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...]
Six Attributes of Successful Women’s Conferences
This article was originally written for the April issue of PCMA’s Convene magazine. The timing was right before the lockdown and a couple months before the 2020 social justice movement eclipsed. While things have changed, these tenets will hold true and the principles can be applied to other D&I conferences and events. After studying and consulting on several successful association women’s conferences, I can confidently say – they need to be very different than other conferences in your … [Read more...]
Renegotiating Live Event Agreements When All Parties Are Innocent Victims
This is the third in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. The U.S. hotel industry is projected to report a 51-percent decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR) in 2020, according to a special forecast revision from STR and … [Read more...]
Conference Go/No-Go Decisions in a Pandemic
This is the second in a series of blog posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. Scenario Planning Where lead time permits, work through at least three scenarios – optimistic, pessimistic and somewhere in the middle. We like using an outside resource to set … [Read more...]
Go Forward, Cancel, Postpone, Wash Your Hands, Rinse … and Repeat
The disruption to the live events industry due to the Pandemic COVID-19 is unprecedented and impossible to escape. With the mixed messages coming at us from so many different perspectives, it is difficult to gain clarity. What we may believe personally is sometimes in conflict with the practices organization and business leaders decide to follow. So what is the right path? The answer: There isn’t a simple one. Many industry organizations and business leaders have taken the position that … [Read more...]
So Teamwork Can Make the Dream Work!
Hallelujah! The Washington Nationals won game seven of the World Series to become world champs. This is a huge deal for Washington sports fans and their story should resonate for all of us in the meetings industry as we are dependent on our teams to successfully execute our events. As I listened to the players, coaches, owners, managers and even fans celebrate and rejoice in their hard-won victory I was struck by the number of times I heard appreciation for “this group of guys.” They had a … [Read more...]
Five-Step Framework for Effective Collaborative Design
Your conference strategy should include a plan to inject fresh content or experiences each year as part of an ongoing improvement process. There are a million ways to make these improvement plans. Some work and many don’t. Working with one of our clients, we devised a simple framework to help develop innovative plans for meaningful and lasting change. This isn’t about tweaking schedules, adjusting formats or adding activations at your event. The framework puts the participant at the center … [Read more...]
Fostering a Winning Conference Culture
I have been struck by the disparity in how an association’s organizational culture translates (or doesn’t translate) to the on-site implementation or planning of its live events. There are many associations that tout their open and supportive cultures. But when it gets to “go time,” does that culture manifest at your conferences and meetings? Online forums have tackled this issue in recent weeks and it is clear that not all organizations support their on-site operations effectively or … [Read more...]
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