More Marketing Isn’t the Answer November 6, 2017 by Dave Lutz A strategic look at your marketing spend, as well as what you spend on your attendee experience, can be telling. According to Convene’s most recent Meetings Market Survey, on average 6 percent of a meeting’s direct expenses fall in the marketing/promotion category. After studying 100 or so meetings’ profit and loss (P&L) statements in great … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , attendee experience, benchmarks, conference marketing, conference marketing spend
Even More Buckaroo Breakaway Cadillac Conference Programming Trends – Part 2 January 19, 2017 by Jeff Hurt Expect the unexpected…just as Buckaroo Banzai did in the 1980s movie of the same name. Buckaroo and his merry band of cavaliers were ready to save the world from whatever came their way. They would embrace the context of each dimension much like you need to embrace these current conference programming trends. While these trends … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, collaboration, conference organizer, disruption, future-focused conference programming, leadership, meeting planner, strategic thinking, systems thinking, trends
Buckaroo Breakaway Cadillac Conference Programming Trends Looming Your Way In 2017 – Part 1 January 18, 2017 by Jeff Hurt It’s the adventures of your next conference experience across the eighth dimension. Oh, wait. That’s the intro to Buckaroo Banzai about the adventures of the science fiction rock musician and his band of cavaliers. Well, similar to Buckaroo’s adventures, you have the opportunity to take your band of conference participants into the 21st Century conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, choice architects, conference organizer, conversational intelligence, curators, future-focused conference programming, learning design, meeting planner, trends, We-Centric
Cultivating A Conference Culture Of Community November 4, 2015 by Jeff Hurt To think about a conference is to think about community, networking, peer learning, food and table. In reality, if you are attending a conference and you are not getting hungry for more learning and peer sharing, that conference is missing the mark. Successful conferences provide ample opportunity for attendees to finger tasty ideas and feed … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, authentic community, community, conference best practices, connections, connexity, food and beverage, images, metaphors, narraphors, story sharing, table talk
Using The Power Of Stories To Transform Conference General Sessions July 27, 2015 by Jeff Hurt We are a story driven world. We are each a story wrapped in a skin says Dr. Leonard Sweet. When we begin to share our journeys, our stories intersect. Our conferences need to create more story people. We need to transition from speakers talking at audiences and experts telling their stories. We need to move … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, community, connections, connexity, general session, general sessions, images, metaphors, narraphors, neuroscience, stories, story people, story sharing, storytelling, table talk, unforgettable events
Morphing Attendees into Story People Through Narraphors and Frames July 21, 2015 by Jeff Hurt We are wired for stories. Every person you meet is a story wrapped in a skin says author, futurist and sociologist Dr. Leonard Sweet. As our lives intersect, so do our stories. We can encourage conference attendees to transition from story listeners to story sharers. Then our attendees become story people participating in a bigger … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, community, connections, connexity, general session, general sessions, images, metaphors, narraphors, neuroscience, stories, story people, story sharing, storytelling, table talk, unforgettable events
Impotent Conferences Are Powerless To Influence Forward Movement July 1, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Imagine a radio station that played adult contemporary, classical, country, dance, electronic, golden oldies, heavy metal, news, pop, R&B, rock, southern gospel and talk alternating between each. What if this commercial radio station tried to appeal to everyone’s musical taste as well as news and talk radio? How successful would it be? It wouldn’t work, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, conference organizer, learning, meeting professional, networking, strategic thinking, target market
Misguided And Misinformed Conference Barometers May 8, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Many of us who plan conferences have become so busy at the logistics of the event that we lose sight of the goal. When planning an event, we immediately go into automatic overdrive. We do the same things we’ve always done because it’s efficient and familiar to us. The over arching goals of the conference—providing … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, shatterpoints, traditional conferences
Human Centered Design Will Impact Your Conference Experience [Infographic] May 1, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Take a look at some of the research and predictions from Hyper Island on how Experience Design is more critical to businesses than price. Applying this research to the business of conferences, paid attendee experience will soon become the unique selling point of conference over price and product. Are you even thinking about designing a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference experience, human centered design, user experience design
The Greatest Conference Story Never Told April 27, 2015 by Jeff Hurt It’s time to bring back the luncheon table at your next conference. When attendees break bread together at the table, community is born. It’s where the stories of our profession, our lives, our past and our future are shared, retold, relived and remembered. Too many conferences have made a catastrophic mistake. In the name of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, community, connections, connexity, entrainment, food and beverage, images, metaphors, narraphors, neuroscience, stories, story sharing, storytelling, table talk, unforgettable events
