With one week to go until Learning 2011, what are the design decisions still open?
First, comes the content of the General Sessions. Today and tomorrow, I will have conversations about each of the Keynoters - getting a fresh focus on what they will be talking about - and "micro-shaping" their content to the needs of 2,000 colleagues:
President Clinton Speechwriter: I created a major brief for the
President on the audience, key issues in the learning field and spent a 1/2 hour with his speechwriter - anwering their questions to help the President shape his remarks. There are so many connections between Learning 2011 and his work, including Employability, Globalization and evolving methods of Learning.
Next, I had conversations with keynoters from Educause and Creative Commons, helping them to align their content to the workplace learning space. More briefings ahead with John Lithgow and other speakers.
Why wait until now? It is not waiting - as we have had multiple conversations over the past few months - but I find that the interests of the speaker evolve, they write a new book, conduct new research - and the challenges of the field also evolve. And, since we do all of our sessions as interactive interviews - these briefings are also "trust building" so that they feel comfortable with me driving the interviews.
Next, we had a Video Advanced Meeting with 8 of the executives from Disney, going over logistics for feeding and caring for 2,000 people. This includes how we make lunch efficient and also "turn" the room for setups that will include the Secret Service or John Lithgow's technical requirements. The "devil" clearly lives in the details - and we got down to how many bars with how much staffing for the reception following President Clinton's speech.
Finally, I am heading to the AMTRAK train station on Tuesday morning in New York City - to take the overnight train - with cozy bedroom from Penn Station to Orlando. I love the change in setting for the train and it is fun to spend many hours looking out the window or thinking about the content and process. Train rides used to be "off the grid", but now both Amtrak and my smiling iPad offer connectivity along the way. Here is the 3D visit of one of the overnight sleeping cars - http://www.amtrak.com/media/train_tour/viewliner/viewliner.html
If you are on Skype - send me your address and I may give you a call from the rails: emasie@masie.com
I'll get to Orlando on Wednesday morning - with just a few more days until the event.
Interestingly, in the age of last minute decisions - we registered 36 people today for Learning 2011, taking us over the 2,000 mark and climbing. There is still room for a last minute registration!