Eco-Sphere of Engagement Whole Network Collaboration

When your Conference and/or your Keynote Speech is cancelled

Overview of the Eco-Sphere of Engagement

The Eco-Sphere of Engagement [ESoE] is a virtual-conference participation process creating a whole system, connected, network conversation.

Originally created to augment conferencing with pre-work that would provide delegates the opportunity to connect with their colleagues and other delegates over the aims and objectives of the conference and give everyone a chance to reflect and participate without the crush of a conference timetable.

As Covid-19 cancels face to face gatherings, this ESoE conferencing process really comes into its own. It is designed to replicate the connections, relationships, conversations and sharing that would have happened in the conference venue and to add a value that can be more powerful than the traditional conference process.

The ESoE involves the curation of a series of “conversations” that are scheduled over several weeks or months. Each “round” of questions involves the delegates answering some curated questions, that we discuss with the organizers and that build the engagement and deepen the conversation.

It includes ways to enable all the dynamics of face to face conferencing, for example:

Keynote Speeches can be shared in text or video form; when we visually illustrate the talks these visual summaries can be circulated to all the virtual participants. These summaries are a more powerful representation of the wider conference conversation and engagement when they also include the voice of the delegates. Here is how we gather the delegate responses:

• · A worksheet can be sent with the text, visualisation, PowerPoint slides and video. The worksheet would ask the Audience to identify questions, insights, enthusiasms, concerns, etc, asking them to describe their dream for this area of expertise and their fears.

• · We curate these responses onto a visual summary.

• · The Speaker can respond to the most popular questions enthusiasms and concerns, and comment on the ideas and insights.

Some of the benefits of this approach are:

• · This creates an even more intimate and relevant relationship between Speaker and Audience.
• · It creates an even more thoughtful and reflective audience.
• · It is more inclusive, there is space for everyone’s voice to be seen.
• · It takes it from Speaker Engagement to Audience Engagement.
• · It can exponentially increase the Audience numbers as delegates can share and involve their colleagues in listening and responding.
• · It moves the exercise from a lecture to a Masterclass format.
• · It dramatically reinforces the sense that the Audience are active contributors of ideas and initiatives, moving away from them as passive recipients of insight and wisdom.

Stand Alone Keynote Speaker Application

Essentially the process is the same for a stand-alone speaking engagement. We work with the keynote speaker to shape the speech into several information chunks or chapters and then curate the questions to be asked for each round, all the while curating the visual images for each iteration so everyone sees what everyone is saying and asking. This increases the relevance and connection the speaker will have with their audience and everyone has a tangible picture at the end of the process.

These are the practical steps:

• · The Speech can be broken into several parts so that the Audience can absorb reflect and respond. Worksheets enable them to write their responses and send them back. We collate all the responses onto a summary visualisation, revealing key themes and threads, highlighting insights and questions.
• · The Speaker can then respond to the input during the next section of their presentation.
• · The Audience can be asked for their questions in advance of the Keynote being devised and sent to them. We can curate all the questions into a visual summary that all can see. The Speaker can respond to the questions, and avoid providing answers the Audience are not interested in.
• · We can provide a set of series of “MetaQuestions” that provide a global context surrounding the Keynote Speech in concentric circles from global to local and universal to personal

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