What I’ve Learned This Year Could Fill a Book December 19, 2019 by Lisa Block After nearly 30 years leading the event development and execution at the Society for Human Resource Management, I took the leap earlier this year to join the remarkable VCC team and focus on helping associations and organizations improve their annual events. The work we do has reignited my deep appreciation for the role associations play … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , annual conference, annual convention, business health, leadership buyin, strategic planning, Velvet Chainsaw Consulting
5 Improvements for Event Registration Data Collection October 31, 2019 by Dave Lutz It’s difficult to determine what to include — and not include — when collecting attendee data at the time of conference registration. We need to make it easy to click “yes” during the registration process, while also collecting intelligence to drive personalization. Data fields and pick lists should be normalized and updated across membership, meetings, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Event Technology Tagged With: , customer intelligence, demographics, firmographics, registration data collection, registration forms
Five-Step Framework for Effective Collaborative Design September 10, 2019 by Lisa Block 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , annual meeting changes, change mangement, conference best practices, effective collaborative design, engagement, meeting planning best practices
Fostering a Winning Conference Culture June 17, 2019 by Lisa Block 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , big tent, conference planning, event planning, meeting planning, on-site culture, radical hospitality.
More Conference Physics: Inertia January 31, 2019 by Jeff Hurt I bet you’ve heard this before: “An object at rest, tends to stay at rest.” Oh, yeah, it’s Newton’s first law of motion: any object will stay at rest or in motion unless acted on by an external force. It’s also referred to as the law of inertia. Yes, an object at rest, tends to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , cognitive inertia, cognitive shortcut, conference inertia, confirmation bias, inertia, organizational inertia, resource rigidity, routine rigidity
The Physics Of Conference Entropy January 21, 2019 by Jeff Hurt In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says all things—bodies, businesses, conferences, energy, organizations, relationships—move toward chaos and disorder. This is also known as the state of maximum entropy. In one sense, entropy is a measure of uncertainty or randomness. It is the amount of confusion, disorganization and disequilibrium. As your conference matures, it experiences … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference chaos, conference entropy, conference physics, disequilibrium, disorder, disorderly, disorganization, entropy, physics, randomness, second law of thermodynamics, thermodynamics, uncertainty
We Prefer Stories To Stats—The Dark Side of Stories January 17, 2019 by Jeff Hurt We love stories. They connect on a personal and emotional level. We trust them more than statistical evidence. Unfortunately, we tend to overgeneralize from others’ stories, from anecdotal information and from small sampling sizes. We tend to confuse now with “what always is” as if our immediate situation consistently represents the entire universe of similar … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , narratives, stories, stories over stats, story arc, story sharing
Empowering Conference Registrants To See Learning As A Journey Not A Finish Line January 9, 2019 by Jeff Hurt Do your conference learning opportunities—from the general session to networking to breakouts to deep dive workshops—empower registrants to participate in their own learning journey? Or do your conference education sessions motivate participants to see the finish line? Their learning stops once the session ends. Authentic learner-centered conferences foster a connection between the participant and the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , certification, CEs, conference education, Continuing Education, education sessions, learning, learning as a finish line, learning as a journey, learning for life, life long learning, professional development, professional learning, relearning, reskilling, unlearning, upskilling
Conference Reform Requires Cultivating Leaders With Moral Purpose To Make A Difference January 8, 2019 by Jeff Hurt Many conferences are stuck in the rut of legacy routines, age-old rituals and cloned programming. Conference organizers and its advisors replicate the past maintaining the traditions and well-established procedures of yesteryear. The event is nothing more than a zombie conference—a conference that appears to be alive yet in reality creates the walking undead. If you … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference purpose, conference reform, conference vision, leaders, leadership, make a difference, moral purpose, restructuring, transformation, transformative, trasaction, walking undead, zombie conference
Developing Your Conference Story Arc To Activate Participants’ Brains November 8, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Applying a story arc to the conference can activate participants’ brains. And you want stimulated, motivated engaged brains during your event for sure! A story arc is an extended, continuous storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television series, comic books, video games, films etc. Each episode follows a dramatic arc with the story unfolding … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference as episodic storytelling, conference narrative, conference story arc, episodic storytelling, framing, narrative, stories, story, story arc, story sharing, storytelling
