Challenging Our Conference Mental Models To Build Future Effective Events July 9, 2018 by Jeff Hurt How do we think? And just as important, how and what do we think about our conferences and events? How do we understand our conference planning processes, its underlying assumptions, and our customers, partners, exhibitors, and stakeholders? How do we create knowledge about our conferences that serve as our cognitive maps and meaning structures during … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , cognitive maps, conference mental models, frameworks, mental models
Steps To Minimize And Prevent Your Conference Organizational Debt July 6, 2018 by Jeff Hurt To be successful in the 21st Century, we have to become comfortable with ambiguity and contradiction. We must learn to reframe our questions and rise above conventional mental models. We have to embrace experimentation and try new things. We have to adopt strategies that encourage us to abandon ingrained, comfortable ideas and employ new ones … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Bounty Program, conference experimentation, conference improvement, conference organizational debt, culture of experimentation, growth policy, interest, organizational debt, purposeful abandonment, refactor, refactoring conference organizational debt
You’re Paying Too Much Interest On Your Conference Organizational Debt July 5, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Most organizations pay for it without knowing it. What is it? Conference organizational debt. Your conference organizational debt includes the static roles, traditional structures, outdated models, long-established practices, antiquated procedures and legacy policies that prevent your organization from adapting to evolving markets, technology and society. Your conference pays the interest on this debt in the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , accumulated organizational debt, conference improvement, conference organizational debt, interest, obsolete organizational debt, organizational debt, refactor
Refactor Your Conference Archaic Planning Routines June 29, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Conference organizers and their planning teams should understand, identify and quash organizational debt. Once they pinpoint and distinguish it, they need to refactor it. “Refactor it?” you say. “What does refactor mean?” Refactor is a technology concept that meeting professionals can use as a metaphor. Software programmers refactor their code once they develop a better … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference legacy code, conference organizational debt, hackitecture, organizational debt, petrifed hackitecture, petrified design, Refactor refactor your conference, refactoring
The Conference Debt You Cannot Afford June 28, 2018 by Jeff Hurt There is one debt every conference organizer must face and vanquish. It can cripple a conference. It doesn’t show up on your profit and loss statement. What is this debt? Organizational debt—the interest your conference pays when its structures, policies, procedures, practices, committees and leadership roles stay fixed and accumulate even as the world around … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference organizational debt, hackitecture, organizational debt, petrifed hackitecture, petrified design
The Fantastic, Super-Sized, Research Proven Benefits Of Curiosity June 22, 2018 by Jeff Hurt The future belongs to the curious! Curiosity is the key to success both now and in the future. When curiosity is combined with passion, aspiration and accomplishment it creates a winning formula resulting in achievement. Conference organizers that create a culture of curiosity gain both a short and long term competitive edge. Those that exhibit … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference culture of curiosity, culture of curiosity, curiosity, curiosity cycle, curiosity's benefits, curious, curious participants, discover, explore, questioning, right answers, search for solutions
Conference Purpose With Power And Participants Leads To Profitability June 14, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Does your event have a clear and inspiring purpose? (If you’re shaking your head yes, then what is it?) Now imagine someone asking your conference participants that question. How would they respond? I suspect they would say “Yes, of course it has a purpose!” Then they would launch into a passionate description of your event’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference organizer, conference professionals, conference purpose, lead with purpose, meeting professionals, purpose, purpose-driven, purpose-driven conference organizers, purpose-driven conferences
If You Design Conference Experiences, Read This! June 4, 2018 by Jeff Hurt We design experiences for our customers. So why don’t we design experiences for ourselves? Have we missed the obvious? (I confess: I have!) As conference organizers, why can’t we also have a fun, fulfilling, and collaborative experience planning and designing the conference? Well, we can and should! And our planning team members should too. Six … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference as a giving field, convergence, convergent thinking, design conference experiences, design conference participant experience, design conferences, divergent thinking, experience-driven feedback, inscaping, practive divergence, reflective thinking, role hacking
Your Conference As A Giving Field May 29, 2018 by Jeff Hurt We are used to thinking of our conference and its planning process as a one-way transaction from the company to its customers. Sometimes we view the planning process as a backbreaking, arduous, life-draining experience. We may even dread working with a new conference advisory committee due to our negative past experiences. If this sounds like … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference as a giving field, giving and receiving, transactional experience, transfromative experience
The Market Shifts That Led to Commission Cuts May 21, 2018 by Dave Lutz Marriott, Hilton and IHG have announced reductions in group-booking commissions from 10 percent to 7 percent for their North American hotels, to take place over a period of time this year and next. Marriott’s has already begun for most intermediaries. A 30-percent cut in one’s business model is a tough pill to swallow for any … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , group-booking commissions, hotel commissions cuts, influencers, influencers with less influence, lead-to-close rate, market shifts, prepaid commissions, revenue sharing, RFPs, tarnished commission model, third party meeting planners, third-party sourcing, trusted-advisor status
