There are many things speakers and the organizations that use them can do to enhance learning in conference sessions, but perhaps one of the easiest among them is this: encourage learners to take notes.
Sounds obvious – but look around at the next conference session you attend and you will see that many – usually most – people aren’t doing it.
It also sounds easy– and it is – but that doesn’t mean it’s not powerful. Here’s a snippet of what Françoise Boch and Annie Piolat say about it in their helpful overview of research on note-taking (https://bit.ly/ notetaking-research),
. . .the result of taking notes is much more than the production of a passive “external” information store, as the note taking action itself is part of the memorization process and results in the creation of a form of “internal” storage. (Kiewra, 1987)
I’ve also written about this a number of times over on Mission to Learn. We could all do a better job taking notes and reviewing notes as part of being better learners.
It’s easy enough for speakers and organizations to point this out to learners – and present the compelling evidence that supports note-taking as part of learning. (Tell them why, and they are likely to do it.)
It’s a simple, powerful, no-cost, yet overlooked step that could actually move the dial on the educational impact of your meetings.
Why not start making it a regular part of your conference sessions?
Jeff
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