Innovators Network Differently November 13, 2015 by Dave Lutz After studying a whole bunch of professional conferences, it’s very clear to me what separates a thriving event from one on life support. For multi-day conferences, a growing number register and return because of who else will be there. Our attendees have more choices than ever for professional development and acquiring purchasing intelligence. Today, it’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , active participation, conference best practices, engagement, Innovation, innovators, networking
Seven Reasons Why Your Conference Attendees Don’t Want You To Change November 6, 2015 by Jeff Hurt It’s just not the conference is used to be! That’s a common complaint from long-term conference attendees. Often they resist changes or conference growth. Conference organizers have to carefully watch placating these long-term attendees versus attracting new ones. Sometimes, we have to let the legacy attendees complain or leave in order to make the appropriate … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , change, change management, conference best practices, conference growth, growing attendance
Cultivating A Conference Culture Of Community November 4, 2015 by Jeff Hurt To think about a conference is to think about community, networking, peer learning, food and table. In reality, if you are attending a conference and you are not getting hungry for more learning and peer sharing, that conference is missing the mark. Successful conferences provide ample opportunity for attendees to finger tasty ideas and feed … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, authentic community, community, conference best practices, connections, connexity, food and beverage, images, metaphors, narraphors, story sharing, table talk
Moneyball For Conferences: You Want Your Meeting to Mean Something October 15, 2015 by Jeff Hurt We just won twenty games in a row, said the fictitious Peter Brand, advance scout for Oakland A’s. And what’s the point? said Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. We just got the record, said Brand. Man, I’ve been doing this for… listen, man. I’ve been in this game a long time. I’m not in … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference indicators, conference metrics, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, lagging indicators, leading indicators, measurement, shatterpoints
The Conference Lecture Paradox October 1, 2015 by Jeff Hurt When talking about conference education, most people think about the traditional lecture. It is perceived as the holy grail of much of the conference. Many attendees swear they learn a lot from those subject matter expert speeches. It’s a paradox. Attendees flock to general sessions and breakouts to hear a lecture. Yet science says they … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, conference best practices, conference education, conference lecture, Education & Adult Learning, lecture, participatory learning
Getting Attendees Wrong: The Age Of Discontinuity September 28, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Some conference planning teams get their attendees wrong! So why do we get it so wrong? It has everything to do with the rapid pace of change—the age of discontinuity as Drucker called it—and our default thinking. The heart of our current organizational challenges is that we rarely diverge from our default thinking. We assume … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , Attendee Acquisition, attracting attendees, conference audiences, conference best practices, conference planning team, Qualitative measures
Do You Have A Fixed Or Growth Conference Mindset? [Infographic] September 18, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Your perspective on whether you can grow your conference or whether it will stay the same has everything to do with your future. Your conscious and unconscious beliefs have a profound impact on your success says Stanford Psychology Professor Carol Dweck. Changing one of those beliefs greatly influences your future. Here are the two mindsets … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attitude, conference best practices, fixed mindset, growth mindset
Grow Your Conference By Becoming An Attendee Action Hero September 17, 2015 by Jeff Hurt You don’t have to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Nor do you have to fly at the speed of light to respond to a conference crisis. Nor do you have to use your special hidden super powers to meet your attendees’ expectations. Instead, it’s more about reliability than heroics. It’s about creating a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee growth, attendee ROI, attendee satisfaction, conference best practices, conference growth, conference improvement, conferences, listening, long term growth
High-Stake Conference Partnerships September 15, 2015 by Dave Lutz As brands evolve, they are increasingly looking for marketing investments where they can make an emotional impact with a defined target market. Most of them can do it with or without you (ambush marketing), but most would rather partner and support organizations that are already serving a demographic that matches up with their best customers. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference revenue optimization, Partnerships, sponsorship best practices, sponsorship sales, Strategic Sponsorship
Using Human Sciences To Navigate Your Conference’s Future Through The Fog September 11, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Our linear and rational conference business models are our default thinking. Unfortunately, those traditional models cause us to navigate in a fog when the conference challenge is less straightforward. There are better ways to understand how to grow your conference than what you’ve done in the past. As conference professionals, we are inclined to continue … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , anthropology, big data, big insights, conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, human sciences, measurement, phenomenology, Qualitative measures
