The Growing Majority Of The Conference Declined February 26, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Who are the people that don’t regularly attend conferences? What are the traits of those that devalue the traditional conference experience? It seems that what attracts some people to conferences actually repels others. Some see the traditional conference experience as stale and predictable. They are uninterested in spending $1,500-$2,000 in registration, airfare, lodging and expenses … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , attendee experience, conference best practices, conference experience, traditional conferences
The Next Frontier Of Conference Improvement: Conference Education February 25, 2015 by Dave Lutz Traditional conference education models have lost their relevance. The process of distributing a call for session and speaker submissions, selecting experts that transmit and dispense information, and packaging it as professional development for the masses is overdone. One-size-fits-all education doesn’t work anymore. We are in the midst of great workplace disruption, brought on by a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, peer-based learning
Myths Your Conference Should Stop Perpetuating February 19, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Your conference is spreading the cult of myths, traditions and rituals. How so? What do you mean? You ask. Providing conference education is not as intuitive as it seems! Science shows that there is a right way and a wrong way to design, deliver and implement conference education. Unfortunately, most conferences ignore the science. Instead, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, conference session, learning myths
Successful Conferences Link Learning To Business Performance February 16, 2015 by Jeff Hurt A new study finds that successful businesses focus on linking learning to business performance. And the most successful conferences link their learning opportunities to their target market’s strategic business interest. Ultimately, these conference organizers understand that what happens back in the attendees’ office after the event is much more important that what happens at the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , business performance, conference best practices, conference session
Conference Investors Crave Strategic Sponsorships: Will You Satisfy Them? January 23, 2015 by Donna Kastner There’s a major shift going on. An increasing number of conference and trade show investors are scaling back on booth space and shifting that spend to sponsorships. It’s a ripe opportunity for organizers to diversify their conference business model. The Shift To Strategic Sponsorships There’s another shift that has even greater ramifications for conference and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference revenue optimization, sponsorship sales strategy, strategic sponsorships, trade show sponsorship
Your Conference Audience Matters More Than You Think! January 22, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Having an audience at a conference is no longer a novel idea. It’s expected and a given. Unless you’re a speaker that didn’t resonate with this audience in a past meeting. Then you probably have a very small or limited audience if any. How you define your conference audience defines how you design your event. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , co-creation, community, conference audiences, conference best practices, conference experience, participant-centric
Is Your Conference Fostering Conscious Cognitive Misers? January 21, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Are you creating intellectually lazy conference participants? Your conference programming may harbor bias toward minimizing cognitive efforts. In other words, your conference sessions and speakers may actual curtail participants’ thinking. Your conference could be creating happy fools. These happy fools blindly respond to their own problems by erroneously using your conference takeaways as accurate solutions. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, copying great ideas, education best practices, transformational conferences, transformational learning
Borrowing Great Ideas Leads To The Risks Associated With Mimicry January 20, 2015 by Dave Lutz We seem to always be looking for the next quick tip, idea, or feature to implement for our next conference. But not so fast — there’s some work that needs to be done first. Just copying someone else’s success and ideas is an easy way out. Give Me Your Great Ideas…Fast! We like to see … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , adult learning principles, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conference education, copying great ideas, education best practices, exhibit, Learning Lounge, list education sessions, mimicry
Become A Ridiculously In Charge Rock Solid Conference Leader January 19, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Every person in a team is a leader. ~ Alison Levine, 2015 PCMA Convening Leaders. Leadership matters! Whether leading an entire conference team or working in a meetings department as part of a team, leadership matters. So are you a conference leader? Do you lead others in a way to get their brains, hearts, minds … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , becoming a conference leader, Conference 2.0, conference best practices, conference leadership, leadership, meeting professional
Adopt These Four Values To Super Charge Your Conference Participant Peer Learning January 16, 2015 by Jeff Hurt In today’s high-tech, information-at-your-thumbs world, education models have shifted. Our conference participants now have the capacity and cultural motivation to produce their own knowledge. They experience overwhelmingly support for creating and sharing information and connections in their daily lives. We continue to witness the rise of the participatory culture as Henry Jenkins describes it. These … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active participation, adult education, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, participatory culture, participatory learning
