Maximizing Your Conference Professional Speaker Investment April 9, 2012 by Jeff Hurt You’ve spent hours surfing websites, reading bios, evaluating presentation descriptions and viewing speaker online videos. You’ve finally reached a decision and secured a professional speaker to keynote your opening general session. You feel relief, accomplishment and maybe even exhaustion. Then you wonder, “Did I ask the speaker to do everything possible? Are there other things … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting best practices, meeting planner, meeting professional, professional speakers, speaker tips
11 Audiovisual Negotiating Tips For Meeting Success April 6, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Registration, room-blocks, ground and air transportation, accommodations, food, beverage, contracts, speakers, insurance, decor, meeting space, room capacities, ballrooms, schedules, room layouts, floor plans, contractors, union labor and much, much more. These are just some of the ingredients needed to put on a great meeting. Of course, we can’t forget that we need attendees, speakers, sponsors … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , audiovisual, AV, conference best practices, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
Why You Should Not Hire A Speaker That Will Alienate Part Of Your Audience April 4, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Learning is a fragile thing. It is a biological process that happens in the brain. Provide the wrong stimulus and the brain responds by shutting down the learning process and instead protecting the human body. In order for people to learn something, their basic needs have to be met first. They must feel like the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, general sessions, meeting planning best practices, Speaker Emerging Practices
Why Risky Conference Speakers Can Lead To Failed Learning April 3, 2012 by Jeff Hurt What do well-informed town halls and WWE’s “Friday Night SmackDown” have in common? A lot more than you would think. In 2009, both Friday Night SmackDown and healthcare town halls were sold out. Both witnessed a staged, well-rehearsed, public feud that was more about sensationalism than fact. During those healthcare town halls, two opposing sides … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, general sessions, meeting planning best practices, Speaker Emerging Practices
Why Do We Start Conferences With General Sessions? April 2, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Most conferences kickoff with an opening general session. Why? What’s the point? What’s the purpose of a general session? Back To Presentation Basics What’ the purpose of a speaker for any presentation? Nancy Duarte, author of Resonate says it best, Presentations are most commonly delivered to persuade an audience to change their minds or behavior. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, general sessions, meeting planning best practices, speaker, Speaker Emerging Practices
Four Ways To Create Customer Evangelists For Your Conferences And Events March 30, 2012 by Jeff Hurt What if you could create a volunteer army of true believers who spread the word about your conference? Would you? Sure you would. Creating Customer Evangelists More Profitable Than Marketing Creating customer evangelists is a more efficient and profitable approach to acquiring and retaining customers than traditional marketing says authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference marketing, conferences, content marketing, customer, customer evangelists, loyalty, meeting planning best practices
How To Use Your Meeting Space To Create An Ownership Experience March 22, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever been in an Apple Store? They are bright, open spaces with lofty ceilings, sleek design and great technology to play with at your fingertips. They offer a variety of services from the private one-on-one Genius Bar consultations to how-to classes to events to roving staff that are more like personal assistants than … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, design for participation, informal learning, meeting planning best practices, participatory learning, social learning
Improving Conference Attendee Experiences March 19, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Experiences are better when conferences are built around people. The conference experience greatly improves for all stakeholders when they are built around people and their relationships. Traditional Conference Experience The traditional conference is built around logistics and content. The majority of the conference organizer’s time is spent selecting and scheduling speakers. Organizers choose speakers based … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, engagement, event experience, meeting planner, meeting professional, network, social networking
Six Shifts From Meetings Logistics To Designing Experiences March 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Our world continues to change rapidly. Today conference organizers must respond to fundamental shifts in attendees’ needs and expectations. Attendees want more connectedness, customization, interactions, personalization, group problem-solving and mobility. Conventional thinking for meeting professionals is to focus on the logistics of the meeting space. We spend our time and energy on designing the container … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
Leveraging Professional Speakers For Conference Impact March 15, 2012 by Dave Lutz Most conference expense budgets are tight and limiting. Technology innovations, including Skype, Snagit, DIY screen capture and affordable video editing tools, can help you bring more thought leaders to your conference experience. Increasing Conference Value With Professional Speakers Professional speakers are often the most remembered, valued and polished elements of a conference. Typically they are … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, presentation best practices, professional speakers, speaker, Speaker Emerging Practices
