Conference with a twist

I received a “call for proposals” email this week from ISPI-Europe/EMEA, which really caught my attention.  Not because I am looking for a reason to go to Galway (Ireland) in November – silly conference planners, you should pick Spain or Italy as a location at that time of year – but because of the way that they are structuring the conference.  Having just attended a conference, my experience was fresh and I thought this really offered an innovative way to make a large learning event impactful.  Here’s an excerpt:

The 2009 Galway conference will be organized around a simulation that will run throughout the conference with all presentations selected based upon their ability to support participant success with the simulation, including the value of the content, design of the session and credibility of the presenters.

Now, this would be logistically very challenging to organize, but the potential pay-off for attendees is much bigger.   If you’d like to find out more, you can check out their page.

What do you think of this approach?  Would you attend a conference if it meant you were actively learning and applying your learning immediately instead of passively absorbing new information?