We recently convened a roundtable of senior-level conference organizers to discuss risk tolerance and the forces that are shaping their 2021/22 event strategies and decisions. Three primary risk categories are emerging as organizations weigh their options for major conferences in 2021: Mitigating financial risk Member considerations and communications Health, safety and duty of care Mitigating Financial Risk Financial predictions. Financial challenges continue to be at the … [Read more...]
Beyond Hybrid: Repackaging Your Conference Content
Over the past nine months, many industry experts have proclaimed that meetings and conferences are forever changed and hybrid is here to stay. While I agree in principle, I think the future is so much more than hybrid. Meetings of the future will be improved and monetized by embracing the tenets of strategic product management. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we should optimize the benefits of the best, most-advanced and relevant content from your annual conference by … [Read more...]
PCMA’s First Omnichannel Convening Leaders: The Great, the Good and the Not So…
I was excited to attend PCMA’s Omnichannel Convening Leaders event last week. Having attended more than 20 of PCMA’s Annual Meetings over the years (both in person and virtually), I expected high energy, experimental delivery and great content. I wasn’t expecting to connect with my friends or to feel the same high I get from the in-person meetings. Those expectations were largely met. The Great: Global Reach and Main-Stage Experiences Applause to PCMA for engaging the global business events … [Read more...]
[Webinar] Rethink, Restart, Refresh Your Panels: Advice for 2021
Ring in the New Year with advice from two renowned experts on speaker coaching and panel improvement, Kristin Arnold and Sarah Michel. The shift to virtual events has magnified the need to add spice and spunk to your conference’s panel discussions so that you leave the audience begging for more. You’ll get more than a few nuggets from Kristin’s just-published book, “123 Ways to Add Pizazz to a Panel Discussion.” Please join us on Wednesday, January 27, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. EST for … [Read more...]
Get Conference Inspiration from Trusted Peer Connections
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 imagined. In spite of all the bad, there is also much that is positive for the next phase of association conferences. Earlier in my career I got connected to a network of … [Read more...]
2021 Virtual-Conference Big Ideas
In 2020, attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors were more forgiving of our virtual conferences than they will be in 2021. They, like you, are all experiencing Zoom fatigue and will have much higher expectations for conferences this coming year — especially those they are investing their precious time and money. Don’t waste a good crisis. Use this opportunity to beta test changes that can be carried over to the next in-person conference. While in the second half of 2020 many virtual conferences … [Read more...]
Normal is Over(rated) – For Now
This is a guest post by Joy S. Davis, CAE, based on an email she sent to me after reading Lisa Block’s recent post, “I Am Sorry, But We Are Not All Fine.” Joy is Managing Director, Member Products, for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Not too long ago, I gently asked my Executive Director to stop opening her weekly columns to members with a depressing reminder of COVID-19 and how weird things are right now. She’s a very upbeat, can-do kind of person, and her columns are … [Read more...]
I Am Sorry, but We Are Not All “Fine”
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 the end of the pandemic tunnel. Prognosticators and industry cheerleaders keep telling us that things will get back to normal…but who can say what normal is? Or if we even want to go back to the way … [Read more...]
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