Wendy Holliday Joins the Velvet Chainsaw Team September 3, 2013 by Dave Lutz We’re excited to welcome Wendy Holliday, Vice President, Attendee Acquisition & Experience to the Velvet Chainsaw Consulting team! Today is her first day on the job. For the past nine years, Wendy has served as the Vice President, Marketing and Member Services for the National Association of College Stores (NACS). Her responsibilities included directing both … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
Conference Speaker Benchmarking Report – Last Chance July 9, 2013 by Dave Lutz Are you responsible for designing the education program for a conference that attracts 500 or more attendees? Does your organization contract professional speakers? Do you manage a call for papers or abstracts? If you answered YES to two or more of the questions above, we encourage you to take 10 minutes and contribute to the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , professional speakers, speaker
Five Learning Agility Traits You Need To Keep From Failing July 2, 2013 by Jeff Hurt In today’s world of high velocity change, conference organizers, meeting professionals and association leaders need to be more agile than ever. Adapting to new business models, working with virtual teams, identifying ongoing macro, industry and organization trends that will impact customers, and using predictive analysis are just some of the traits today’s leaders need. In … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , agility, association best practices, education best practices, leadership, learning
Status Quo Or Strategic Agility? July 1, 2013 by Jeff Hurt It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that. ~ The Red Queen, Through The Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll Change Is Never Easy No one said change would be easy. Some associations and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , agility, association best practices, status quo, trends
We Need Your Help: Industry And Professional Speaker Research June 10, 2013 by Dave Lutz Two years ago, many of you contributed to a special research project that we conducted with Tagoras, a leading market research and consulting company for learning. This research identified trends for hiring professional speakers and provided insight for selecting and delivering concurrent sessions with industry speakers at major conferences. If you’re like us, you believe … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , conference education
Lessons We Learned From Our Mothers May 13, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Moms! We all have them. We need them. We love them. Once a year we celebrate them. In honor of Mother’s Day, the Velvet Chainsaw Consulting Staff compiled some important lessons we learned from our mothers. Dave Lutz: Lessons from Mom (Mary Lee Lutz) My professional success and personal happiness has been strongly influenced by … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
Michele Frania Joins the Velvet Chainsaw Team April 9, 2013 by Dave Lutz I’m excited to announce that Michele Frania has joined the Velvet Chainsaw team as of April 8, 2013 as Director, Client Projects & Stories! Michele will be working out of our brand new offices in Twinsburg, Ohio. For the past couple years, Michele worked for brandmuscle as a Client Service Manager where she led the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
My Apologies – Gary Rottman February 28, 2013 by Dave Lutz Yesterday, we received notice that an article I penned in the October, 2012 issue of Convene – Is Your Conference Marketing So Last Year? included content that was lifted from Rottman Creative Group’s Manifesto. The article included concepts that were created during collaboration with other parties for a couple of industry presentations. We wrongly … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
Is Your Association Taking Advantage Of The Three Stages Of Social Commerce February 26, 2013 by Jeff Hurt I suspect that your association has taken advantage of eCommerce. It’s probably how all of your organization’s online transactions occur. But has your organization leveraged sCommerce? Defining Social Commerce (sCommerce) Social commerce is the use of social networks in the context of eCommerce transactions. It involves using social media that supports social interactions and user … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , digital technology, sCommerce, Social Media, social networking, technology
Sarah Michel Joins The Velvet Chainsaw Team February 7, 2013 by Dave Lutz I’m excited to announce that Sarah Michel, CSP will be joining the Velvet Chainsaw team as of February 18, 2013 as Vice President, Professional Connexity! That means we’re expanding and setting up shop in sunny Colorado. For the past 16 years, Sarah has owned her own speaking and consulting business, Perfecting Connecting. She’s been laser … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , connexity, networking, Sarah Michel
