The Market Shifts That Led to Commission Cuts May 21, 2018 by Dave Lutz Marriott, Hilton and IHG have announced reductions in group-booking commissions from 10 percent to 7 percent for their North American hotels, to take place over a period of time this year and next. Marriott’s has already begun for most intermediaries. A 30-percent cut in one’s business model is a tough pill to swallow for any … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , group-booking commissions, hotel commissions cuts, influencers, influencers with less influence, lead-to-close rate, market shifts, prepaid commissions, revenue sharing, RFPs, tarnished commission model, third party meeting planners, third-party sourcing, trusted-advisor status
Conferences Need More Sharing April 26, 2018 by Dave Lutz One of the strongest intangible attributes of a healthy conference is how much sharing takes place. Too often, competition and self-interest get in the way of sharing what’s most helpful. Professions that deliver conference sessions with a high level of sharing – not diluted or generalized from the stage – are often in fields linked … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Conference Networking Tagged With: , interactivity, networking, participatory learning, small-group conversations, speaker coaching
Shifting from Delivery to Discovery Conference Education March 22, 2018 by Dave Lutz So much of our commonplace practices and conventional wisdom about learning is wrong. Educators have been talking about Bloom’s Taxonomy, critical-thinking skills, executive functions of the brain and HOTS — higher-order thinking skills — for more than five decades. However, those foundational learning principles have not transferred to most adult education experiences. Conference organizers still … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , 21st century conferences, Bloom's Taxonomy, cognitive learning, critical-thinking skills, discovery learning, executive brain function
B2B Buyers Have Changed, Expos Haven’t March 2, 2018 by Dave Lutz The way B2B professionals buy has dramatically changed, but our dependency on expo revenue hasn’t. There are two primary segments that leverage the traditional exhibit business model — conferences with an expo and expos with a conference. Based on our deep analysis of dozens of shows, the former are the event business models being disrupted … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , b2b buyers, bite-size learning, exhibit hall, exhibitors, expo hall, show floor theater, solution center, trade show
Learner- And User-Design Key To Next-Gen Audiences January 12, 2018 by Dave Lutz Wikipedia defines design as the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams, and sewing patterns). So, when you read the word design, what pops into your mind? Artists? Fashion Designers? City planning? Interior design? Graphic … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attracting millennials, conference designer, generations, learning design, learning experience design, LXD, Millennial, next audiences, next gen, next-generation conferences, purpose and passion, user experience design, UXD
En Route For Next-Gen Conference Audiences January 10, 2018 by Dave Lutz Will Millennials be joiners and conveners? Who are some of your next audiences to attract? Will your organization accumulate comparable lifetime customer value from next-generation members as it did from loyal Boomers? This is the first of two posts that are intended to be a helpful resource for conference organizers as they develop their attendee … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attracting millennials, generations, Millennial, next audiences, next gen, next-generation conferences
More Marketing Isn’t the Answer November 6, 2017 by Dave Lutz A strategic look at your marketing spend, as well as what you spend on your attendee experience, can be telling. According to Convene’s most recent Meetings Market Survey, on average 6 percent of a meeting’s direct expenses fall in the marketing/promotion category. After studying 100 or so meetings’ profit and loss (P&L) statements in great … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , attendee experience, benchmarks, conference marketing, conference marketing spend
Event App Due Diligence October 10, 2017 by Dave Lutz Editor’s Note: This article was originally penned for PCMA’s Convene in the beginning of August, early on in the discovery that the Apple App Store’s change in guidelines could affect branded mobile event apps. Much has been written since, including evidence that Apple is taking action with some event app providers. From our view, our … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology
Time to Retire Your Platinum, Gold and Silver Sponsorship Levels September 22, 2017 by Dave Lutz The most effective sponsorships are all about the attendee — the fan, the sponsor’s target market. If they don’t win over the attendee, the sponsorship may not be sustainable. The same could be said for the naming of your sponsorship levels. It’s time to reimagine the precious metal sponsorship categories — and unless you’re the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , attendee-centric sponsorship categories, sponsorship, sponsorship activation, sponsorship levels
10 Ideas for Improving Your Pay-to-Play Conference Presentations August 22, 2017 by Dave Lutz There’s a place for sponsored content in conference programs, if you’re thoughtful in your approach. The seventh of the TED Commandments — “Thou shalt not sell from the stage: neither thy company, thy goods, thy writings, or thy desperate need for funding; lest thou be cast aside into outer darkness” — is especially timely advice. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , association, association best practices, content marketing, education champion, Pay-To-Play, sponsored content, sponsorship, thought leadership
