When Conference Participants Vote With Their Feet July 11, 2016 by Jeff Hurt They’re voting with their feet. It’s a common phrase. And one that we as conference organizers should pay attention to. And let’s not forget: after participants vote with their feet, they vote with their wallet. We often wonder if a topic or session is valid or valuable to our stakeholders. The answer is frequently painfully … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference debriefs, conference evaluation, conference observation, conference pet projects, consumer driven events, customer feedback, feedback, vote with feet
Conference Organizer: Proceed With Caution! February 23, 2016 by Dave Lutz Danger, conference organizer! Danger! Did you ever watch the late-’60s sci-fi TV series Lost In Space? Yeah, most of you reading this are too young to know or remember it. Still you may have watched it in reruns or at a slumber party. It was known for its iconic robot that served as an early-tornado-type-siren. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , actionable metrics, conference best practices, conference evaluation, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, metrics, shatterpoints, vanity metrics
Business Improvement Conference Education Trends September 29, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Does your conference education drive attendees’ business performance? Or are your offerings more a roll of the dice, leaving it up to chance that they impact the attendees’ job performance. The most effective and successful conferences focus their learning opportunities on sustaining attendees’ critical strategic skills, building evolving organizational capabilities and linking conference education to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , adult education, building organizational capacity, business improvement, business performance, capacity building, conference education, conference evaluation, conference strategy, institutional capabilities, learning metrics, organizational learning
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
An Anthropologist Walks Into A Conference September 9, 2015 by Jeff Hurt As your conference grows, it faces increased complexity. According to a recent IBM study of 1,600+ CEOs, the biggest challenge their companies face is the complexity gap. Eight out of ten of those CEOs expect their business environment to grow in complexity but less than half are prepared to face that change. Your conference’s growth … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , anthropology, big data, big insights, conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, human sciences, measurement, phenomenology, Qualitative measures, speaker evaluations
Feeding A Zombie Project And Getting No Results June 22, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Is your organization stuck maintaining and nurturing a zombie project? A zombie project is one that continues from year to year regardless of its effectiveness. It sucks the very life and resources from your team and organization says authors Scott Anthony, David Duncan and Pontus M.A. Siren. Often many people feel these zombie projects have … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association best practices, conference best practices, conference evaluation, Conference Financials, conference planning team, strategic planning, strategic thinking
Measuring Actionable Or Vanity Conference Metrics June 8, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Your conference needs a checkup! Just like you need an annual doctor’s appointment for routine health checkup, your conference needs a routine checkup. Sure, you may feel like your conference doesn’t need it, just like you feel you don’t need a medical checkup. Regardless of how you feel, it is important. You need to assess … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Event Planning Tagged With: , actionable metrics, conference best practices, conference evaluation, conference indicators, conference performance indicators, KPI, KPIs, metrics, shatterpoints, vanity metrics
Frank Conversations On Better Conference Measurement May 5, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Recently, I wrote about how most conference organizers are really bad at measurement. Oh, we’re fairly good at measuring our conference goals. As long as those goals are based on common conference inputs and outputs. You know, expenses/revenue, attendance, exhibitors and sponsors. But rarely do we measure anything else that proves ROI, ROO or ROA … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, speaker evaluations
Conferences Need Quality Measurement Tools And Feedback To Spur Innovation April 23, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Most conferences suck at collecting data. (Oh, were good at collecting registration and fees but that’s about it!) It requires work, intentionality, time and interpretation to get the feedback we need to make improvements and drive innovation. I like what CEO and meetings professional Hugh Plappert says about conference measurement: Measuring requires planning. Planning requires … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, speaker evaluations
Conferences Suck At Measurement! April 22, 2014 by Jeff Hurt Conference professionals suck at measurement. If you trust your conference smile sheet evaluations as a barometer of how effective your conference education was, you are just being foolish says learning research psychologist Dr. Will Thalheimer. Ouch! The truth hurts! The Emptiness Of Smile Sheets Evaluations Thalheimer points to research that the smile sheet evaluation shows … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference evaluation, education best practices, speaker evaluations
