Better Think
We’re excited to introduce a new format to Better Together!
Next year, at the 5th National LGBTIQ+ Conference in Adelaide, there will be a new presentation type we’re calling Better Think. And we’re seeking presenters to submit their topic ideas now.
So what is Better Think?
Better Think is a showcase of speakers presenting impactful and well-formed ideas that will help us “think better”. Inspired by the wonderfully short and powerful format of TED Talks, the aim of Better Think is to share great ideas in under 20 minutes!
Why so short? Well, we want to try something new at Better Together 2023 and a consistent message that we’ve been receiving via our audience feedback is that the sessions can be quite long and taxing especially after a full-day of workshops, panel discussions and presentations. We’re creating a shorter format to encourage conference speakers to design and deliver a talk that is short, powerful and impactful. Shorter sessions will also mean that we can allocate more breaks.
According to the Science Behind TED’s 18-Minute Rule:
“18 minutes is long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people’s attention… The 18-minute length also works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18, you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline.”
Some people may be able to hold their attention longer than 20 minutes. But for most people, after twenty minutes, no matter how interested we are, our focus is depleted, and will diminish steadily until we literally aren’t listening any longer.
We want people to be fresh, engaged and activated for the rest of the day. Our conference program can be quite jam-packed and comprises of a minimum of 60 sessions over 2 days!
Do you have a new and surprising idea that we have not heard about? Or a great basic idea with a compelling new argument behind it that challenges beliefs and perspectives? We’d love you to be part of Better Think.
Submit your compelling idea here.
