The Growing Majority Of The Conference Declined February 26, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Who are the people that don’t regularly attend conferences? What are the traits of those that devalue the traditional conference experience? It seems that what attracts some people to conferences actually repels others. Some see the traditional conference experience as stale and predictable. They are uninterested in spending $1,500-$2,000 in registration, airfare, lodging and expenses … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, traditional conferences
Walk A Mile In Your Attendees’ Shoes To Improve Their Experience And Increase Your Empathy October 7, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Improving your empathy is a key to increasing your conference profit. Many conference organizers and hosts think that empathy has no place in their conference business. They believe that registration systems, schedules, speaker management tools, marketing, social media and conference attendee, exhibitor and sponsor forecasts are more important. But their view is wrong. At least … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, customer empathy, meeting professional, strategic empathy
Conference Improvement Starts With A Focus On The Attendee Experience September 29, 2014 by Dave Lutz Improving attendee experiences is a top priority for the majority of conference planners. Yet few of us plan the attendee experience correctly. We approach conference planning from the inside-out. Considering the attendee experience is an afterthought. Most conference improvement plans look something like this: Systems & Resources → Procedures → Touchpoints → Interactions → Experiences. Although we don’t usually … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, customer, customer empathy, meeting, meeting planning best practices, user experience design, UXD
Attendee Experience The Next Frontier For Differentiation September 4, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Most conference experiences are very similar. They have similar schedules, receptions, general sessions, breakouts, exhibit halls, lecture-style education offerings, quality and price. They all look and feel alike. Too many conferences are on the verge of commoditization. One of the conference’s main offering—delivery of information disguised as education—is so widely available and mutually interchangeable with … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, emotional experience, event experience, experience economy
Secret Shoppers Spot Conference Experiences You’ll Likely Miss August 6, 2014 by Donna Kastner Secret shopping conferences and trade shows is something we do regularly. We don’t call it secret shopping. At the end of the day, it’s an apt description, as we’re immersing ourselves in the attendee (buyer’s) experience. We’re evaluating every component through the attendee’s lens to assess what’s working, what needs to be tweaked, and what needs … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference improvement, trade show improvement
Conference Growth Is Connected To Unique Attendee Experiences June 25, 2014 by Jeff Hurt If you want to grow your conference, you need to annually create a unique conference experience. You also need to create an emotional bond with your registrants. We have to remember that our registrants are people too. And your conference experience should help them solve the issues that are keeping them up at night. Our … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, attendee growth, conference experience, conferences, emotional connection
How To Create An Entirely Unique, Clangorously New Conference Experience June 9, 2014 by Jeff Hurt The conference market is saturated with commoditized information-driven attendee experiences. Most conferences are nothing more than status-quo, average, predictable information overloaded experiences. They reek of sameness. After you’ve attended a conference for the first time, it loses its freshness and excitement. It feels too familiar. Focus On Creating The Attendee’s Experience So how can a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, conferences, emotional connection
