Conference Bulk Learning Is An Oxymoron April 24, 2013 by Jeff Hurt It sounds so cliché: Conference bulk learning is an oxymoron. Yet, too many of us have bought into the idea that the more information we have, the more information that we consume, the more information that we try to stuff in our heads, the better we are. Ultimately, information has become a problem, not a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conference education, conferences
Networking For Learning And What’s Next April 11, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Every first quarter I receive a string of emails from my undergraduate school inviting me to annual Homecoming and reunion. A couple months later, I start receiving emails from my high school inviting me back for my annual reunion. I decided a long time ago that I really didn’t want to relive my high school … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Conference Networking Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting best practices, networking
Reinventing, Reimagining And Rethinking Traditional Conferences April 10, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Activism, advocacy, associations, boardrooms, battlefields, churches, education, faith groups, governments, media, nonprofits, philanthropy, retail, technology and work are all being reinvented. We are rethinking and reimagining all of our traditional institutions. This includes the meetings industry’s traditional conference. Our conferences are being reinvented by people who don’t follow the accepted practices and unspoken rules. They … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conferences, meeting best practices, meeting planning best practices
Research: People Want Learning Opportunities At Tradeshows! April 5, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Many (exhibition) attendees have dual needs for attending: shopping (69%) and learning (66%). ~ CEIR, What Attendees Want From Exhibitions, February 4, 2013 They come to your tradeshow with very real learning needs related to their own personal and professional development. If you are not integrating more education experiences within and at your tradeshow, you … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, learning, tradeshow best practices, tradeshows
Your Conference Speakers’ Skills Gap Is Causing You To Lose Money April 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt The majority of your conference speakers have a major skills gap! They are relying on pedagogical mimicry–presenting the same way that their teachers taught them. That causes you and your conference to rely solely on a foundation of mimicry for education success. And this foundation is the exact the opposite of what your speakers should … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, industry speaker, professional speakers, speaker, Speaker Emerging Practices, speaker tips
Guaranteed To Disrupt Your Conference: The Generational Divide April 3, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Baby Boomers used to say “Don’t trust anyone under 30!” Today, the under 30s generation says, “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” If your conference is not prepared for the astonishing change in new attitudes and behaviors of the under 30s crowd, you are going to be left behind at the altar crying for more Baby … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conferences
Some Conferences Are Like Bad Funerals April 1, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Many annual meetings are like funerals of the past. Quiet, stoic, painfully long, full of tradition, and extremely passive. It’s hard to tell who really died as the audience is just as lifeless as the deceased. Sometimes these traditional conferences have doses of fear and damnation trying to scare people into doing something they don’t … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, EPIC conferences, event experience, participatory conferences
Content Is Not Education March 29, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Let’s get one thing straight: Content is not education! If content was education, then all of us would be very knowledgeable because we have information at our fingertips through the internet. But content is not education. Just as information and data is not education. Offering Content Is Not Enough People attend conferences for two primary … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, learning, meeting planning best practices
As A Conference Organizer Do You Have Delusional Data Hubris? March 22, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Do you believe that you currently collect all the necessary data from your meeting attendees? Are you convinced that you already have all of the important analytics regarding your conferences that you would ever need? Perhaps you are a conference organizer that thinks you have 100 percent of all the knowledge available to you through … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference data collection, conferences, data mining, meeting planning best practices
If Dr. Evil Were A Meeting Professional March 21, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Dr. Evil, a mastermind criminal cryogenically frozen in 1967 and reawakened in 1997, has challenges adapting to a new society, culture and rapid pace of change. This Austin Powers movie character is a great metaphor for many meeting professionals today. Dr. Evil frequently hatches new plans for world domination. Unfortunately, his plans are often just … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
