2021 Virtual-Conference Big Ideas December 3, 2020 by Dave Lutz In 2020, attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors were more forgiving of our virtual conferences than they will be in 2021. They, like you, are all experiencing Zoom fatigue and will have much higher expectations for conferences this coming year — especially those they are investing their precious time and money. Don’t waste a good crisis. Use … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , 2021 virtual conference, experience design, future of virtual conference, hybrid conferences, virtual conferences, Zoom fatigue
Normal is Over(rated) – For Now November 16, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is a guest post by Joy S. Davis, CAE, based on an email she sent to me after reading Lisa Block’s recent post, “I Am Sorry, But We Are Not All Fine.” Joy is Managing Director, Member Products, for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Not too long ago, I gently asked my Executive … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , apology meetings, event strategy, hybrid conferences, return to normal, the new normal, virtual conferences
Six Attributes of Successful Women’s Conferences October 20, 2020 by Dave Lutz This article was originally written for the April issue of PCMA’s Convene magazine. The timing was right before the lockdown and a couple months before the 2020 social justice movement eclipsed. While things have changed, these tenets will hold true and the principles can be applied to other D&I conferences and events. After studying and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design
Expos Don’t Work Well in a Virtual Environment October 14, 2020 by Dave Lutz Virtual Expo Truths Nearly every conference and trade show professional is searching for that perfect virtual platform or pricing model for replacing lost expo revenue. I’ve got bad news for you. Virtual expos will never be able to come close to replacing the revenue generated from your face-to-face expo. Here’s some of our learnings: 1. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Hybrid & Virtual, Sponsorship & Exhibits
Event Recovery Food Chain August 27, 2020 by Dave Lutz The harsh reality of an elongated recovery for the live events industry has settled in, as we wrote about back in March when we crafted the Event Recovery Food Chain. At the time, we stated, “Hotels and the entire events supply chain need to understand that we won’t fully recover until we help conference and show … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , ADR, COVID-19, event recovery food chain, group business, hotels, hybrid meetings, live events recovery, supply chain, virtual meetings
Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free April 30, 2020 by Dave Lutz If you’re inbox is anything like mine, you could spend a good portion of our day consuming webinars, virtual events and networking in Zoom or Facebook Messenger Happy Hours. We’re on content overload and it’s only going to get noisier as the pandemic lingers. The dynamics that we’re seeing impact conferences and their business models … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , emerging models, freemium, monetization, online conference, online event, virtual event
Steps You Should Be Taking Now for Your Fall Conference April 21, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is the fourth in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , COVID-19, leadership, negotiations, pandemic, social distancing, virtual events
Renegotiating Live Event Agreements When All Parties Are Innocent Victims April 13, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is the third in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , buyer's market, commissions, contracts, COVID-19, negotiation, renegotiation, seller's market
Conference Go/No-Go Decisions in a Pandemic April 9, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is the second in a series of blog posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , coronavirus, COVID-19, FAQs, lead time, pandemic, refunds, scenario planning, transparency
Will Work for Goodwill March 18, 2020 by Dave Lutz Living in Orlando (not the happiest place in the world today) provides a close-up view of the horrific impact the pandemic is having on people and businesses in the live-event, hospitality and travel industries. Nearly all of our association clients are making enterprise-changing decisions to cancel or postpone their marquee events while saying goodbye to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
