Conference Experiential Design: Why Emotion Trumps Efficiency May 28, 2015 by Donna Kastner This post, Delivering Experience, by Anthony Iannarino stuck in my mind as it sparked new ideas about conference experience design. Iannarino recounts a dining experience with his wife at a “funky, cool, eclectic” restaurant. Within moments of arriving, drink orders were swiftly taken and delivered. Entrees arrived moments later. Then the check, lickety-split. The Speed … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference design, conference experience design
Conference WOW Moments Require Perpetual Reinvention May 20, 2015 by Donna Kastner Your mighty event team managed to transform a “what if?” idea into a five-star, conference greatest hit. The attendee WOW factor was off the charts. This big moment gave your brand a major boost, with social shares rippling out to others who didn’t attend, but now wish they had. Everyone’s talking about this incredible experience, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee satisfaction, conference best practices, conference experience design
Conference Growth Rests Squarely On Attendance Centricity March 10, 2015 by Donna Kastner Since the dawn of time, things tend to follow the Pareto Principle with 80% of results driven by 20% of customers, give or take 10%. Translating this dynamic to the world of conferences and trade shows, more often that not: A very high percentage of revenue will be primarily dependent on (or influenced by) key … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , Attendance Centricity, Conference Profitability, Conference Revenue Performance, Customer Centricity
Conference Investors Crave Strategic Sponsorships: Will You Satisfy Them? January 23, 2015 by Donna Kastner There’s a major shift going on. An increasing number of conference and trade show investors are scaling back on booth space and shifting that spend to sponsorships. It’s a ripe opportunity for organizers to diversify their conference business model. The Shift To Strategic Sponsorships There’s another shift that has even greater ramifications for conference and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference revenue optimization, sponsorship sales strategy, strategic sponsorships, trade show sponsorship
Six Early Behavioral Warning Signs To Monitor Your Conference Sustainability December 12, 2014 by Donna Kastner Understanding conference shatterpoints is critical to comprehending your conference’s financial sustainability. Essentially, conference shatterpoints are fault lines pointing to areas of vulnerability. They’re leading indicators that illustrate areas of weakness that usually don’t fully appear in your results until years later. You want to know about these imperfections before it’s too late. Detecting them early … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, early conference warning signs, KPI, KPIs, shatterpoint precursors, shatterpoints
Post-Conference Debrief Tips To Improve The Conference Experience October 27, 2014 by Donna Kastner The closing keynote was a big hit. Attendees head home. Your team has worked tirelessly for weeks. And they delivered beyond your expectations. You would love to get packed quickly. You know everyone on your teams deserves some time off now. Gathering The Team For One Final Meeting You think, “If I can just gather … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference debriefs, conference improvement, team debriefs
Three Marketing Flubs That Cause Conference YES Decision Skids October 2, 2014 by Donna Kastner Your email marketing blast generated plenty of clicks. But the registration needle hardly moved. What’s up with that? Conference Registration Frustrations For every smooth registration journey, there are many other frustrating moments that cause people to bail. You worked hard to earn that maybe click. Now they’re skidding and losing interest. Three Marketing Roadblocks Here … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, Conference email marketing, conference marketing, registration
Conference & Trade Show Sponsors Want Relevance September 8, 2014 by Donna Kastner As we strive to deliver outstanding attendee experiences, our eyes turn to sponsorship. After all, somebody has to pay for this. Yet sponsorship tends to follow the same random path: Logos are slapped on every last bit of real estate. Banner ads and app alerts multiply. As the promotional noise increases, attendee attention plummets – thus making … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, meeting planning best practices, sponsors, sponsorship best practices, sponsorship sales, tradeshow best practices
Secret Shoppers Spot Conference Experiences You’ll Likely Miss August 6, 2014 by Donna Kastner Secret shopping conferences and trade shows is something we do regularly. We don’t call it secret shopping. At the end of the day, it’s an apt description, as we’re immersing ourselves in the attendee (buyer’s) experience. We’re evaluating every component through the attendee’s lens to assess what’s working, what needs to be tweaked, and what needs … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference improvement, trade show improvement
Confirmation Bias And Why Conferences Need To Become Innovation Labs July 3, 2014 by Donna Kastner No matter how open minded people profess to be, we’re all hard-wired to some degree for confirmation bias. It is a filter that we use to see reality that matches our thinking. It can cloud our thinking and distort our pursuit of facts. Confirmation Bias And Change Confirmation Bias is our default preference for consuming information … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, confirmation bias, Innovation
