally skilled at parsing presentations (done by other developers, who also often aren't fantastic presenters) into meaningful presentations to give back in the office. Not that conferences aren't worth it, I'm just not sure they're worth it for that.