I don't behave at conferences

I like going to conferences and wish I could go to more but I’m learning this week that I don’t behave at conferences. For instance…I know it’s a small group conference and I should be more relational. When the conference speaker says “turn to your neighbor and talk about your situation,” I cringe a little. I want to know what the speaker has to say. I struggle to connect with complete strangers even though most people think of me as an extreme extrovert. It’s a flaw. I do like talking to people in groups and one-on-one but more naturally and out of a genuine concern to know that person or learn from them. I wonder if other folks (including Highlanders at home) pushback a little when community is forced. It did seem that folks enjoyed talking to one another (and so did I) when we were directed to. Maybe it’s just an edge for personal growth. I know that I connect deeply to God when I hear a powerful speaker and wish that I could hear more from the conference speakers but at the same time I long for more nuts and bolts from speakers like Rick Warren, Steve Gladden and others. Do you suppose I could just follow them around for my own personal conference? I’ve been really surprised at the completely different levels that people are at when it comes to small groups. You’d think that by attending a small groups conference at Saddleback you’d buy in to purpose driven groups. I talked with a guy yesterday who said that many of the people in his church and denomination would think small groups were a sin. Now can you imagine designing a conference for such a wide spectrum of people? I’m wanting small groups 2.0 and many are just learning what purpose driven and small groups are all about. I will say this…I am learning a ton. I talked with josh surrat from sea coast church today about multi-site strategy for groups and that was helpful. I’d love to hear more from him. Listened to Dave whitten talk about campaign strategy (Again, he spent a lot of time in convincing and I’m already convinced so I want more). I met with Steve Gladen and others at lunch today about networking. I’ve never been all that interested in networking but my interest is growing. I met a couple of neat people from Georgia. One girl from Destiny Church. I learned some good stuff from her about coaching. All in all a good experience. The design of things at conferences seems to be Macro from the plenary speakers and micro from the breakouts. I wonder if it would be possible to design a conference that is backwards. At least at the beginning of the conference say, “all the people that don’t know what a small group is, follow fred into the basement. There you will receive your first dose of the kool aide. For the rest of you, sit back and listen as Steve Gladen explains exactly what you should do to get your small groups out of the hole you put them in.” I guess that is a little ego centric.