Michelle Aitken-Fischer, Programme Director at Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics is speaking at 13:45 on Tuesday 17th October at this year’s World of Learning. The session focuses on new ways to inspire the business leaders of tomorrow, following research conducted in partnership with the University’s commercial event and conference offering – Imago Venues.
Following successful research in 2015 into the future of face to face communication, we decided to explore what learning environments and training facilities inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Above all else the research confirmed that millennials place great value on face to face meetings but they are looking for a more customised learning experience. They want to learn from inspirational experts to gain knowledge that helps their future career aspirations. However, in many cases, their needs are not being met by trainers and educators, who need to go beyond the obvious and deliver content in the attendees preferred style of learning.
In particular the research highlighted a disparity when it came to the use of technology as part of the learning process. The organisers of events and facilitators of training and learning environments certainly feel technology is important with 85% believing a venue needs the latest technology for them to book it. Sufficient bandwidth in Wi-Fi to enable easy access to information was a key finding in the research. And we certainly agree that it is very rare to see anyone in a learning situation without some sort of connectable device. However, when asked to describe in five words the ideal meetings environment to ensure a successful meeting with happy delegates, 45% said light, bright or natural daylight. 25% said quiet, calm or without distractions and 16% said space and surroundings. Words relating to technology didn’t feature at all.
To back up this needs for a more personal approach, the research identified 96.9% of attendees favoured face to face communication and that there were 31 positive aspects of meeting peers in person, including engagement. Another key aspect of meeting face to face was group interaction as it allowed discussion and knowledge sharing, which in turn begs the question that despite our digital age; do we need the technology? It is fine as a facilitator but must not be a detractor.
As one of our focus group attendees told us, there is nothing better than a white board and pen or a flip chart to help with group cohesion. This was reflected in other parts of the research where interactive presentations were considered to have the highest value whilst audience response and voting systems were hardly rated due to their lack of genuine involvement.
Ultimately, delegates are looking for content that offers inspiration, passion and leadership before task-related content and often prefer to interact more with fellow attendees than with the speaker. It is important, therefore, that organisers and venues create enabling environments that are about more than just having a good view of the presentation screen for this peer-to-peer interaction.
We also learnt that a major motivator for individuals to attend training and educational events was for personal career development yet this wasn’t rated highly as a motivator by the academics and trainers. Even more shocking was that under half of attendees felt encouraged to take part. If attendees are going to achieve their own goals they need to be involved rather than just spoon-fed content that meets the needs of the training organisation.
Above all else, in a modern world, where we rely heavily on technology to conduct day to day business, our research highlights the importance of taking time away from the office to meet with our peers face to face and give them an environment where they can retain information. Technology isn’t the answer, despite many perceptions that millennials are social media and screen obsessed. Instead we need to listen to them and respond to their desires if we are to inspire future leaders.
Does the future have room for face-to-face communication was undertaken by Loughborough University and Imago Venues. The Right Solution provided methodology, analysis and validation of the research which was conducted amongst 779 respondents using a mixture of focus groups, online and face to face questionnaires. Results from ‘Is the meetings industry of today doing enough to inspire the business leaders of tomorrow?’ are available via: http://go.welcometoimago.com/is-the-meetings-industry-doing-enough-to-inspire