Making Up for Fewer Skilled Workers at Your Conference November 16, 2022 by Dave Lutz Throughout 2022, nearly every meeting service provider continues to be short-staffed and plagued by last-minute no-shows or insufficiently skilled workers. This is having a huge impact on event organizers and their teams during both planning and execution phases of events. More than ever, we need to be running several steps ahead — checking, double-checking, and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference planning, Covid effects, labor shortage, no shows, short staff
How to Embrace−and Achieve−Goals to Increase BIPOC Representation at Your Conference March 2, 2022 by Betsy Bair Greater Public (GP), an association whose members are public media fundraisers from more than 240 stations across the U.S., plans the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference (PMDMC) each year, hosting NPR, PBS, and community media stations. After the death of George Floyd in late spring 2020, GP embraced the goal of improving its diversity, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , BIPOC, DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion
Better Because You Were There November 4, 2021 by Dave Lutz According to The New York Times, living with the pandemic “has pushed us to reckon with our deepest questions … [about] how we make meaning of our time on this earth.” In particular, COVID-19 has brought the issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, social responsibility, and wellness to the fore. A number of our consulting … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning
Conference Organizers: What Is Your Duty of Care? August 31, 2021 by Dave Lutz Just when we thought we were turning the corner on a rise in Covid cases, we are hearing about short-term cancellations of conventions once again as the Delta variant causes cases to rise. Several conventions that occurred in June and July resulted in a number of positive COVID tests, including breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , conference organizer duty of care, duty of care, event organizer duty of care, risk management
Get Conference Inspiration from Trusted Peer Connections December 23, 2020 by Lisa Block 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual
I Am Sorry, but We Are Not All “Fine” October 26, 2020 by Lisa Block 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , hybrid meetings, pandemic and meetings, skilling up, staff layoffs, staff stress, virtual meetings
Six Attributes of Successful Women’s Conferences October 20, 2020 by Dave Lutz 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design
Conference Innovation While Traveling at Warp Speed July 23, 2020 by Lisa Block 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, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , benchmarks, confererence planners, event planners, hybrid conferences, meeting planner roles, pandemic, virtual conference, virtual conferences
Steps You Should Be Taking Now for Your Fall Conference April 21, 2020 by Dave Lutz This is the fourth 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. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , COVID-19, leadership, negotiations, pandemic, social distancing, virtual events
Renegotiating Live Event Agreements When All Parties Are Innocent Victims April 13, 2020 by Dave Lutz 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. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , buyer's market, commissions, contracts, COVID-19, negotiation, renegotiation, seller's market
