The Conference Owner’s Guide: From Conference Touchpoints To Journey Experiences Part 1 January 25, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Too often conference and meeting professionals assume that their role is best suited to planning and executing the conference. They leave the big decisions about target customers, their needs and their aspirations to the organization’s leaders, the marketing department or even the education division. Sometimes they say, “Well, I’m not in charge of programming, content … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference customer experience journeys, conference customer journey, conference experience leader, conference experrience, conference journey, conference owner, conference owner's guide, conference touchpoints, customer experience, event-customer-experience business
The Conference Owner’s Guide To Customer Experience January 24, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Who owns the overall experience that customers have at your conference? Who oversees and manages the conference customers’ journey? Is it you or someone else? Or perhaps no one is considering the holistic experience of your conference customer? Are you functioning as a scheduler and executor of the conference with a divide and conquer mentality … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference customer journey, conference experience leader, conference experrience, conference journey, conference owner, conference owner's guide, customer experience, event-customer-experience business
Creating A Customer-Centric Conference Strategy January 18, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Established, successful conferences have leadership that are usually adept at incrementally improving their event each year. They focus on securing better content and speakers. Or improving registration and marketing practices. Or creating unique receptions and parties. Or decreasing expenses and increasing revenue. One improvement tactic–curating conference programming that meets your customers’ needs–is foundational yet proving … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , aspirations, conference strategy, Customer Centricity, customer-centered, customer-centric, customer-centric conference strategy, needs
Dear Association Leader Who Defends And Champions Status Quo January 16, 2018 by Jeff Hurt Dear Association Leader: The status quo does not have your best interest at heart. It feels safe. And familiar. And comfortable. And even successful. But it’s not. It’s a very enticing powerful force. It can seduce you into a seemingly logical yet inadvisable present-forward mindset. You project today’s business into the future and expect yesterday’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association leaders, change-agent, change-agent leader, customer loyalty, future-back mindset, present-forward mindset, status quo
En Route For Next-Gen Conference Audiences January 10, 2018 by Dave Lutz Will Millennials be joiners and conveners? Who are some of your next audiences to attract? Will your organization accumulate comparable lifetime customer value from next-generation members as it did from loyal Boomers? This is the first of two posts that are intended to be a helpful resource for conference organizers as they develop their attendee … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attracting millennials, generations, Millennial, next audiences, next gen, next-generation conferences
When Contemplating Conference Growth, Think Next Audiences Which Includes Next Gen September 21, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Too often when we think about conference growth or sustainability, we assume it means attracting next gen customers. We pinpoint a specific generation, usually Millennials. Then we discuss how to plan, program and market to that specific age group. Eventually our planning discussions turn to generational differences. Those conversations can quickly digress into personal pet … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , Baby Boomers, generational differences, GenX, Millennial, next audiences, next gen, next-generation conferences, Traditionalists
Four Personalization Strategies Conferences And Associations Can Adopt From Education September 19, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Let’s separate reality from fiction regarding personalized conference experiences and personalized learning. Fact: Meeting professionals and conference vendors frequently confuse personalization with configurable conference experiences. They are not the same thing. Fact: Conference planners and association leaders are easily persuaded by the puffery of conference personalization. Those that want to pursue personalization need to be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult education, behaviorial data, competency-based progression, conference education, conference personalization, configuation, flexible learning environment, learner profiles, learning journeys, mass personalization, personal learning journeys, personalization, personalized conference expereinces, personalized conference experience, personalized learning
Successful Conference Professionals Understand, Design And Offer Deep Learning Experiences To Attendees July 27, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Most conferences offer some type of learning opportunities for their participants. From informal peer networking to roundtable discussions to formal expert lectures and panel discussions. The education opportunities abound. Traditionally, the goal of conference education is to deliver as much information as possible as fast as possible to as many people as possible. Today, many … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , authentic learning, conference education, conference learning experiences, deep learning, designing learning experiences, learning design, learning experiences, shallow learning, surface learning
Designing 21st Century Conference Learning Experiences And Spaces July 25, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Our conference learning spaces affect our audience. We must learn to think like designers. Then we can focus on changing our conference participants’ learning spaces with the right goal in mind—nurturing their learning. Be forewarned! We are not decorating learning spaces. We are designing them to foster, nurture and amplify our participants’ learning. (Hat tips … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference education, conference learning experiences, conference learning spaces, designing learning experiences, designing learning spaces, learning design, learning experiences, learning spaces
Are We Creating The Wrong Type Of Conference Experiences? June 28, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Everyone’s talking about the need to create customer experiences. (Yes, including us, the Velvet Chainsaw team.) It’s as if Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore’s Experience Economy is just now hitting its stride—for conferences at least. The word is out: we’ve got to create conference experiences, not just conferences that feel like a patchwork quilt of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , 4Ds conference experience, conference experience, conference experience design, deep connections, deep learning, deep play, deep reflection, dopamine drip, limbic system, prefrontal cortex
