A post from Strategist & Copywriter, Liz Smith
Dear Techonomy,
I love the idea of you. Really, I do. Bringing in high-profile speakers to talk about the intersection of technology and economy could not be a better fit for Detroit, and your lineup is consistently impressive. As a young professional working in the city, I’m always eager to hear substantive conversations about technology’s role in shaping Detroit’s future. But unfortunately, despite having the right idea, that’s not what you gave me this year.
Hoping to hear encouraging ideas and get inspired, I excitedly arrived with my notebook and pen, ready to scribe my insights. But at the conclusion of most sessions, I thought – that’s it? Womp womp. At times, it was kind of difficult to muster an enthusiastic clap.
So that got me thinking: If you want to truly be the innovative conference you can be – really meet my needs – it’s time to make some changes.
In the future, I’d love to see more:
1. Thoughtful, hard-hitting questions
Please stop with the surface-skimming questions and ask more meaningful, hard-hitting questions. The most interesting conversations go deep with opinionated panelists and moderators who listen and react rather than strictly sticking to the script. Instead of cheerleading change in technology and Detroit, I’d like to hear more questions of how to make change happen. Take a cue from Edward Luce, who asked Dan Gilbert and Bruce Katz how exactly we can begin connecting Detroit neighborhoods with the downtown core. Perfect example.
2. Interactive activities
One of my favorite speakers was Keith Ferrazzi of Ferrazzi Greenlight. Half of the room was leaving early for lunch when he literally stopped them in their tracks. He took a different approach – asking for the house lights to be turned on, pacing the entire stage, speaking in a booming voice, and most importantly, getting the audience involved. In both his large- and small-group sessions, he asked for audience participation, which got the room buzzing and left me with useful takeaways. One of the tips I learned from him: Start meetings with a “professional/personal check-in” rather than creativity-killing small talk.
3. Inspiration (and less promotion)
Having the opportunity to hear from tech geniuses and entrepreneurs from around the globe is awesome. But I don’t want to hear a 40-minute commercial from these speakers. I know who they are and what their companies do, now if they could please share their knowledge. I also know that I’m not the only one out there who wants to take something meaningful and inspiring from these conversations. I want to hear about failures and lessons-learned so I can avoid the same mistakes. I want advice for tapping into my creative side. I want to know what it takes to be an innovator. Less promotion and more advice would be nice!
4. Questions from the audience (not statements)
I’m all for audience participation and I love having the opportunity to ask questions, but why are we not using technology to submit questions at a tech conference? The open mic forum is not working. It interrupts the conversation when you open questions, it’s distracting when people walk in front of you and go stand in the aisle, and many of the comments are just that – comments. People ramble on about their life story before going on to state a simple opinion or ask a question that yields a two-word response. By using Twitter or some other method to accept and screen questions, you could curb distractions, rambling, and disappointing questions.
Listen, Techonomy. We all have room for improvement. And experience makes us wiser. You have a lot of great things going for you, so I’d love to see you learn from this experience. I say we take some space for now – but I look forward to seeing you next year.
Wishing you all the best,
Liz Smith
@smitheliza