As conference organizers, we frequently ignore the evidence all around us of what’s working and what’s not. That evidence is everywhere. It’s just that we don’t know what to do with it once we have it. Often our conference planning teams and volunteer advisors follow our lead as we give more precedent to what feels right. Together, we … [Read More...]
Making The Common Conference Uncommon
Who wants to attend a common, ordinary, ho-hum, everyday, I’m-just-like-all-the-others traditional conference? Even worse, who wants to pay to attend one? And who wants to plan or sell one? Your conference growth and revenue depends upon repeat paying attendees year after year. Customer … [Read More...]
Meeting Professionals Anxiously Want To Start Their Improvement Planning Process Yesterday
Conference and meeting professionals like action when planning their events. They are accustomed to juggling multiple demands. They have long to-do lists that require their attention and often exceed their available time. So, they have the tendency to want to hurry up and check-off items on their … [Read More...]
Transition Becomes Your New Conference Threshold
What’s your favorite room in your home? I have two: my front porch with its porch swing and my master suite that looks out into my backyard. I cross the thresholds of those spaces daily without much thought. We rarely think about thresholds. Yet, we spend a lot of time traversing them—both … [Read More...]
Your Conference Content Has Magnetic Pull
Content marketing has grown by leaps and bounds during the past five years. Unfortunately, too few event organizers fully embrace the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing. Likewise, many conference professionals have no idea what embracing the long-tail, pull benefits of content … [Read More...]
Encouraging Words For Professionals On An Association Journey Including Stay Curious And Hungry
Nothing we do is inevitable. Our success as association professionals is not inevitable. Achieving a thriving conference and burgeoning membership is not inevitable. We are not guaranteed that our association will stay small or that it will grow big. Nor are there any assurances that if we do … [Read More...]
Abandon All But Tomorrow When Planning Your Conference
When do you stop pouring resources into things that have achieved their purpose? asked management guru Peter Drucker. It’s one of Drucker’s signature strategies: abandoning the past for tomorrow. He called it the concept of purposeful abandonment. Purposeful abandonment doesn’t sound very … [Read More...]
Six Conference Paradigms To Bust Immediately
If there’s something strange in your conference-hood Who you gonna call? (paradigm busters) If there’s something weird And your event don’t look good Who you gonna call? (paradigm busters) I ain’t afraid of no paradigm I ain’t afraid of no paradigm (Adapted from songwriter Ray Parker Jr. … [Read More...]
Conference Innovation Through Paradigm Busting
A strong driving force lies just beneath what you do on a daily basis. It is the unspoken, unrecognized, and unquestioned assumptions that steer your thinking, decisions and actions. These views developed over time and through education, experiences and interactions with others. These mental … [Read More...]
