Simon on: Distractions vs. Content

In our lives today we are constantly surrounded by distractions with the majority of them being digital. It’s begun to impact on everything else we do and, quite frankly, we need to learn how to disconnect.

At a conference, phones pinging or even just being available to Google something can easily claim our attention. We should really be focusing on what’s being said, but having our phones, tablets or laptops out can make it difficult.

Whether it’s instant messaging and email, or silly games and web pages, our digital devices have numerous ways to distract us with new methods coming at us all the time - but it’s not all our fault though.

Conference content needs to be gripping – probably more so than ever before – and that would make it easier to stay engaged. If someone gets bored by the session that they’re in then distractions will rule.

Delivering content that people can get excited about should enable organisers to have disconnected attendees. Yet it’s also important to help your attendees choose the right sessions so they don’t sit there wishing they’d gone to a different one and start looking for tweets from attendees of that session!

Originally published in Conference News