The difference between a friend and a close friend is that the close friend will help you move a body, UNSW’s Professor Merlin Crossley told the HEFEST 24 last week.
The definition was part of a wider discussion about what makes a great student experience, but is equally relevant to what makes a great conference. Engagements that we value have to have an element of working not just at scale, but also in intimate groups, creating synergy and connection with individuals or small groups of new close friends.
I came up with the idea of HE FEST after the demise of other conferences focused on HE marketing and comms in Australia. It’s the first conference I have organised and our tiny band of volunteers did the whole thing, with valiant assistance of our hosts at UniSA.
It was only after the conference ended that I had realised:
- It was a great success (albeit with numerous teething problems which we will fix next year)
- Bizarrely, even though I had tortured myself with organisational logistics for months, the success had very little to do with me. It was only close up to the speakers and watching the engagement of the participants that I realised all the power of the event came from the commitment and contribution of the others in the room. No false humility here – it had very little to do with me.
So, instead of boasting about what a brilliant conference we created, I have realised that is not true, because the value and the impact was in what was contributed within the event. So, instead I am boasting that I happened to play a part in precipitating an extraordinary, quirky, warm, valued bunch of talented individuals to come together to discuss some big issues in higher education that we really care about – with new perspectives and insights. I have 120 new close friends.
HE FEST didn’t quite assemble a new garrison of people ready to move a body for each other, but it is a whole new set of people ready to move the perception and impact of the sector in a new direction.
Here’s five quick things that I learned from spending six volunteer months bringing a conference together instead of making any meaningful contribution to taming our 10 acres or kicking the football with my sons.
1. It’s not about the big names, it’s about the content. Before the conference, people said we might not go well because we didn’t have a roll call of Vice-Chancellors as our headline act. To be clear, we had two Vice-Chancellors on the bill, Rufus Black and George Williams and both brought fresh, original and really relevant insights that were some of the highlights of the conference. In addition to the star power, we also wanted to make space for emerging leaders, who might not be household names in the sector, but delivered phenomenal sessions.
Prof Raj Shekhawat PFHEA GAICD TEDx Speaker is an audiologist and research Dean from Flinders with an astonishing gift to connect people with each other and with themselves. Eric Knight from Macquarie stepped from presenting awards at a giant gala in Sydney to our small stage the next day and discussed why he stepped beyond a glittering career in the private sector to work in the business of hope in higher education. UNSW’s Merlin Crossley talked about the power of quality student experiences right now, and what we need to do to keep creating them.
Marketing and Comms leaders like Sarah Cutbush GAICD, Xavier Amouroux, Bev Bury and Lou Morrissey gave us windows into great campaigns, brand building and engagement programs, and we dove into spectacular opportunities through, policy AI and tech with the nation’s HE policy leader Andrew Norton, AI and technology experts Ray Fleming, Michael A. Cowling and Mark Sampson, not to mention the irrepressible and insightful Chamalee Karunanayake and the always in-demand Franzi Pranke. There were so many great presentations and it’s unfair to name just a few, but that gives you a flavour.
By the end of the conference it was clear that we made the right call not to just follow the formula of pulling in big names to deliver the same old stump speech.
2. It’s a room of expertise, not an audience. We experimented with ways to build engagement in the conference, and realise that we need to do that more effectively next time. It was clear that the people who came to the conference were not just there for a coffee and some time off. The quality of questions, the continuing attendance to each session despite the unrelenting schedule and the discussions in each break showed the importance of trying to unlock the power of the room, not just deliver presentations into it.
3. Catering is critical. People don’t come to conferences for the food, but if it’s really good, it makes the day better for everyone. We found a highly ranked baker called Dough at Adelaide markets and asked them to do morning and afternoon tea. Mel and Cindy at UniSA, who were tireless in helping make our event work, pointed us to Phat Coffee who did the lunches. The food was epic, but we ran out of water bottles on the first day (and of course had way too much on the second day), so picked up some more tips for next year.
4. Don’t waste talent. Its only by assembling so many people in one room that you are reminded again just how many passionate and talented experts there are in the sector. We had a couple of attempts to harness that talent pool, but will introduce more ways to provide space and opportunity to make the most of that expertise coming together for a brief time.
5. It’s about them, stupid. The only value in this sort of event is not the number through the door or how many famous faces we can jam into a promo flyer, or how many hours I burn fretting on whether it will be a disaster. It turns out it’s not about me at all and actually I have very little control. Speakers had put hours of preparation and years of experience into each talk. Participants stayed engaged and asked questions and were every bit as important as the speakers.
The synergy of a group of people operating for a brief window on a level of connection of Merlin Crossley’s close friends is where the power and value of the event lies.
At a time of tremendous uncertainty and many challenges for the sector, there is one certainty you can add alongside death and taxes – HEFEST will be back bigger and better next year.
