Frank Conversations On Better Conference Measurement May 5, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Recently, I wrote about how most conference organizers are really bad at measurement. Oh, we’re fairly good at measuring our conference goals. As long as those goals are based on common conference inputs and outputs. You know, expenses/revenue, attendance, exhibitors and sponsors. But rarely do we measure anything else that proves ROI, ROO or ROA … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, speaker evaluations
Conference Education Should Drive Business Growth April 10, 2014 by Jeff Hurt The only reason that conference education sessions exist is to drive a business’ outcomes. (paraphrase author Rita Smith.) Ok, sure some conference education sessions exist for personal development, hobbies or pleasure. But most of us attend conferences to learn and grow professionally. Yet, in many cases, the business, meaning an attendees’ employer and business, is … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , business case for events, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, Event ROI, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
What Will Associations Monetize In The Future? April 9, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Associations offer more than education opportunities. They provide industry research, membership, certification and standards, networking and advocacy. And all of these services have been monetized in order to provide additional services for their members. Yet, today, many of these services have become commoditized. Others produce these products, often at higher quality, with value-adds, at lower … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, learning design, participatory design
How To Use Shatterpoints as Early Conference Warning Signs January 9, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever hit a shatterpoint with your conference? You’ll know if you have because it made your entire conference unravel, freeze or die. Conference Shatterpoints What’s a shatterpoint, you ask? A shatterpoint is like a fault line, crack or an area of weakness in a path of action. In Star Wars, shatterpoints are a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, shatterpoints
Why Your Conference Needs To Focus On Building A Loyal Proprietary Audience January 7, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Quick: What is the most important asset of your conference today? Sponsors? Exhibitors? Your brand? Your events team? Your history? The venue? Your vendors? The content? Your speakers? Your technology? Yeah, all of these are likely responses. However, there’s one asset that most conference organizers and hosts constantly miss when responding to this question: audiences. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , attendee loyalty, audience expectations, loyalty, target market
Today’s Conference Education Model Was Created For An Economy That No Longer Exists November 20, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Conference education has not kept pace with 21st Century workforce demands. It is usually devoted to information transfer through a lecture or panel, rote learning and memorization of facts and figures to pass a certification test. The reality is that this old style, 20th Century, traditional expert in front of the room presenting to rows … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference education, conferences, learning trends, meeting industry trends, workplace trends
Communicating Your Conference Value Proposition To A Short Attention Span World October 28, 2013 by Donna Kastner As the digital wheel accelerates, we find ourselves buried in a tsunami of information… emails, texts, blog posts, newsletters, whitepapers, podcasts, apps. All this noise is making it harder to spot the greatest hits. Now think about your conference audience. They’re in the same predicament, yet what do we do? We bombard them repeatedly with … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, conference marketing, Conference Value Proposition
Budget Benchmarking Drives Smarter Conference Spend Decisions September 25, 2013 by Dave Lutz It’s budget planning season for many meeting professionals. Many are poring over spreadsheets, as they seek out creative ways to do more with less. The burning question: What items can be trimmed without negatively impacting the attendee experience. One of the tools we like to use when we look at how to stretch a meeting … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , Benchmark Data, Conference Budget, Conference Financials, conferences, Meeting Spend
Conference Bulk Learning Is An Oxymoron April 24, 2013 by Jeff Hurt It sounds so cliché: Conference bulk learning is an oxymoron. Yet, too many of us have bought into the idea that the more information we have, the more information that we consume, the more information that we try to stuff in our heads, the better we are. Ultimately, information has become a problem, not a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conference education, conferences
Your Conference Speakers’ Skills Gap Is Causing You To Lose Money April 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt The majority of your conference speakers have a major skills gap! They are relying on pedagogical mimicry–presenting the same way that their teachers taught them. That causes you and your conference to rely solely on a foundation of mimicry for education success. And this foundation is the exact the opposite of what your speakers should … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, industry speaker, professional speakers, speaker, Speaker Emerging Practices, speaker tips
