Can Your Conference Really Be Personalized? March 7, 2013 by Jeff Hurt It seems to be a regular part of our normal life today — the personalization of content, programs, products and services. Yet, our conferences still serve up generic content for the masses. We Notice When Personalization Is Absent Recently I observed an annual conference committee meeting of a major association. Staff and volunteer leaders were … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, event, meeting, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
How Predictable Is Your Annual Conference? March 1, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Has your annual conference become predictable? Do attendees show up to the general session late because they know it starts with business for 20-30 minutes before the keynote? Predictable Meetings, Routine Conferences Predictable: behaving in a way that is expected and can be predicted; can be prophesied; can be foretold; to declare or indicate in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conferences, Education & Adult Learning, event, meeting, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
It Is Time To Reinvent The Meetings Industry And The Meeting Professional February 19, 2013 by Jeff Hurt I think the meetings and conference industry has reached a plateau. For years the industry has focused on the logistical side of the meeting including registration, food and beverage, contracts, venue space, room sets, schedules, SMMP and more. The industry has matured and many meeting professionals have become very good at the details. Yet, the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices
Four Essential Elements To An Incomparable Face To Face Conference And Tradeshow Experience February 15, 2013 by Jeff Hurt What type of experiences do you crave? Have you ever had any of those types of experiences at a conference or tradeshow? Conferences and tradeshows have a long way to go to merge the experiences we crave and want with those that actually occur at the event. Four Critical Elements To Success The recent report, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices
Are You Using Your Headlights Effectively To Guide Your Future Meetings? February 13, 2013 by Jeff Hurt When you drive on a road at night, you depend upon your headlights to help you see. Without those headlights, you would depend upon the light of the moon or street lights to guide you. Frequently, neither of those is available and without headlights you would crash. With low beams, you can see a little … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
Three Guaranteed Ways To Kill Your General Session Attendees February 6, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Is your general session like bug repellant only repelling attendees and attracting crickets? Is it a sure-fire way to keep attendees in their hotel beds? Here are three fail-safe strategies that are guaranteed to kill your general sessions and create the walking dead! 1. Be A Chest-Thumping Legacy Gorilla Male gorillas beat their chests to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , attendee engagement, conferences, engagement, general sessions, meeting planner, meeting professionals
You Have The Power To Super Charge Your Attendees’ Brains January 30, 2013 by Jeff Hurt What if you as a conference organzier had the magical ability to literally change your attendees’ brains for the better? Guess what! You do have that power. Wow, that’s an awesome responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly. Our Brain’s Plasticity For more than 400 years, mainstream medicine and science believed that our … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , brain science education, brain-friendly conferences, conference best practices, conferences, lecture, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
Status-Quo Is A No Go! Become A Conference Outlaw January 29, 2013 by Jeff Hurt All progress takes place in the outlaw area. ~ paraphrase Buckminster Fuller. You can’t improve and reform your conferences where you currently are. You have to take some risks. You have to move away from doing things the way you’ve always done them. You can’t make improvements to your attendees’ conference experience by playing it … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
From Details To Strategy: How Meeting Planners Can Change Their Filters To View New Success January 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Many meeting planners feel that the conference experience and content is not their job. They are responsible for the logistics and details, not the attendees’ overall experience. That’s where those meeting planners are wrong! If Meeting Planners Cannot… If a meeting planner cannot focus on the big picture and goals of the event, then all … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, meeting logistics, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, strategy
Will Conferences Of The Future Get Unstuck? July 23, 2012 by Jeff Hurt The question isn’t whether most annual meetings and conferences are stuck. Just look at the data from some annual meetings. These conferences have declines in registration, participation in general sessions and education breakouts, sponsorship and exhibitors. Their growth in new attendees wanes. Their customer loyalty is steadily decreasing. The question is what it will take … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
