Whenever I think about poster sessions, my mind always goes to a conference from a few years ago. The exhibit hall was on the lowest level of the Sheraton in Chicago. Down the escalators, down, down, down…. and then you enter. Walk all the way to the other side of nowhere and then hang a left. Go past two pillars, take a slight right, and there they were. The posters. Tacked up. On a bulletin board. Alone.
That was the moment that I think I saw the writing on the wall for these staples of the industry. I could hear the death rattle, the hushed voices, the despair… And then the event ended and I didn’t give it another thought until a couple of years later when we were working with a different client and we hit the poster session format with the paddles, shocking the ol heart back into action. We went digital! 40 screens set up in the lobby, old fashioned paper changed to pixels. It was quite refreshing… But not that much different. It was essentially the same static image all wrapped up in a fancy new outfit.
Fast forward another couple of years. Poster sessions had not been on my radar for a really long time when my partner in many, many crimes, Dahlia, sent me a cryptic email with an introduction to Tamsin Treasure-Jones and her company Kubify. Here is the line from the email:
- Keith- Tamsin / Kubify would be an amazing guest on your eventtech podcast or for an interview for future blogs on extending content conversations.
No other info, no explanation. But, because it is Dahlia, I jumped in and what happened? My view on poster sessions will be forever changed. They can again be relevant, interactive, in-person, hybrid, and virtual. All at the same time.
I invite you to have a listen to the latest Bullet List Podcast episode where my co-host Bob Toovey and I sit down for a chat with Tamsin and discover what Kubify’s product, the Learning Toolbox is, and how they are breathing new life into a medium that has been on life support forevah.
To learn more, check out these links that were mentioned in the episode…
