Your Brain Wants To Avoid Thinking In Conference Settings August 14, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Your brain is built to survive! It’s in the biology and chemistry of your brain to survive at all costs. Survival and protection are at the top of the list when it comes to brain activity. It even outranks thinking in priority. Survival Trumps Thinking Your brain will avoid thinking in order to conserve energy … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , brain science education, brain-friendly conferences, brain-friendly meetings, conference best practices, conferences, education best practices, thinking
Five Fears That Keep You From Accomplishing Amazingly Awesome Stuff August 8, 2014 by Jeff Hurt If you’re an association executive or conference organizer, you know where you stand within your organization. Deep down, you desire to be and do more. No, your drive is not greed in disguise. Nor is your drive selfish in nature. It’s actually a noble drive as you want to make a difference. Your drive is … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association, association best practices, conference best practices, conferences, fear
Secret Shoppers Spot Conference Experiences You’ll Likely Miss August 6, 2014 by Donna Kastner Secret shopping conferences and trade shows is something we do regularly. We don’t call it secret shopping. At the end of the day, it’s an apt description, as we’re immersing ourselves in the attendee (buyer’s) experience. We’re evaluating every component through the attendee’s lens to assess what’s working, what needs to be tweaked, and what needs … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference improvement, trade show improvement
Three Luxuries You Cannot Afford That Harm Your Conference Planning July 28, 2014 by Jeff Hurt When we were younger, many of us dreamed of changing the world. Nothing could get in the way of our dreams. We were out to make a difference. We wanted to change lives across the globe. Then we grew up. We began to think of our dreams as unrealistic or childish. We see our aspirations … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences
Testimonials Don’t Convert Conference Prospects July 24, 2014 by Wendy Holliday You’ve heard the litany: Testimonials are great third party endorsements. Using testimonials will increase your conference attendance. Yadda Yadda It’s all bull. Two big reasons you should do it anyway. 1. Smart testimonials will make people pause. Testimonials can give marketers what they want…a better chance of being heard and considered. Our lives are cluttered with … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , 3rd party endorsements, attendance marketing, conference best practices, meeting planning best practices, testimonials, using testimonials, writing testimonials
Ambush Marketing: 4 Ways to Diffuse Conference Scammers by Dave Lutz A few practices keep chipping away at the integrity of professional events. Chief among them are outboarding, when companies bypass exhibiting or sponsoring and set up shop on the fringe of your event, and suitcasing, which refers to non-exhibiting sellers who work the aisles or hallways. Lobby rats — non-registered folks who hang out in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , Ambush Marketing, conference best practices, outboarding, suitcasing, tradeshow
Your Conference Needs A Customer Vision Statement July 17, 2014 by Jeff Hurt What is your vision for your conference customer? In case you are confused by the term conference customer, I mean your paying attendee or registrant. What is your vision for your conference customer, the paying attendee? How do you hope to help your paying attendee to grow, evolve or transform? What traits and characteristics do … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attendee growth, attracting attendees, conference audiences, conference best practices, customers, Innovation
Designing Conference Customers, Not Just Traditional Conferences July 16, 2014 by Jeff Hurt We are thinking about conference innovation from the wrong perspective. We usually think about conference innovation as something we create for our paying attendees. Or we think about innovation as something we design with attendees through crowdsourcing. We need to make a critical leap. Conference innovation is a way to design attendees! Innovation should be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attendee growth, attracting attendees, conference audiences, conference best practices, customers, Innovation
Measuring What Matters To Your Conference July 11, 2014 by Jeff Hurt If the only conference numbers you care about are attendance, exhibitors, revenue and profits, you will never be able to understand why those numbers fluctuate. You’re only guessing and planning conference programming through a shot-gun approach if you don’t get serious about measurement. It’s time to stop relying on your gut. Or your volunteer conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, conference best practices, conferences, empathy mapping, measurement, target market
Using Empathy Mapping To Create Conference Target Market Personas July 10, 2014 by Jeff Hurt We could all use a little more empathy…and a little less yelling! And your organization could definitely cultivate more empathetic team members who help plan and design your conference and education offerings. Why We Need More Empathy For Our Stakeholders Empathy is walking in another person’s shoes and understanding life through their eyes. It is … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference, conference best practices, customer, empathy mapping, Innovation, target market
