Navigating change during a crisis is not for the faint of heart. During my career leading association event teams, I regularly recalibrated and redefined team member roles in order to drive innovation and improve our meeting experiences. Not every effort was a rousing success but attempting to inject new conference elements made us more nimble, creative and smarter as a team. We are in the middle, I hope, of an extraordinary time in the meetings industry. Associations are struggling with … [Read more...]
If You Build It, Will They Come? How Two Large Fall Shows Are Forging Ahead
As many associations wrestle with decisions for their fall conferences and shows, the question on everyone’s mind is, if you build it, will they come? Join this interactive webinar to learn how organizers of two very large events—one a trade association and the other professional—are tackling, planning and preparing for this fall. They have two scenarios in mind: hybrid or virtual? Cancellation is not an option. Join us on Tuesday, June 23, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. EDT. By attending, you will … [Read more...]
The Future of Face-to-Face is Cloudy
I am getting a little overwhelmed by the many predictions that so-called experts are sharing about the future of face-to-face meetings. The range of opinions--from wild optimism to frightening pessimism--is exhausting to wade through. The news cycle of 24/7 pandemic coverage, conversation and debate has obscured the fact that travel and meeting attendance are not always decisions made by companies but by people. People are feeling cooped up and restrained and most crave a return to normalcy. But … [Read more...]
Webinar: Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free
PCMA is hosting a free webinar on Wednesday, May 13, at 2 pm ET, featuring Dave Lutz and Lisa Block of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting. Webinar description: Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free Everyone and their brother is hosting webinars and virtual networking opportunities. Like this one, most are free. This topic is a burning issue and promises to be a more engaging experience than most. Join us to: Explore virtual experience quality filters that will best … [Read more...]
[Webinar] Mission Critical: How One Association Transformed its Live Event to Virtual in Record Time
This is not a typical story. The American Association of Suicidology's annual meeting had been growing steadily in recent years. When their reimagined conference couldn't take place in Portland, Ore., in late April, staff and volunteers went into overdrive to transition the physical meeting to a virtual one in a matter of days.They knew how critical it was to deliver much-needed content to their global community. Jonathan and Colleen will share the unvarnished truth about what they learned, … [Read more...]
Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free
If you’re inbox is anything like mine, you could spend a good portion of our day consuming webinars, virtual events and networking in Zoom or Facebook Messenger Happy Hours. We’re on content overload and it’s only going to get noisier as the pandemic lingers. The dynamics that we’re seeing impact conferences and their business models are very similar to the Freemium movement we experienced way back in 2009. I’ll never forget a blog post, entitled “Malcolm is Wrong," which Seth Godin penned … [Read more...]
Virtual Events: Strategy Before Execution
My mother used to tell us that “things are going to be different” as we drove home from our annual summer beach vacation. It was her way of getting the family focused on the upcoming routine and discipline of school and work. I remember feeling that her words were both a warning and a promise of adventures yet to come. That lesson is easily applied to the challenges that lie ahead for associations considering alternatives and augmentation of their future live events. While live events are … [Read more...]
Steps You Should Be Taking Now for Your Fall Conference
This is the fourth in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. Over the past couple weeks, conversations with our clients have shifted from crisis decision-making for conferences occurring in the near-term (reactive) to scenario planning … [Read more...]
