Conferences: MORE focus on connecting, LESS focus on content

Last night, I had dinner at NEIN! — uh, I mean NENI 😙 — in Berlin 🇩🇪 with Thoralf J. Klatt, Marco Braun, and Peter Fischbach.

One of the things we talked about was the state of Agile and Scrum conferences. Many struggle to attract participants and sponsors, with some even shutting down — a real shame.

I used to attend many conferences, first as a participant and later as a speaker or workshop facilitator. But here’s the thing: I rarely attend sessions. 🤷‍♂️

What I enjoy is meeting new people and having meaningful conversations.

For me, a conference is about making new connections, not content.

Ideally not just with the people I already know. That’s why I’ve never enjoyed “speaker zones.” While I get the need for a quiet space, they often feel like inbreeding pods where the same folks meet… again.

My ideal order of a conference is:
#1 Connecting, meeting new people, having meaningful conversations
#10 Presentations and content

Somewhere in between: good food, nice drinks, and open slots for spontaneous things to emerge. But most conferences flip that order, so I stopped going.

Obviously, this is only my limited personal experience.

I’d love to see conferences use Liberating Structures. For example, use Impromptu Networking at the start, Conversation Cafe after lunch, and a simple 1–2–4-ALL as a closing. This would already encourage me to talk to 10–20 other participants. 😃

The current thinking seems to be, “We need famous speakers to attract participants.” Maybe that works for some, but it wouldn’t be the reason I’d sign up.

If it said: “By the end of this conference, you’ll have made 50 new connections,” — now that would excite me.

What’s your take on this? Any recommendations for conferences that already have this flipped?

PS: XP Days Benelux is one of the conferences I do highly enjoy! They’ve found a good balance! 👊