Your Conference Planning Really Is Brain Surgery July 30, 2014 by Jeff Hurt You’ve heard the saying, “Come on, this is not brain surgery.” It means that something is really simple to do. We use it to encourage people to stop whining and do the obvious. Planning the right conference programming for the right target audience is profoundly simple. If you have a vision and focus. And it … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attention, brain science education, brain-friendly conferences, brain-friendly meetings, inhibition, neuroscience, target market, working memory
Three Luxuries You Cannot Afford That Harm Your Conference Planning July 28, 2014 by Jeff Hurt When we were younger, many of us dreamed of changing the world. Nothing could get in the way of our dreams. We were out to make a difference. We wanted to change lives across the globe. Then we grew up. We began to think of our dreams as unrealistic or childish. We see our aspirations … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences
Increase Your Conference Attendee Engagement By Increasing Relevance July 18, 2014 by Jeff Hurt “How can I increase engagement at my conference?” It’s a question I hear a lot. “How can I help my attendees increase their engagement?” What’s my answer? Increase the relevance. Increase the relevance of the content. Increase the relevance of the learning experience. Oh and by the way, what type of engagement are you talking … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning strategies, attendee engagement, conference relevance, education best practices, engagement, presentation best practices, speaker selection
Your Conference Needs A Customer Vision Statement July 17, 2014 by Jeff Hurt What is your vision for your conference customer? In case you are confused by the term conference customer, I mean your paying attendee or registrant. What is your vision for your conference customer, the paying attendee? How do you hope to help your paying attendee to grow, evolve or transform? What traits and characteristics do … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attendee growth, attracting attendees, conference audiences, conference best practices, customers, Innovation
Designing Conference Customers, Not Just Traditional Conferences July 16, 2014 by Jeff Hurt We are thinking about conference innovation from the wrong perspective. We usually think about conference innovation as something we create for our paying attendees. Or we think about innovation as something we design with attendees through crowdsourcing. We need to make a critical leap. Conference innovation is a way to design attendees! Innovation should be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attendee growth, attracting attendees, conference audiences, conference best practices, customers, Innovation
Your Competitors Are Using Big Data To Improve Their Events [Infographic] July 15, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Big data has been on the lips of many business professionals for some time now. So is it a big mistake or a promising trend to apply? Expo and Global Experience Specialists (GES) developed a study that looks at how event producers and exhibitors are collecting and analyzing data to help their customers and their … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , analytics, big data, conference data collection, data mining, Trade Show best practices, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices
Measuring What Matters To Your Conference July 11, 2014 by Jeff Hurt If the only conference numbers you care about are attendance, exhibitors, revenue and profits, you will never be able to understand why those numbers fluctuate. You’re only guessing and planning conference programming through a shot-gun approach if you don’t get serious about measurement. It’s time to stop relying on your gut. Or your volunteer conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, conference best practices, conferences, empathy mapping, measurement, target market
Using Empathy Mapping To Create Conference Target Market Personas July 10, 2014 by Jeff Hurt We could all use a little more empathy…and a little less yelling! And your organization could definitely cultivate more empathetic team members who help plan and design your conference and education offerings. Why We Need More Empathy For Our Stakeholders Empathy is walking in another person’s shoes and understanding life through their eyes. It is … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference, conference best practices, customer, empathy mapping, Innovation, target market
What Do You Want Your Conference Customers To Become? July 9, 2014 by Jeff Hurt “It’s not the attendees’ job to know what they want,” paraphrase of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs. “Larry [Page] is into making people what he wants them to be—which is a little smarter,” former Google Executive (from author’s private correspondence).” So who do you want your conference customers to become? Adopting The Ask In Conference Design … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attracting attendees, conference best practices, transformation
Changes In The Information Cycle Are Driving Conference Education Reform July 2, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Conferences (and associations) used to be the go-to source for information and content about a profession or industry. Today, the tools of content creation and distribution actually rest in the hands of individuals. Anyone can create and share content. While not everyone wants to be a content creator, everyone has an interest in organizing and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference education, content, education best practices, paragogy, peer-based learning, peer-to-peer, peerology, sense-making
