Our clients and leading industry associations (for example, PCMA’s latest glimpse or our industry’s future, the business recovery dashboard) are turning their attention to future hybrid and face-to-face (f2f) events. While everyone keeps saying that hybrid is here to stay, most association event pros have limited bandwidth and budget to plan and execute robust in-person and digital events simultaneously. In part one of this post, I covered some of the significant risks our clients are facing … [Read more...]
What Risk Factors Are Top of Mind for Association Event Organizers?
We recently convened a roundtable of senior-level conference organizers to discuss risk tolerance and the forces that are shaping their 2021/22 event strategies and decisions. Three primary risk categories are emerging as organizations weigh their options for major conferences in 2021: Mitigating financial risk Member considerations and communications Health, safety and duty of care Mitigating Financial Risk Financial predictions. Financial challenges continue to be at the … [Read more...]
PCMA’s First Omnichannel Convening Leaders: The Great, the Good and the Not So…
I was excited to attend PCMA’s Omnichannel Convening Leaders event last week. Having attended more than 20 of PCMA’s Annual Meetings over the years (both in person and virtually), I expected high energy, experimental delivery and great content. I wasn’t expecting to connect with my friends or to feel the same high I get from the in-person meetings. Those expectations were largely met. The Great: Global Reach and Main-Stage Experiences Applause to PCMA for engaging the global business events … [Read more...]
Get Conference Inspiration from Trusted Peer Connections
So many in our industry have been pushed to their limits in 2020. Whether that has manifested in job loss, interrupted work/life patterns, isolation, grieving the loss of a loved one, unimaginable work pressure or needing to be “always-on” on Zoom or Teams, it has been a year of disruption unlike any we might have imagined. In spite of all the bad, there is also much that is positive for the next phase of association conferences. Earlier in my career I got connected to a network of … [Read more...]
I Am Sorry, but We Are Not All “Fine”
I was inspired by a post by Lisa Cowley, CEO of Beacon, who penned a moving article entitled “It Is Okay Not to Be Okay.” I recommend you read her moving story and then come back. Some days, I can relate! Application for Associations It’s getting harder and harder to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Prognosticators and industry cheerleaders keep telling us that things will get back to normal…but who can say what normal is? Or if we even want to go back to the way … [Read more...]
Does the Perfect Virtual Event Platform Exist?
The answer, based on my unscientific survey of a dozen association leaders, is a resounding no. Planners are wading through recommendations from colleagues, trusted vendors and online forums to find the best platform for their needs. And it’s a murky and often frustrating experience. While there are many excellent solutions out there, none are “perfect” and many are adding features and improvements on a regular basis. Since most solutions were created post-pandemic, conducting due diligence … [Read more...]
Conference Innovation While Traveling at Warp Speed
Navigating change during a crisis is not for the faint of heart. During my career leading association event teams, I regularly recalibrated and redefined team member roles in order to drive innovation and improve our meeting experiences. Not every effort was a rousing success but attempting to inject new conference elements made us more nimble, creative and smarter as a team. We are in the middle, I hope, of an extraordinary time in the meetings industry. Associations are struggling with … [Read more...]
The Future of Face-to-Face is Cloudy
I am getting a little overwhelmed by the many predictions that so-called experts are sharing about the future of face-to-face meetings. The range of opinions--from wild optimism to frightening pessimism--is exhausting to wade through. The news cycle of 24/7 pandemic coverage, conversation and debate has obscured the fact that travel and meeting attendance are not always decisions made by companies but by people. People are feeling cooped up and restrained and most crave a return to normalcy. But … [Read more...]
