Great post. This is something that has been part of the discussions I have been having at work recently. This bit in particular is where you have nailed it -

“In my view most events seem to pitch at “anyone interested in topic a” instead of saying. If you are interested in topic A and have this level of awareness and understanding and need this kind of knowledge to help you progress then this is your event”. Now i’m not an event organiser but i suspect this might be a costly approach as it will not bring in the large numbers to make the bottom line look sexy.”

Even though you are not an event organiser, you have spotted something that is key to delegates gaining value from an event. Delegates need to be at the correct level of their Learning Cycle to gain maximum value from an event aimed at them. It is almost impossible to cater to all needs.

Having just organised and completed a series of seven Social Media for your Business events, aimed at local businesses in the early stages of social media, I feel I can add some feedback you may find interesting. I really hope this comes across the correct way.

We decided to merge Level 1 and Level 2 into one session. We decided that we would allow business to attend that are either thinking about using social media or that have just started out. The sessions were run by David Thomas (@BlueGrass_IT) and Aren Grimshaw (@arengrimshaw). This approach was successful in my opinion and is backed up by delegate feedback.

The feedback that we’ve received from these series of events has trumped that of any other series of events I have been involved with. The one question that we asked, which I think is the most important question you can ask a delegate, is how valuable they found the session. From almost 300 delegates only 5 fed back that they did not find the session valuable.

I know at first glance it may seem like we would have to cramp a lot into a session that covers both Level 1 and Level 2 but it is definitely achievable. One question that can’t yet be answered is how valuable will the sessions be to the atendees’ social media development? They may have found it valuable at the time but will it really help them moving forward onto the next stage? I believe it will but that remains to be seen and I suppose that is the acid test.

Time and resource makes a massive impact on what can be offered to delegates but in a perfect world getting the right people along to the right events and helping them through the cycle the best we can is what we are striving to achieve. Nothing wrong with striving for perfection, is there?

Rob