http://ericholscher.comEric Holscher - Posts tagged conferences2024-02-28T16:22:28.847006+00:00ABloghttp://ericholscher.com/blog/2016/nov/12/questions-at-conferences/Questions after talks at conferences2016-11-12T00:00:00+00:00<section id="questions-after-talks-at-conferences">
<p>At many conferences,
people allow the audience to ask questions after the talks.
I want to argue that this is an anti-pattern in many ways,
and some solutions that have worked that I recommend.</p>
<section id="issues-with-questions">
<h2>Issues with questions</h2>
<p>There are two primary audiences that have issues with questions:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Speakers</p></li>
<li><p>The audience</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Let’s start with speakers.
Many first-time speakers that I know have an intense anxiety around having the audience ask questions.
They think,
“I am going to go up and give a talk,
and then someone in the audience will contradict or embarrass me for lack of knowledge afterward.”
<strong>Audience questions after talks are one of the biggest sources of stress for speakers.</strong></p>
<p>Now for the audience.
They have chosen to attend a talk to hear from a specific speaker about a topic they are knowledgeable on.
If there are 250 people in the room,
each minute of the talk is over 4 hours of combined time.
<strong>When you offer up a microphone to anyone in the audience,
you are now offering 4 hours of peoples life to an unaudited question and answer that likely only provides value to a small minority of attendees.</strong>
This is not a good use of anyone’s time,
and often audiences feel trapped in a talk room during Q&A time.</p>
</section>
<section id="better-approaches">
<h2>Better approaches</h2>
<p>Here are a few different approaches that I recommend a lot more than “let anyone in the audience ask a question publicly”.</p>
<section id="speaker-goes-to-the-front-of-stage-for-questions">
<h3>Speaker goes to the front of stage for questions</h3>
<p>At my own conferences,
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/">Write the Docs</a>,
we have established the norm of not having full audience questions.
After each talk we ask the speaker to come to the front of the stage,
and then have a conversation with members of the audience with questions.</p>
<p>This achieves a couple beneficial results:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>People are empowered to ask questions that are more specific to their situation, instead of trying to general them for a larger audience</p></li>
<li><p>The question asker isn’t given a “stage” to promote their own projects or ideas</p></li>
<li><p>The speaker isn’t worried about being “called out” in front of the full room</p></li>
<li><p>Everyone else in the audience is free to do whatever they want</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I stole this idea from <a class="reference external" href="https://xoxofest.com/">XOXO</a>,
but a lot of events do a version of this.</p>
</section>
<section id="questions-to-the-speaker-are-moderated">
<h3>Questions to the speaker are moderated</h3>
<p>Another approach I’ve seen work well is that the audience is allowed to ask questions,
but they are moderated.
This can be done in a couple different ways:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>A <cite>#questions</cite> Slack or IRC channel where people can ask questions</p></li>
<li><p>Index cards handed out at the beginning of a talk and collected at the end</p></li>
</ul>
<p>This allows one person to moderate the questions,
and forces them to be asked in a direct way.
It also removes the “I have a statement, not a question” problem,
because all questions are filtered through an intermediary.</p>
<p>This has a few benefits as well:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>People are still able to ask the speaker for clarifiaction/explanation on parts of their talk publicly, and it benefits everyone</p></li>
<li><p>The speaker knows they won’t get ambushed by the moderator</p></li>
<li><p>The moderator can blend the questions together into a narrative and group questions in a meaningful way</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve seen this work quite well at conferences like <a class="reference external" href="https://djangounderthehood.com/">Django Under The Hood</a> and <a class="reference external" href="http://pydx.org/">PyDX</a>.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="questions-are-your-responsibility">
<h2>Questions are your responsibility</h2>
<p>As the organizer of an event,
the way that you structure the event has a direct impact on people’s experience.
<strong>Opening the room to questions and not doing any moderation is abdicating your responsibility as an organizer.</strong></p>
<p>I highly recommend that you adopt a more equitable approach to questions at conferences,
and make them more enjoyable for everyone involved.</p>
</section>
</section>
At many conferences,
people allow the audience to ask questions after the talks.
I want to argue that this is an anti-pattern in many ways,
and some solutions that have worked that I recommend.2016-11-12T00:00:00+00:00http://ericholscher.com/blog/2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00<section id="the-pac-man-rule-at-conferences">
<p>I firmly believe that conferences can provide a lot of value for people in an industry.
Conferences allow people to create a network,
which helps them feel integrated in a community and profession.</p>
<p>In order to build a network you need to meet other people at events, and for this to happen
attendees need to feel empowered to reach out and connect to people they don’t already know.
We do this by having specific events that encourage collaboration,
but also by giving people explicit permission to meet other people.</p>
<section id="give-people-explicit-permission-to-join-groups">
<h2>Give people explicit permission to join groups</h2>
<p>In the <a class="reference external" href="http://writethedocs.org">events</a> that I help organize,
I try to solve this problem by <strong>giving people explicit permission to join new groups of people</strong>.
In the introduction of the event,
I tell attendees their job is to meet people and make friends.
They are supposed to join groups,
battle past that awkward silence that occurs when they do,
and have a great time with new people.</p>
<p>This solves one side of the equation,
making a person feel empowered,
and like they are <em>doing the right thing</em> by talking to new folks.
There is a second part of this equation,
which is the group of people a person joins,
and that’s where the <em>Pac-Man Rule</em> comes in.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-pac-man-rule">
<span id="pac-man-rule"></span><h2>The Pac-Man Rule</h2>
<p>The rule is:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p><strong>When standing as a group of people,
always leave room for 1 person to join your group.</strong></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>More memorably,
stand like Pac-Man!</p>
<img alt="../../../../_images/pacman.png" class="align-center" src="../../../../_images/pacman.png" style="width: 25%;" />
<p>The new person,
who has been given permission to join your group,
will gather up the courage,
and join you!
Another important point,
the group should now readjust to leave another space for a new person.</p>
<p><strong>Leaving room for new people when standing in a group is a physical way to show an inclusive and welcoming environment.</strong>
It reduces the feeling of there being cliques,
and allows people to integrate themselves into the community.</p>
</section>
<section id="video">
<h2>Video</h2>
<p>Dylan Beattie has made a wonderful video that captures this quite well.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference download internal" download="" href="../../../../_downloads/23d55c354d1a956872b3a4c12d9dc2b2/the-pac-man-rule.mp4"><code class="xref download docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Download</span> <span class="pre">video</span> <span class="pre">as</span> <span class="pre">an</span> <span class="pre">mp4</span></code></a></p></li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Going to a conference? Yes! Introduce yourself. Say hello. Chat to people. They're lovely. Really! And if you're already chatting in a group, make your group approachable using <a href="https://twitter.com/ericholscher?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ericholscher</a>'s Pac-Man Rule. <br><br>Here's how it works.<br><br>Have fun! <a href="https://t.co/QklklD43Me">pic.twitter.com/QklklD43Me</a></p>— Dylan Beattie 🇪🇺 (@dylanbeattie) <a href="https://twitter.com/dylanbeattie/status/1111619036809449472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></section>
<section id="your-mission">
<h2>Your mission</h2>
<p>If you choose to accept it,
is to try and build the largest Pac-Man in the room.
Invite new people into your groups,
make new friends,
and build a community full of people who feel included.
We all benefit.</p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/dec/2/breaking-cliques-at-events/"><span class="doc">Breaking Cliques at Events: The Snowball Rule</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/"><span class="doc">We don’t do that here: Setting social norms</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
</section>
</section>
I firmly believe that conferences can provide a lot of value for people in an industry.
Conferences allow people to create a network,
which helps them feel integrated in a community and profession.2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00http://ericholscher.com/blog/2017/dec/2/breaking-cliques-at-events/Breaking Cliques at Events: The Snowball Rule2017-12-02T00:00:00+00:00<section id="breaking-cliques-at-events-the-snowball-rule">
<p>I’ve been going to professional events for a number of years,
and one of the trickiest dynamics I have seen is that most events develop an “insiders” group who has been going for a long time.
These groups tend to feel like exclusionary cliques for first-time attendees,
and actively hurt the community’s goal of inclusion.</p>
<p>I’d like to propose a simple rule that we have at the <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/">events</a> I run,
which I think makes inclusion easier for everyone.</p>
<section id="difficulty-meeting-new-people">
<h2>Difficulty meeting new people</h2>
<p>Meeting new people is scary, especially if you’re new to a community and you’re not sure if you belong.
People that have been attending an event for years are much more firmly planted in the community.
They are able to help newcomers understand the norms and standards of a place.</p>
<p><strong>This means that long-time attendees should be the ones introducing themselves to first-time attendees.</strong></p>
<p>With that in mind,
I came up with a new rule that properly assigns the responsibility.</p>
</section>
<section id="the-snowball-rule">
<span id="pac-man-plus-rule"></span><h2>The Snowball Rule</h2>
<p>The rule is:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p><strong>For every year you have attended an event, you should try to meet that many new people each day.</strong></p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>An example makes it clear:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>If you have attended an event for <em>three years</em>, you should try to meet <em>three new people</em> each day.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<p>My original post on the <a class="hxr-hoverxref hxr-modal reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/#pac-man-rule"><span class="std std-ref">The Pac-Man Rule</span></a> for another useful event rule</p>
</div>
</section>
<section id="the-organizer-s-responsibility">
<h2>The organizer’s responsibility</h2>
<p>As an organizer,
you’re asking a lot of the long-time attendees.
Particularly in the software industry,
a lot of people (including me!) have anxiety around meeting new people.</p>
<p><strong>By using the Katamari Rule,
it’s the organizer’s responsibility to make meeting new people easier.</strong></p>
<p>So here are a few ideas for how to make meeting new folks easier: <a class="footnote-reference brackets" href="#id2" id="id1" role="doc-noteref"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span>1<span class="fn-bracket">]</span></a></p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Organize lunches and dinners around topics so that people know they have shared interests</p></li>
<li><p>Give folks “Ask me about ____” stickers to wear, so that breaking the ice is easy!</p></li>
<li><p>Have an <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/conf/portland/2018/unconference/">Unconference</a> or open space, where there are tables or rooms labeled by topic in 30 minute blocks</p></li>
<li><p>Have a <a class="reference external" href="http://www.writethedocs.org/organizer-guide/confs/welcome-wagon/">Welcome Wagon</a>, which is a few folks who are designated friendly faces for the event</p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="outcomes">
<h2>Outcomes</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>New people only have to meet <em>one</em> new person each day, a useful and attainable goal</p></li>
<li><p>People coming back for the second or third year feel a bit more responsibility to be <em>stewards</em> for the community, a valuable role for them to play</p></li>
<li><p>The organizers and long-time attendees need to meet the most people, and they are the most valuable in spreading the culture of the event – they are also the most exciting for new people to meet!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In the events that I have run, this rule has turned out quite well.
I have gotten feedback from people, who turned it into a game:
“My friends and I competed to see how many new people we could meet each day”</p>
<p>However, the most important outcome is how it changes the dynamic of the event itself.
It goes from an event where it feels like people aren’t accessible, to one where people know it’s their job to meet new people.
This makes it easier for everyone to meet new people,
make connections,
and really build the valuable professional networks that we all need to be happy in our careers.</p>
<p><strong>Giving everyone at the event the direction to meet new people makes it much easier to meet new people.</strong></p>
<div class="admonition seealso">
<p class="admonition-title">See also</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2017/aug/2/pacman-rule-conferences/"><span class="doc">The Pac-Man Rule at Conferences</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2019/sep/19/helping-first-time-conference-attendees-with-welcome-wagon/"><span class="doc">Using a Welcome Wagon to Help First-Time Conference Attendees</span></a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="../../../2023/feb/10/we-dont-do-that-here/"><span class="doc">We don’t do that here: Setting social norms</span></a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<hr class="docutils" />
<p class="rubric"><em>Footnotes</em></p>
<aside class="footnote-list brackets">
<aside class="footnote brackets" id="id2" role="note">
<span class="label"><span class="fn-bracket">[</span><a role="doc-backlink" href="#id1">1</a><span class="fn-bracket">]</span></span>
<p>Thanks to <a class="reference external" href="http://jacobian.org/">Jacob Kaplan-Moss</a> for feedback,
particularly around ideas on making things easier.</p>
</aside>
</aside>
</section>
</section>
I’ve been going to professional events for a number of years,
and one of the trickiest dynamics I have seen is that most events develop an “insiders” group who has been going for a long time.
These groups tend to feel like exclusionary cliques for first-time attendees,
and actively hurt the community’s goal of inclusion.2017-12-02T00:00:00+00:00