plenary UNCONVENTIONAL

Freedom of Speech

F

or people to give something, they need to get something in return — and that includes everyone who participates in your meetings

and events. Your exhibitors want access to poten- tial customers. Your speakers want exposure and influence. Your attendees want a toolkit for their job and a roadmap for their career. But a new study suggests that, at least when it

comes to sharing their own experiences and opin- ions, people come pretty cheap. Writing in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America), Harvard Uni- versity psychology professors Diane I. Tamir and Jason P. Mitchell find that “self-disclosure” trig- gers activity in the area of the brain that produces the pleasure-causing chemical dopamine — and, as a result, that people are willing to forego monetary rewards to talk about themselves because they find it “intrinsically rewarding”: “In an ultimate sense, the tendency to broadcast

one’s thoughts and beliefs may confer an adaptive advantage in individuals in a number of ways: by engendering social bonds and social alliances between people; by eliciting feedback from others to attain self-knowledge; by taking advantage of performance advantages that result from shar- ing one’s sensory experience; or by obviating the need to discover firsthand what others already know, thus expanding the amount of know-how any single person can acquire in a lifetime. As such, the proximate motivation to disclose our internal thoughts and knowledge to others around us may serve to sustain the behaviors that underlie the extreme sociality of our species.” Translation: Keep those roundtables, small-

group discussions, networking events, and one-on- one mentoring programs coming.

. — Christopher Durso For more information: convn.org/self-disclosure

The Rewards of Self-Disclosure + The Mirrorcube

GROUP SHOT

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Treehotel in Harads, Sweden Looking for a truly secluded venue for a strategic retreat? Treehotel, in the heart of Sweden’s pine forest, offers top-of-the-line, tree-house–inspired accommodations for companies and families, created by leading Scandinavian architects. Each room is unique. Pictured here is the Mirrorcube, designed by Tham & Videgård Architects. The Cabin, Bird’s Nest, Blue Cone, and UFO are equally fantastical structures in which to experience nature. A total of 19 additional environmentally friendly rooms are planned for the forest area around Harads.

For more information: treehotel.se

18 PCMA CONVENE JULY 2012

PCMA.ORG