Creating A Customer-Centric Conference Strategy January 18, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Established, successful conferences have leadership that are usually adept at incrementally improving their event each year. They focus on securing better content and speakers. Or improving registration and marketing practices. Or creating unique receptions and parties. Or decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. One improvement tactic–curating conference programming that meets your customers’ needs–is foundational yet proving … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , aspirations, conference strategy, Customer Centricity, customer-centered, customer-centric, customer-centric conference strategy, needs
Dear Association Leader Who Defends And Champions Status Quo January 16, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Dear Association Leader: The status quo does not have your best interest at heart. It feels safe. And familiar. And comfortable. And even successful. But it’s not. It’s a very enticing powerful force. It can seduce you into a seemingly logical yet inadvisable present-forward mindset. You project today’s business into the future and expect yesterday’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association leaders, change-agent, change-agent leader, customer loyalty, future-back mindset, present-forward mindset, status quo
Conferences Can Serve As Friendly Frontiers For The Insatiably Curious To Play September 27, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Your conference could be a place for your customers to experience unrestricted curiosity and play. But most of the time it’s not. Curiosity becomes codified into bureaucratic traditional expert-centric instructional models—lectures and panel discussions. And that passive sedentary process actually controls and squelches most curious thinking. And forget play! Authentic curiosity does not come from … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , better conference experiences, curiosity, deep play, learning, play
When Contemplating Conference Growth, Think Next Audiences Which Includes Next Gen September 21, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Too often when we think about conference growth or sustainability, we assume it means attracting next gen customers. We pinpoint a specific generation, usually Millennials. Then we discuss how to plan, program and market to that specific age group. Eventually our planning discussions turn to generational differences. Those conversations can quickly digress into personal pet … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , Baby Boomers, generational differences, GenX, Millennial, next audiences, next gen, next-generation conferences, Traditionalists
Four Personalization Strategies Conferences And Associations Can Adopt From Education September 19, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Let’s separate reality from fiction regarding personalized conference experiences and personalized learning. Fact: Meeting professionals and conference vendors frequently confuse personalization with configurable conference experiences. They are not the same thing. Fact: Conference planners and association leaders are easily persuaded by the puffery of conference personalization. Those that want to pursue personalization need to be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult education, behaviorial data, competency-based progression, conference education, conference personalization, configuation, flexible learning environment, learner profiles, learning journeys, mass personalization, personal learning journeys, personalization, personalized conference expereinces, personalized conference experience, personalized learning
A Cautionary Word From Research About Personalization August 3, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Personalization—it seems to be the 2017 buzzword for nonprofit associations and conferences. Everyone seems to be talking about it like here and here. Yet, personalization is more than technology. It means more than our past purchases or posts in social media. We have likes, dislikes, preferences, strengths, weakness, emotions, experiences and knowledge that do not … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, behaviorial data, conference education, conference personalization, configuation, deep learning, mass personalization, personalization, personalized learning, technology
Association Messy, Convoluted Conundrums With Compliance Issues In Learning Offerings August 1, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Do you ever feel caught between a rock and a hard place regarding your association’s education programming? For years, you’ve offered education to your constituents to meet industry or profession CE requirements. You’ve kept detailed data on content alignment with obligations, program and speaker approvals from governing boards, attendance, test scores and customer certification status. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association education, certification, CEs, CEUs, competency, compliance, Continuing Education, CPE, designation, proficiency, standards
Flourishing Conference Professionals Lead With Purpose July 31, 2017 by Jeff Hurt As a conference organizer, how purpose-driven are you? Successful conference organizers are purpose-driven! They grow into purpose leaders that influence others with a shared vision and purpose. They evolve into meaning-machines. They design conference experiences that become meaning-making opportunities for their participants. And they make their planning teams’ work important. Not clichéd or trivial. Critically … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference organizer, conference professionals, conference purpose, lead with purpose, meeting professionals, purpose, purpose-driven, purpose-driven conference organizers, purpose-driven conferences
What Type Of Learning Experiences—Shallow, Advancement Or Deep–Are You Serving Customers? July 28, 2017 by Jeff Hurt The world has drastically changed in the past several decades. But most conference experiences have changed very little, if at all. They compete with the Internet to distribute content and deliver information. So what type of conference education are you serving your customers—shallow learning, advancement learning or deep learning? Do you even know the difference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , advancement learning, authentic learning, conference education, conference learning experiences, deep learning, designing learning experiences, learning design, learning experiences, shallow learning, strategic learning, surface learning
Successful Conference Professionals Understand, Design And Offer Deep Learning Experiences To Attendees July 27, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Most conferences offer some type of learning opportunities for their participants. From informal peer networking to roundtable discussions to formal expert lectures and panel discussions. The education opportunities abound. Traditionally, the goal of conference education is to deliver as much information as possible as fast as possible to as many people as possible. Today, many … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , authentic learning, conference education, conference learning experiences, deep learning, designing learning experiences, learning design, learning experiences, shallow learning, surface learning
