Having started my career in higher education, I've long understood why a campus environment can be more supportive of community and learning than a traditional vertical headquarters. While institutions of higher learning don't do everything right, they offer several valuable practices that could enhance any meeting.

Co-locating Common Interests
Most campuses cluster shared academic interests in a common classroom building whenever possible, and residential campuses typically offer special-interest residence hall floors where students with a shared topical interest learn and live together. What informal interactions might result if similar topic or track sessions were co-located in the same hallway or meeting space? People with common content interests could congregate, sparking informal conversations during the breaks. We already do this by creating topical pavilions in the exhibit hall. Why not extend it to the workshop offerings? How about providing the opportunity for people to reserve a hotel room on a "special interest" floor to foster connections among individuals with a shared demographic: first-timer, senior professional, industry or academia, or same chapter. A floor hospitality suite might become the setting for late-night conversations to rival those dorm floor lounge all-nighters. Strategy question: How might you use space assignments to encourage more interaction and community?

Professional Development Centers
Professors are expected to be subject matter experts, but most colleges and universities have no similar requirement for classroom instruction techniques. As a result, many campuses offer faculty the chance to work with instructional design experts who help them bring the subject matter to life through more engaging classroom instruction techniques. Likewise, most association conferences have presenters who "know their stuff," but may not be adept at helping others comprehend it. If we want to be leaders in adult learning, we should treat presenters as part of a conference faculty and provide them with Webinars, online resource centers, and instructional design coaching to help them to deliver highly valued presentations. Participation for first-time presenters could be mandatory with the voluntary involvement of "tenured" presenters (those with a track record of consistently high evaluation marks). Strategy question: How can you better support individuals lacking instructional design expertise?

A Lab for Lectures
Much of my college freshman year was spent bouncing between 500-person auditoriums (where the sage-on-the-stage format ruled) to smaller learning labs most frequently facilitated by graduate assistants or adjunct professors. This two-part learning process combined the efficient delivery of content to the largest audience possible with intimate discussions and individual attention in a more hands-on learning environment. Most meetings have the first part down - the one-size-fits-all general session. What rarely occurs is part two; the chance to engage with other like-minded individuals in a discussion that connects the content to a specific context. Not all general sessions merit the lab format, but some most certainly do. Strategy question: How are you helping participants apply content from major presentations?

Former UCLA professor and researcher Alexander Astin demonstrated that those students more involved in both the academic and social aspects of college were happier and learned more. Wouldn't the same be true for meeting attendees?

° Jeffrey Cufaude is a former higher education administrator, meeting planner, and association executive. He currently writes, speaks, and facilitates on a variety of individual and organizational leadership issues. Learn more about his work at www.ideaarchitects.org. To submit topic ideas and feedback on the Leading Learning column, e-mail jeffrey@ideaarchitects.org. Convene's Leading Learning series is sponsored by AVW-TELAV. Visit its Web site at www.avwtelav.com.