I hope next year it's set up so the room is available at least 3 hours just in case.
If you do that, it would be a courtesy to all participants to have pre-announced and scheduled breaks between the hours. Maybe 10 minutes at 1:50-2:00 and 2:50-3:00 for example. That gives people a chance to use the rest room and exit gracefully if they wish.
I also suggest that if you are going to do a marathon workshop, have it at the final three hours of the show. Some exhibitors leave early. Having the workshop late in the day enables participants to take in the full show before leaving the floor to sit in a meeting room.
If you are going to run a three-hour workshop, thought should also be given to a sligtly more-structured workshop with the topics to be discussed to be pre-announced. We'll talk about carpet cleaning and other housekeeping things from 1:00 to 1:20, we'll talk about how to get freight from 1:30 to 1:50, we'll talk about carrier pay scales between 2:00 and 2:20, etc. This helps people manage their time and attend only the portion of workshops that are most beneficial to them.
I have to admit that I thought the conference bordered on ridiculous when carpet care ideas were being discussed. I already know how to keep our truck carpet clean and know why we have it instead of hard-surface floors. I also know that some people showed intense interest in the very same topic. Announcing topics ahead of time enables people to better use their time.
I left after the first hour. Having learned nothing new in that time, I found our time better spent networking with others on the floor. I heard nothing in the forum member workshop that I had not previously read here. Diane and I shared a couple of points for others in the room, but it was nothing that we have not previously shared here.
To avoid turning a marathon workshop into a moderator cheerleading, acceptance and personal gratification festival that meets only some people's needs (as discussing any single topic also would), schedule the last half hour to accomplish exactly that. Stick to business early and transition to the personal at the end. Use the last half hour for introductions, glad handing, meeting and greeting, putting faces with screen names or whatever other kind of social networking you wish to do. Doing it at the last half hour of the show would transition nicely into the cookout that follows.
Seating, sight lines and sound quality could be improved. Moderators selected to speak from the front of the room can be steated as a panel at a table at the front of the room, with the table on an elevated platform, and not at eye level on the floor as they were at this time. Seating them as a panel on a stage enables all participants to easily see and hear the speakers. This time, some of the moderators spoke while seated at floor level. They at least should have stood while speaking to make it easier for people to see and hear them.
Holding the event in the final hours of the show puts it on Saturday afternoon, thereby giving forum members who cannot make the whole show, the maximum opportunity to make just this part of it. It also avails the adjacent conference room to the workshop. If overflow crowds develop, the wall between the rooms can be opened to seat more people. If attendance is not as great as it was this year, keeping the room at it's original size makes the event seem well attended anyway.
While it would be possible to do, I don't think putting a computer and projector in the room with live online access would help. Giving speakers and participants the ability to pull up web sites they wish to share, point to or discuss would slow down the pace of information put out, I believe.
Finally, putting together a resource kit to be distributed to all workshop attendees might be appreciated by those who attend. It could include things like a list of important web sites that expediters often use (EO of course, special mention of the EO Free Classifieds, sites like DieselBoss, weather sites, etc.), Leo's fuel tax article, a copy of Expedite Now magazine with information on how to start one's free subscription, other articles put together by forum members (cooking, cleaning, safety on the road, etc., contact information of forum members who are willing to be contacted after the show, etc.
Just some items to consider. Congratulations are in order to the people who organized this year's moderator's workshop. It was clearly a big success.