Exceeding Conference Attendee Expectations July 5, 2012 by Jeff Hurt What would it take for your conference attendees to call your annual meeting the greatest event on the Earth? Animal acts? High wire tightrope acrobatics? Clowns? Three rings of ongoing entertainment? A live band? It’s challenging to keep annual meetings fresh and exciting while maintaining integrity. Yet it’s very easy to duplicate last year’s event … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, emotional experience, event experience, loyalty, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, wow experience
Are You Using Up Your Event Customers? July 3, 2012 by Jeff Hurt The scarcest resource you have is a customer. You can’t manufacture them. You can’t outsource them. You can duplicate them. You can’t make them from a recipe. Your conference and event attendees are the scarcest resource you have. Money Or Customers? Which Do You Need? Which do you need more to have a successful event? … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Event ROC, Event ROI, loyalty, meeting professionals, return on attendee, return on customer
Measuring The Value Of Your Conference Attendee July 2, 2012 by Jeff Hurt One of the purposes of a business to business event is to build and strengthen customer relationships. Just as one of the purposes of a trade association’s annual meeting is to build and strengthen member relationships. So how do you quantify the value this brings to your organization? How do you quantify the value of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Event ROC, Event ROI, loyalty, meeting professionals, return on attendee, return on customer
From Boring To Beneficial Conference Education June 29, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Let’s face it. Most conference education is yawn-stirring, sleepy-eyed, ho-hum, day-old soggy Melba-toast tasting boring. It makes root-canals seem fun! Regardless, the human brain loves to learn. In spite of our age, culture, gender and race, our brains are designed to always be on the prowl for new things to discover and experience. The brain … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, meeting professionals, presentation best practices, presentation strategies, speaker tips
Conference Presenters Can Literally Change Attendees’ Minds June 28, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Conference attendees generally want to learn. Presenters generally want attendees to learn. Conference organizers and hosts generally want attendees to learn as well. So why does so little learning actually occur at a conference? Good Intentions Pave The Way To Learning Fail The conference organizers’ and presenters’ intentions are good. Unfortunately, their intentions go awry … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, presentation best practices, presentation strategies, speaker tips
Creating An Emotional Arc Within Your Conference Experience June 26, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Attendees experience a variety of emotions during a typical conference experience. Their short two- or three-day experience rivals that of any fictional drama. Hopes and dreams fill their minds. Anxiety, anticipation, excitement and fear jerk their emotions like a tilt-a-whirl. Egos and status posture for the lead emotional position. Emotions go from frustrations to fulfillment … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
Getting Your Sponsors To Trigger Their Sponsorships June 21, 2012 by Dave Lutz A trend we’re seeing is that exhibitors are requiring less square footage and shifting dollars to other sponsorship opportunities. Conference organizers need to think about how to convert exhibitor’s marketing dollars into sponsorship opportunities that benefit attendees. The Shift From Exhibiting To Sponsorships This shift requires a more strategic and consultative sales approach. Many conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, content marketing, exhibitors, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, sponsor activation, sponsor leverage, sponsorship
Six Conference Space Properties To Transform Attendee Behavior June 15, 2012 by Jeff Hurt As a meeting professional, you have the power to identify and manipulate the properties of a space to foster specific behaviors and attitudes. These spatial characteristics can be fine tuned to create a unique attendee experience. And it all rests within the power of your planning. Six Properties That You Can Adjust Properties are the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conferences, design for participation, meeting best practices, meeting space
Conference Organizers Are Space Designers, Cultural Translators And Learning Facilitators June 14, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Meeting space is the body language of the conference host organization.* Conference organizers have the ability to transform behavior, affect mood and foster learning with their attention and intention to the space’s design. Their lack of intention to that design also has an impact on the attendee. Your Space Decisions Define Your Beliefs The conference … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conferences, design for participation, meeting best practices, meeting space
Rethinking The Event Experience June 7, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Our conferences and events need to create a more powerful attendee-centric experience. The passive conference attendee experience of the past twenty years is not enough. Attendees no longer want to sit for hours and just listen to experts speak. They want to be involved. Attendees are demanding and expecting something different today. Or they will … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, meeting planner, meeting professionals
