The best and most innovative meetings combine the knowledge, techniques, and practices of old with fresh new elements.

A successful remix requires that these four considerations be taken into account:

• the ways in which information is conveyed today
• the recognition that learners are more challenging to reach
• there exists a higher expectations of meetings
• meetings are now seen as experiences.

Different Methods of Conveying Information
As futurist John von Seggern points out, "It is often observed that our biggest problem these days is not too little information but too much. Users of the Internet, particularly, are faced with far more information on virtually any subject than they can ever hope to digest and understand. Information overload requires that learners' skills at absorbing, deciphering, and valuing information dramatically change."

The generational differences only magnify various ways that people absorb information. Each generation has received information and entertainment in different ways.

As a result, learners form expectations about the "right" way to collect information. Meetings appealing to traditionalists rely on the spoken word; that is the vehicle this generation was raised on and with which it is warmly and deeply familiar. Each successive generation prefers a completely different approach to gaining information and entertainment. Young learners expect that the information they are expected to receive is packaged with higher production and entertainment value.

Networks - the sharing of knowledge among peers - also influence the treatment of information. Networks call into question the value of traditional hierarchies. Meetings cannot rely on the power of traditional hierarchies to supply information. The power of networks severely diminishes the relevance of the talking head. New learning environments will not rely on the power of the hierarchy but the power of the network.

Learners Are More Challenging to Reach
Fragmentation of audiences makes reaching each individual learner a greater challenge. At a basic level, cultural differences affect learners' understanding, as their primary language may not be English. Cultural differences affect the way learners view time, authority, and power; how directly they communicate; the importance of non-verbal clues; their competitiveness; the impact they believe they have on their environment; whether they value action; and finally the importance of order and timeliness. Cultural differences are deeply ingrained in learners.

Aside from possessing different values, generational differences dramatically influence learning and the way they receive information. Materials, visuals, handouts, and presentations must be geared to include the aging Baby Boomer population, which has a harder time reading and hearing as well as the "wired" younger generations.

Differing learning styles add even more to the complexity, as meeting planners must create multi-modalities in the learning environments that offer different "hooks" that work for each individual attendee. Consider, for example, how school learning environments have become better at finding ways to teach the kinesthetic learner (who learns by doing). In years past, this kind of student was labeled as being overactive, fidgety, or a trouble-maker. Once these students, who have found adaptive strategies for learning in schools, are released into the workforce, they are expected to learn by sitting quietly through a lecture format. It's a recipe for disaster.

Learners Have Higher Expectations
The adult learners of today expect "infotainment," the delivery of information in an entertaining format. Even the most serious programming on television, the news, is created now with graphics, music, lighting, and special effects. Sports arenas now have giant television screens to show instant replays and powerful sound systems for commentary and music. There aren't many places that people go where they are not treated to a "show" and meetings are no exception.

Today, participants are even more sophisticated and jaded. "In today's environment, the mind and senses in both children and adults are exposed to a high level of stimulation on an everyday basis through various sources such as technology, interactive surroundings/destinations, and interaction with other people," said Cindy Wood, CMP, director of programs and meeting services for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. "Gone are the days when sitting in a lecture hall would be enough to give the participant a feeling of fulfillment. It is our responsibility as meeting professionals to awaken the senses of the participant during the learning process in order for them to walk away with a feeling of accomplishment - that they learned something."

Another area where learners have higher expectations is in the seamless integration of technology into learning environments. As Jeffrey Cufaude of Idea Architects relates, "The experience begins with the first conference communication, not the event itself. Planners need to seize the opportunities that every element of the pre- and post-meeting environment afford them to foster community and enhance learning and application of content." The full capabilities of technology must be exploited before, during, and after a meeting. Blogs, mobile phones, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, podcasts, virtual meeting environments, RSS feeds, videos, widgets, mashups, wikis, moblogs, and social networking sites change the way that people communicate and share information.

Cufaude goes on to say, "Technology's pervasiveness has helped individuals amass a breadth of relationships often characterized by weak social ties. Conferences can (and should) intentionally help deepen those connections into strong professional bonds." Learners who use these technologies every day expect technology to be seamlessly interwoven into learning situations, i.e., meetings.

"Meeting planners can seek speakers who are willing to establish blogs to communicate with learners prior to arriving at the meeting and follow up with blogs or chat rooms after the face-to-face or virtual learning experiences," said John Nawn, PCMA vice president, education.

The Entire Meeting Must Create an Experience
The traditional view has been that learning takes place in general sessions, breakouts, and panel discussions; whereas, networking (e.g. during a reception), simply serves as an opportunity for people to mingle. Meeting planners need to recognize the role of informal environments as a place for meaningful informal learning to occur and thereby more intentionally integrate all learning environments.

Often, the seed of learning is planted in the formal presentation; later learning sprouts and grows through networking, discussing, and interacting - during refreshment breaks, luncheons, team-building exercises or other group activities.

Meetings can leverage existing networks in order to build a sense of community, solidify relationships, and enhance the value people find in being interconnected with other people.

When meeting planners and stakeholders underestimate the power of networks, "they fail to leverage knowledge, power, and value present in the learners assembled," said Sharon Andrade, director of business development, Effectiveness Institute (www.effectivenessinstitute.com). "Meetings recognize the value that individual learners bring to a meeting when they allow them to be active participants in the environment. Maximizing the opportunities for peer-to-peer knowledge sharing enhances knowledge retention, networks, and informal learning environments." Whether planners use high-tech or low-tech ways to encourage the formation, expansion, and encouragement of interactive learning communities, the power of networks cannot be underestimated.

Relevant information packaged in an understandable and entertaining way transforms meetings into remixed learning experiences for all. "Too often, planners assume meeting participants learn simply because they are listening to a knowledgeable presenter. This is just not the case. Reaching the adult learner by designing an experience that enables information sharing is a vital part in the transfer of the presenter's message," said Michael Barratt, CMP, vice president, meetings, Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association and 2009 Chair of PCMA's Annual Meeting Program Committee.

Remixed Learning Environments
Meeting planners can take a lesson from many workplace environments that have come to recognize the importance of informal learning. Jay Cross, author of Informal Learning, calls conversations "the stem cells of innovation." Creating formal and informal opportunities for learning in a workplace fully leverages the diversity of employees (or learners) and capitalizes on networks.

Google's headquarters offers unique spaces that unite people, promote informal learning, and encourage networks. The lobby décor includes lava lamps, pianos, and projections of live search queries. Googlers work in dense clusters. Hallways include large whiteboards for informal meetings. Press clippings from around the world are pinned to bulletin boards in hallways. Google's recreational offerings and free lunches are a well-known benefit. According to a Google representative, Google recognizes that informal environments promote creativity and collaboration.

Design firm IDEO believes that creating a learning environment in the workspace is a core element in its efforts to innovate. IDEO's headquarters office features an entire wall devoted to popular and edgy magazines for staffers (IDEOers) to peruse. The magazines are placed in one of the busiest office thoroughfares. IDEO's senior executive Tom Kelley writes in The Ten Faces of Innovation, "We believe that simply flipping through new magazines is a serious and productive practice for any organization interested in innovation."

Another way in which IDEO promotes learning is its "Know How" speaker series, in which influential thinkers are invited to come talk with the staff at IDEO on Thursday afternoons. Past speakers have included Malcolm Gladwell, Jeff Hawkins, and Stephen Demming.

Kelley quickly learned for himself the value of informal learning spaces. He had moved into new office space that was typical for senior executives - window view, ample space, and privacy. Ultimately, he found the space isolating. IDEO then redesigned all of its executive offices to a more central location. "I was suddenly just a jump shot from where everyone picks up their daily mail," Kelley said. "Five paces from the spontaneous conversations that crop up in the central kitchen … Now during the course of the day, I pick up snippets of informal conversations that give me a real sense of what's going on at IDEO."

Glen C. Ramsborg, Ph.D. is senior director, education, PCMA.

Sue Tinnish is principal, SEAL Inc., which focuses on improving the content of meetings for associations and corporations. She is active in PCMA, and the Convention Industry Council Educational Advisory Council for APEX and MPI.

The How Adults Learn, Now series is sponsored by the Hiltons of Chicago.