Event professionals work hard to promote engagement among attendees, but getting everyone to participate can be tricky. Speaker-based workshops are meant to be interactive, but they can easily fall flat if your meeting environment hasn’t been optimized for them.

The Event Manager Blog shares a few tips to increase engagement in your conference workshops by making them more worthwhile.

To start, make sure you have an audience that actually wants to interact. According to the post, boomers are more likely to want lecture-style experiences, while younger generations are more open to participating. “While it doesn’t always come down to generations, it’s important to understand those who were educated in the U.S. over the past 25 years were most likely part of team learning,” says the post. “They broke into groups, discussed findings, gave presentations, and often experienced a very democratic way of learning.”

Also, be sure to select the right facilitator. Keep in mind that it’s more important for facilitators to encourage people to speak up and cultivate community than it is for them to be a subject matter expert. “Carefully brief them to ensure they know how to moderate according to your interactive goals for the session (or select them for their ability to do so),” says the post.

Teen Vogue Summit

How @TeenVogue is shaking up the traditional conference format https://t.co/3iRkNVGJVw via @BizBash #assnchat #eventprofs #teenvoguesummit

— 360livemedia (@360LiveMedia) October 24, 2017

Do you need fresh inspiration for your next meeting? Teen Vogue is launching its first-ever Teen Vogue Summit on December 1 in Los Angeles, and the magazine is introducing plenty of new events tailored to a young crowd.

BizBash spoke with Erica Boeke, the vice president of experiences for 23 Stories, Condé Nast’s internal creative and event agency, about Teen Vogue’s take on a big meeting. “When you put the lens of really amazing Condé Nast editors on events, you suddenly are starting to have different types of events and different products to offer both consumers and sponsors,” she tells BizBash.

The conference is designed to inspire teens and young 20-somethings. The Summit will include behind-the-scenes looks at what it’s like to work at companies like Instagram and Toms Shoes, art workshops, and keynotes from director Ava DuVernay and actress and activist Amandla Stenberg.

Other Links of Note

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How should you be approaching year-end fundraising? Future Fundraising Now shares the most important priority for this time of year.

Is your organic website traffic flagging? DelCor highlights SEO tips for getting better Google results.

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