August 18, 2009: Don't sit together
Category: Meetings
Posted by: David M Patt
The five folks from the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) had the right idea at the ASAE Conference. They attended nine different breakout sessions during the first day of the event.
While they said they liked to sit together at the general session, hopefully they didn't do that at meals or other sessions.
If you attend a conference with others from your association, split up. You'll learn more if you attend different workshops and if you sit with, and talk to, different people at meals.
Getting stuck sitting next to a clique is one of the worst experiences for meeting attendees. Those folks tend to talk to each other and not to the people around them (maybe TASBO folks were different).
You'll learn just as much - sometimes more - from networking with peers than you will from all of the educational sessions.
So, don't hang with the people you came with. Split up, learn, and compare notes later.
While they said they liked to sit together at the general session, hopefully they didn't do that at meals or other sessions.
If you attend a conference with others from your association, split up. You'll learn more if you attend different workshops and if you sit with, and talk to, different people at meals.
Getting stuck sitting next to a clique is one of the worst experiences for meeting attendees. Those folks tend to talk to each other and not to the people around them (maybe TASBO folks were different).
You'll learn just as much - sometimes more - from networking with peers than you will from all of the educational sessions.
So, don't hang with the people you came with. Split up, learn, and compare notes later.
