An Association Committee’s Three Responses To Change And Innovation May 10, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Here’s your Who Wants to be A Millionaire million dollar question: What are the three states of association committee change? Is that your final answer? I’m sorry but solid, liquid and gas are not the right responses. And no, the State of WADITW (we’ve always done it this way), the State of WFIIINB (why fix … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association, change management, committees, Constrained State, Dynamic State, nonprofit, Resisted State, responses to change, state of organization change
Follow The Leader Can Be A Dangerous Game When It Comes To Best Practices, Solutions And New Ideas March 8, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Do you remember playing follow the leader as a kid? We all stood in a line behind one child who was the leader. We followed that leader around the room mimicking every action s/he took. When the leader squatted and quacked like a duck, we squatted and quacked like a duck. When the leader skipped … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association best practices, best practices, emerging practices, toxic best practices
The Achilles Heel Of Association Leadership March 7, 2018 by Jeff Hurt One of the ironies of associations is that the strengths that led to their initial success may actually be detrimental to their ongoing growth. Most associations start with a group of passionate volunteers that serve in many roles. They are intricately involved in all the functions of the association. These core volunteers oversee the organization’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association leaders, board of directors, leadership, volunteer leadership, volunteer resource capacity, working boards
Developing An Association Community That Evolves Into Action February 9, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Belonging precedes believing. It’s true for our association members. It’s true for our organization’s leaders. The ways we include or exclude others influences their thoughts and actions. It’s more than what we say or write. It’s how we invite others to join and belong, how we greet them, how we appreciate them, how we accept … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , authentic community, belonging, co-creation, collaboration, community development, cultivating connection, deep connections
Conferences Can Foster And Reclaim Authentic Conversations, Deep Connections And Transformational Community February 6, 2018 by Jeff Hurt One of society’s greatest paradoxes is that we have more connections today than we did in the past but there is less community and conversation. As a conference organizer, you can seed your annual meeting with experiences that nurture authentic conversations, deep connections and community. You don’t have to sacrifice honest talk for today’s casual … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , authentic conversations, community, deep connections, dialogic conferencers
Next Markets May Include Leveraging Opportunities Of Perennials February 5, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Frequently, when we think about next markets, we mention Next-Gen, Millennials or Gen-Z audiences. We immediately jump to the generations following or before ours. Or those that will have the largest working and buying power. One of the growing markets that is often overlooked is the Perennial Market—people of all ages, sometimes over 50 and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , marketing to all ages, Perennial Markets, Perrenials
The Conference Owner’s Guide: Steps 2-5 To Transition From Conference Touchpoints To Journey Experiences January 26, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Once you’ve observed the conference through the lens of your target customer and gained insights from conference data, you can move to the next steps. These steps are critical for you and your conference planning teams to embrace, enlist and employ. You want to move from conference touchpoints to conference customer experience journeys. And remember, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference customer experience journeys, conference customer journey, conference experience leader, conference experrience, conference journey, conference owner, conference owner's guide, conference touchpoints, customer experience, event-customer-experience business
The Conference Owner’s Guide: From Conference Touchpoints To Journey Experiences Part 1 January 25, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Too often conference and meeting professionals assume that their role is best suited to planning and executing the conference. They leave the big decisions about target customers, their needs and their aspirations to the organization’s leaders, the marketing department or even the education division. Sometimes they say, “Well, I’m not in charge of programming, content … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference customer experience journeys, conference customer journey, conference experience leader, conference experrience, conference journey, conference owner, conference owner's guide, conference touchpoints, customer experience, event-customer-experience business
The Conference Owner’s Guide To Customer Experience January 24, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Who owns the overall experience that customers have at your conference? Who oversees and manages the conference customers’ journey? Is it you or someone else? Or perhaps no one is considering the holistic experience of your conference customer? Are you functioning as a scheduler and executor of the conference with a divide and conquer mentality … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference customer journey, conference experience leader, conference experrience, conference journey, conference owner, conference owner's guide, customer experience, event-customer-experience business
Is Your Conferencing Treating Its Customers As Tourists Or Explorers? January 19, 2018 by Jeff Hurt How does your conference treat its participants? How do you and your leadership team view them? Are your conference customers more like tourists? Seeking conference swag, amenity room drops, welcome bags and quick ideas? Or are they more like explorers? Craving authentic experiences, no matter the size, that enhance their lives and change their attitudes, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference customers, explorer conference experience, explorers, tourist conference experience, tourists
