Tag: conference best practices


Creating A Stronger Conference Story

What do vacations and colonoscopies have in common? More than you think! Emmy-winning former Wall Street Journal and NBC journalist, author, inventor and business consultant Kare Anderson shares her thoughts on creating a stronger conference story. She discusses the importance of creating conversation threads and a participatory purposeful narrative that invites others to join in … [Read more…]

New Movies Have Preview Trailers: What Does Your Upcoming Conference Education Have?

Does your conference education have coming attraction previews? No, not those stale electronic and printed marketing pieces with descriptions, bios and pictures. Does your organization provide smart, savvy, provocative short video clips of upcoming education designed to attract buyers? The Movie Trailer Promotion When you go to the movies, the first 10-15 minutes before the … [Read more…]

Creating Conference Meeting Space For Innovation And Collaboration

Walk into any space and consciously or not, that space tells us about how to respond. We internally feel what we are supposed to do there. We read the physical environment like we read another person’s emotions. The context of the space determines what we do there. Space Matters Space is the body language of … [Read more…]

Seeing The Conference Keynote As A Voyage To Human Transformation

As a conference organizer, what’s your goal when you secure a speaker for a keynote presentation? Motivation? Humor? Inspiration? Education? To provoke? Entertainment? Complete a schedule? Kickoff an event? Benefiting The Attendees If you are really dedicated to helping your conference attendees benefit from a keynote presentation, doesn’t it make sense to know as much … [Read more…]

Social Media And Events: Listening, Pre-Conference Chats And Community Managers

Are you using social media as a push or pull strategy for your event? Are you trying to force traditional marketing strategies into the social media funnel? Author Jonathan Fields discusses ways to use social media for your next conference or event beyond the traditional social media marketing strategies. Video edited from PCMA’s Convening Leaders … [Read more…]

Old Conference Education Memes Die Hard

What does it mean to learn at a conference? What tools does it take for learning to be successful in that environment? Most people say that successful learning occurs when a speaker presents to an audience. It requires a subject matter expert (SME) or panel of SMEs, research, content and a lecture. It must have … [Read more…]

Why Conferences Need More Peer To Peer Talking And Less Monologues

Hardwired into every one is the desire to communicate! We crave and need communication with each other. Listening to conference lectures is one-sided. It doesn’t provide the same fulfillment as two-way dialogue with our peers. As long as our attendees participate in speaker monologues and panel dialogues, they lack the ability to grow social bonds … [Read more…]

Conference Attendees Remember What They Think About

Conference speakers make assumptions every day about how their attendees comprehend, remember and apply the information they hear. These assumptions, as well as their presentation decisions, are based on a mix of theories, trial and error, past experiences with their own teachers and professors, and instinct. Yet are these theories, experiences and instinct serving the … [Read more…]

Are You A Risky RFP Abuser?

Our profession is at risk. More small meetings, shorter lead times and RFP abuse are on a collision course for commoditizing our industry. It shouldn’t be commoditized! Hotels react by throwing technology and lower-level sales professionals against the problem. The model is not sustainable. Group Meetings Are Big Business Even a small meeting of 25 … [Read more…]

Becoming Conference Brain Changers

Never in society have we known so much about how our brains operate and how we learn. Today, we know what to do to foster successful learning at our conferences and events. Becoming A Brain Changer Research in cognitive neuroscience or mind, brain and education science is providing exciting new insights into how the brain … [Read more…]