Improve Your Output by 10% with ChatGPT August 2, 2023 by David Beckett With AI and ChatGPT on the rise, event professionals now have a helpful tool that can elevate efficiency and improve work quality —and you don’t need to be an expert to harness its potential. Over the past few months, I’ve tested out real-world applications for leveraging the power of ChatGPT. Here are three work tasks … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Event Technology
Key Vendor Service-Level Expectations May 25, 2023 by Dave Lutz Key vendors who service the events industry lost a great deal of experienced talent during the pandemic and they haven’t fully restaffed. Here’s how event organizers can ensure they are still getting the service they require. Catering and convention services managers, AV/production project managers/producers, general service contractors, and housing and registration service providers — these … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Event Technology
Does the Perfect Virtual Event Platform Exist? October 1, 2020 by Lisa Block The answer, based on my unscientific survey of a dozen association leaders, is a resounding no. Planners are wading through recommendations from colleagues, trusted vendors and online forums to find the best platform for their needs. And it’s a murky and often frustrating experience. While there are many excellent solutions out there, none are “perfect” … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology, Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual
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
Looking into the Future of Event Tech April 24, 2019 by Dave Lutz Your guidepost for event-technology decisions should be to put your customer’s experience before your staff efficiency. As the event-tech space continues to evolve with a number of mergers and acquisitions, I see four changes coming for larger annual conferences. #1. Security is Expensive, but Critical Conference organizers are generally unaware that last year most event-technology … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology Tagged With: , AMS, big data, CRM, event technology, GDPR, lead retrieval, trade show
Event App Due Diligence October 10, 2017 by Dave Lutz Editor’s Note: This article was originally penned for PCMA’s Convene in the beginning of August, early on in the discovery that the Apple App Store’s change in guidelines could affect branded mobile event apps. Much has been written since, including evidence that Apple is taking action with some event app providers. From our view, our … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology
Ten Criteria for Vetting Event Technology Solution Providers (Updated) March 31, 2017 by William MacDonald Over the past decade, there have been significant upgrades and newcomers in the event technology space. These solutions claim to increase revenue, streamline processes, drive attendance, improve the attendee experience, provide data/insight and/or deliver ROI. There are several hundred event technology providers competing to win your business. When you consider varying pricing structures, functionality, and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology Tagged With: , conference technology, event technology, technology providers, technology solutions, technology vendors
Hybrid Meetings Doomed to Failure? Not So Fast March 17, 2017 by Betsy Bair I’ll admit that in 2011, when the Virtual Edge Institute (now called the Digital Experience Institute) first co-located its conference with the Professional Convention Management Association’s Convening Leaders, the experience fell flat for me. At the time, a mere six years ago, the fledgling for-profit entity that wagered its future on the potential of virtual … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology, Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , engagement, hyrbrid meetings, virtual meetings
Implicit vs. Explicit: Beyond the Badge Mass Personalization August 19, 2015 by Dave Lutz Whether your data capture and personalization efforts are implicit, explicit or a combination, it’s critical to develop a rubric. When combined with behavioral data, paths for mass personalization will emerge. Many associations are at the beginning of this journey and will learn much from internet commerce best practices. My Big Move Late last year, I … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology, Experience Design Tagged With: , behavioral data, conference best practices, event mobile apps, event technology, iBeacon, mass personalization
Harness Your Conference Data To Produce Big Insights July 31, 2015 by Dave Lutz Appeasing conference stakeholders has become more complex and difficult in today’s fast changing business climate. Maintaining and growing share of wallet, attention and loyalty requires intentionality. To out maneuver the conference competition, we have to be nimble, decisive and in constant beta mode. To compete today requires identifying, selling and leading change. This is a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Technology Tagged With: , analytics, big data, conference data collection, data mining, insights, Trade Show best practices, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices
