Standing the Test of Time

Here are 10 Convene columns I’ve written over the past 20 years whose takeaways remain as applicable today as when they were first published.

Recently, I spoke with Convene’s digital media editor, Magdalina Atanassova, about Convene’s 40th anniversary this year. For half of those years, since 2006, I’ve had the privilege to pen 180-plus columns for Convene, which Michelle Russell has finetuned and made each and every one better for you. (I’d say she’s earned her retirement.)

While always pushing the envelope on emerging issues, Convene has published a lot of evergreen content over the years — including my columns — that can continue to guide your conference-improvement plans. Here are my top 10 columns that have withstood rapid technological changes and post-COVID realities, and why I think they deserve another look:

Updating Your Conference

1. Personalizing a large meeting, May 2017 ( com/29vvrauf) The Breakout sidebar provides solid insights on how you might train AI to deliver intelligent recommendations for your attendees. Hint: Use explicit — not implicit — data.
2. Rethinking award presentations, July/Aug. 2024 (tinyurl.com/39yzc8uy) This column tackled the most holy of conference sacred cows: awards. Share this article with leadership or members of your board. If you can help be an award winner’s publicist, you’ll take things to another level.
3. Session descriptions, Aug. 2016 (tinyurl.com/3bcfty8v) Last year, the Velvet Chainsaw team used this article’s framework to train AI on how to rewrite session titles, descriptions, and learning objectives. We also use it as a basis for AI to score session submissions.
4. Conference hubs, Jan./Feb. 2022 (tinyurl.com/4tyuazxr) In one of my favorite intentional design articles, we put the attendee at the center of the design, not the hosting organization. More conferences should lean into “broadcasting” in their hub.

Sponsorship

5. Business modeling for sponsorship, Sept. 2019 (tinyurl.com/mn9jx6u6) If you need to breathe new life into your sponsorship program, this one’s for you. Even though it was written before the pandemic, the business model benchmarks and strategic applications hold true today.
6. Refreshing sponsorship inventory, Sept./Oct. 2023 (com/5x7mr49b) If you’re not selling 65 percent or more of your sponsorship inventory, you likely need to update your offerings. This article provides a good how-to for organizing and right-sizing your sponsor menu.
7. Sponsor ROI, Jan. 2014 (com/36hetsm5) Twelve years later, this article covers something many organizers still struggle with: compiling post-conference proof of sponsorship activation. My favorite takeaways are how to help sponsors stand out and share the value of participating in your event with their bosses (i.e., get the attention of the budget maker, not the budget spender).

Future Audiences

9. Next-gen attendees, Nov. 2017 (tinyurl.com/yjhxjtbs) For the past 15 years, this has continued to be the biggest challenge to solve. The solution for audience succession planning is not to get ‘em while they’re young. It’s to own the mid-career segment.
10. Developing your high-po audience, Nov. 2024 (tinyurl.com/ye9zwuh3) Early retirement and career-jumping make succession planning even more urgent. Think beyond conference attendance and develop future leaders for your organization.

Explore the archives of other Convene contributors: Freeman’s Kimberly Hardcastle: pcma.org/category/convene/plenary/event-marketing/
and 360 Live Media’s Beth Surmont: pcma.org/category/convene/plenary/events-from-every-angle/

Rounding It Out to 10

Wisdom conference sessions, July 2019 (pcma.org/wisdom-conference-sessions/)

Share this article with your conference or education committee. With the rapid advancement of AI, the bar for helping attendees become more critical thinkers and better at solving complex problems is at an all-time high. Conference sessions need to go beyond offering data and information to knowledge sharing and wisdom building.

Adapted from Dave’s Forward Thinking column in PCMA’s Convene. Reprinted with permission of Convene, the magazine of the Professional Convention Management Association. ©2026.