Meeting Planner, You Are Responsible For The Outcomes Of Your Decisions April 29, 2013 by Jeff Hurt This post is inspired by Mike Monteiro’s LeWeb 2012 presentation How Designers Destroyed The World which has application to all professions. Meeting planner, you are responsible for the work you put into that meeting. And you are responsible for the effects that work has upon that meeting. Meeting Planners Are Gate Keepers Of Conferences Meeting … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
Fighting Cynicism As A Meeting Professional April 26, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Cynicism is contagious! So is hope! Which do you display the most? Cynicism or hope? And if you work with others that are true cynics, do NOT forward this post to them. It will just make matters worse. Cynicism Is A Luxury You Can’t Afford Cynicism is an ugly lavishness that you don’t need. It … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
Reinventing, Reimagining And Rethinking Traditional Conferences April 10, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Activism, advocacy, associations, boardrooms, battlefields, churches, education, faith groups, governments, media, nonprofits, philanthropy, retail, technology and work are all being reinvented. We are rethinking and reimagining all of our traditional institutions. This includes the meetings industry’s traditional conference. Our conferences are being reinvented by people who don’t follow the accepted practices and unspoken rules. They … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conferences, meeting best practices, meeting planning best practices
Content Is Not Education March 29, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Let’s get one thing straight: Content is not education! If content was education, then all of us would be very knowledgeable because we have information at our fingertips through the internet. But content is not education. Just as information and data is not education. Offering Content Is Not Enough People attend conferences for two primary … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, learning, meeting planning best practices
As A Conference Organizer Do You Have Delusional Data Hubris? March 22, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Do you believe that you currently collect all the necessary data from your meeting attendees? Are you convinced that you already have all of the important analytics regarding your conferences that you would ever need? Perhaps you are a conference organizer that thinks you have 100 percent of all the knowledge available to you through … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference data collection, conferences, data mining, meeting planning best practices
If Dr. Evil Were A Meeting Professional March 21, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Dr. Evil, a mastermind criminal cryogenically frozen in 1967 and reawakened in 1997, has challenges adapting to a new society, culture and rapid pace of change. This Austin Powers movie character is a great metaphor for many meeting professionals today. Dr. Evil frequently hatches new plans for world domination. Unfortunately, his plans are often just … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
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
Is Your Conference Wounding Its Attendees? February 27, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Are you perpetually wounding your conference attendees with a one-way controlled experience that demands obedience over engagement? Do you view your attendees as a threat that can disrupt the controlled conference experience that you have designed? Enforcing Obedience Over Engagement I was reading the March/April 2012 Harvard Education Letter on school culture by Meira Levinson. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting best practices, meeting planning best practices
Why Speakers And Attendees Resist Participant-Centered Education February 25, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Once you as the conference organizer are convinced that you want to move your education to more learner centric approaches, with a focus on the attendee as participant and learner, you may discover that your speakers do not respond with the same zeal. In reality, speakers and attendees may resist the new approach both passively … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, brain science education, brain-friendly conferences, conference best practices, conference education, learner-centric, meeting planning best practices, participant-centric, presentation best practices
