The Need For Speed And Learning Agility May 1, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Your organization’s enduring competitive advantage rests on learning agility. It must be able to respond to new challenges, opportunities, threats and crisis. New, unprecedented complex challenges constantly present themselves. Learning At The Speed Of Change Experienced leaders used to claim that they had seen every problem several times in the past. That’s no longer true … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , association, association best practices, association trends, learning, nonprofit trends
The Participant Value Game: Time to Go Deep & Wide March 6, 2012 by Donna Kastner It’s a whole new ballgame for associations and their conferences, particularly when it comes to building long-term loyalty. New realities are taking shape, disrupting previous value models and perceptions. Reality #1: Senior executives are more involved in attendance and membership decisions. They’re scrutinizing ROI more closely and pushing back on fuzzy estimates. Reality #2: While … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , association best practices, event revenues, Event ROI, event value
What Associations And Meeting Professionals Want In Tradeshow Partnerships March 5, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Imagine this scenario. A nonprofit trade association decides it wants to add a tradeshow to its annual conference. It’s never produced a tradeshow in the past and wants to secure a third-party planner to produce the show. Typically, an association tradeshow should have a potential of $150,000 or more in revenue to justify securing a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , association, association best practices, meeting planner, meeting professionals, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices
Six Conference Committee Improvements February 22, 2012 by Dave Lutz When it comes to the traditional volunteer conference planning committee model, there seems to be plenty of room for improvement. Here are a half-dozen ways to create a more rewarding experience for your volunteers and better results for your organization: 1. Stay out of the weeds. If your committee charter includes selecting what kind of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association best practices, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
How The Nonprofit Association Program Pie Is Sliced February 3, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Most nonprofit associations find it difficult to abandon anything. Everything is a cause or “God’s work.” Yet performance and results are extremely important and often difficult to measure and control. Moral Versus Economic Causes A moral cause is an absolute good. For example, some religious leaders have been preaching against sex outside of marriage for … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , association best practices, nonprofit, nonprofit governance
Why Adults Want To Learn January 27, 2012 by Jeff Hurt As an adult, what drives you to learn? Enjoyment? Fun? Growth? Developing new skills? Seeking a new career? Job promotion? Professional certification requirements? New experiences? Supervisor mandates? All of the above? None of the above? The Motivations To Learn ASAE’s research, The Decision To Learn, states that the top two reasons people join nonprofit associations … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning strategies, association best practices, conference best practices, conference education
Do Not Let Your Legacy AMS Kill Your Conference January 25, 2012 by Dave Lutz Here’s a newsflash for your IT department: Technology that is built for purpose (registration, expo sales, speaker management, etc.) does not need to integrate with your legacy association management system (AMS) in order to be implemented. Read that again! It’s true and something you need to understand before your AMS kills your conference. Your Customer … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology Tagged With: , association best practices, conference best practices, conferences, event technology, mobile, tradeshow technology
Education Deserves Some Respect January 12, 2012 by Jeff Hurt In most nonprofit associations, education deserves some respect. Yet it is frequently treated like the Rodney Dangerfield of the association world. To paraphrase Dangerfield, “Education doesn’t get no respect. No respect, no respect at all. That’s the story of education’s life. Education gets no respect.” Members Value Education Typically, education is one of the top … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, association, association best practices, conference education
Why Fit In When You Were Born To Stand Out? And Other Dr. Seuss Reflections December 29, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? I’m a big Dr. Seuss fan. Like many of you, I can still quote some of his books as they are embedded in my memory and soul. Dr. Seuss had a magical way of introducing us to critical issues and foundational knowledge through rhyme, poetry and whimsical illustrations. In honor … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , association best practices, Dr. Seuss
Four Discovery Philosophies That Lead To Innovation December 27, 2011 by Jeff Hurt How innovative is your organization? Do your executives instill in you and your coworkers the courage to try new ideas? The Source Of Organizational Innovation Organizational innovation starts at the top. At least that’s the finding from The Innovator’s DNA authors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen. They researched and studied highly innovative … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association best practices, disruptive innovation, Innovation, nonprofit
