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
Why Your Conference Should be Target-Audience Obsessed July 10, 2017 by Dave Lutz In order to design relevant education and networking experiences at our conferences, we need to be focused to the point of obsession with our target audience. Over the past 18 months, we’ve carefully scrubbed and analyzed the attendance of 20 major conferences. These projects had an aggregate attendance of 110,000-plus participants with registration revenue in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference planning, meeting design, target audience
Configurable and Personalized Conference Experiences June 14, 2017 by Dave Lutz The mass-personalization wave that is dramatically changing what and how we buy as consumers has application to conferences. I’ve been doing a lot of research and have learned that personalization can be achieved in a number of ways: Individualized — The customer gets exactly what meets their preferences or needs. In other words, they can … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , behaviorial data, configuation, mass personalization, technology
The Rise of the Gig Economy and What It Means for Conferences May 23, 2017 by Dave Lutz Work and life are transforming at a rapid rate. When considering long-term conference or organizational strategy, it’s wise to future-cast the impact major workforce trends may have on your profession, particularly because conferences are about people first and content second. You need to determine who (target audience) you’re designing for before you address the what … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , future trends, gig economy, trends, workforce trends
How to Improve Your Call for Presentations Process April 12, 2017 by Dave Lutz When Velvet Chainsaw Consulting conducted speaker research with 120 associations with research and consulting company Tagoras Inc. in 2013, we found that nearly 77 percent use a call for speakers/sessions process. Associations value member input. One-third of these organizations accept 60 percent or more of the proposals, indicating either a low number of submissions or … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, call for presentations, conference best practices, Education & Adult Learning, presentation strategies, speaker practices
