Maximizing Attendee Trust, Mining Weak Ties And Conference Marketing October 7, 2013 by Sarah Michel Here are more tips on how weak ties make strong conferences from VCC’s VP of Connexity, Sarah Michel. Note: She recently wrote about how weak ties can make conferences stronger, connexity and speed networking tips as well as has her own series called Perfecting Connecting. Maximizing Trust Between Conference Attendees One way to maximize trust … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Conference Networking Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, networking
Fostering Weak Ties And Speed Networking Tips For Your Conference October 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt VCC’s VP of Professional Connexity, Sarah Michel, is the go-to-networker-guru. She lives and breaths networking and connexity. She recently wrote about how weak ties can make conferences stronger and connexity, and has a series called Perfecting Connecting. After reading her recent post, I had several questions about weak ties, speed networking and conferences. I wanted … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, networking
Weak Ties Make Stronger Conferences October 3, 2013 by Sarah Michel Think about who connected you to your current job? I’m willing to bet it was a weak connection; someone you just met, didn’t know very well or hadn’t talked to in years. The facts are that when it comes to looking for information, opportunities and connections, weaker connections are more helpful than our strongest ones. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, networking
Eight Unique Types Of Conference Relationships You Can Grow October 2, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Relationships can be messy business! We all have some type of unique relationship with everyone that we know. We have long histories with some people that include thousands of distinct touchpoints and interactions that shape how we feel about one another. We are very close to some people and not so close to others. We … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, networking
Conference Audiences Expect These Things [Updated] September 26, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Conference audiences of days gone by were satisfied with the gathering of colleagues, a mediocre experience and a few useful tips. Today’s audiences are more demanding and sophisticated. They expect to learn practical and useful information that solves their individual problems. They expect speaker presentations that are compelling and memorable. And they expect to be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , audience expectations, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, presentation strategies
Improve Your Conference Lecture By Using These Questions For Peer Discussions September 23, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Today, most conference audiences would prefer to engage in one-on-one peer-to-peer discussions than listen to another panel or lecture. It is also clear that employers today place more emphasis on securing employees that are good at engaging others in face-to-face interactions to problem solve, work together and interpret data. Ultimately, peer learning is highly valued … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conferences, paragogy, peer-to-peer, peerology
Follow These Tips To Engage Millennials In Your Conference Experience September 17, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Millennials are eager to connect, participate and give says the 2013 Millennial Impact Report by Achieve. Since 2009, the report has focused on Millennial behaviors that would interest many nonprofits and conference organizers including trends in communication, service and giving. The report illustrates that the next generation is passionate about people not hierarchies, institutions, organizations … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , attracting millennials, conference best practices, conferences, generations, GenX, GenY, Millennial
Conference Organizers Should Be Great CEOs: Chief Experience Officers! September 16, 2013 by Jeff Hurt What do conference organizers really do? They organize all the aspects of the conference experience. I believe that title—conference organizer–doesn’t serve us anymore. It doesn’t convey the right information as putting together logistics is like putting together quilt pieces without any plan. It’s just stitching pieces together and crossing your fingers that it will result … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference experience, conferences, event experience, Innovation, meeting planner, meeting professionals
Bringing The Sexy Back To Conferences [And Conference Planning] September 12, 2013 by Jeff Hurt If you have ever attended a conference, you know how most of them feel. They start with a general session, followed by a break, followed by concurrent breakouts, followed by a lunch, followed by exhibits followed by an evening activity. Rinse. Lather. Repeat for a couple more days. They all feel the same and follow … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Innovation, meeting planner, meeting professionals
Q&A Will Not Satisfy Conference Audience Cravings For Participation September 9, 2013 by Donna Kastner Mary: Impressive presentation, John, but I’m a little concerned that there’s no audience participation. John: No problem, we’ll open the floor to Q&A at the end. Mary: Okay, but there’s still 45 minutes of one-way lecturing going on. John: Good point. Let’s add another Q&A segment midway through the presentation. We interrupt this blog post with an important … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , active learning, adult learning, brain-friendly conferences, conference best practices, Education & Adult Learning
