Throughout 2022, nearly every meeting service provider continues to be short-staffed and plagued by last-minute no-shows or insufficiently skilled workers. This is having a huge impact on event organizers and their teams during both planning and execution phases of events. More than ever, we need to be running several steps ahead — checking, double-checking, and even pitching in to ensure the attendee and exhibitor experience doesn’t suffer. To best prepare you, here are eight kinds of … [Read more...]
Fostering a Winning Conference Culture
I have been struck by the disparity in how an association’s organizational culture translates (or doesn’t translate) to the on-site implementation or planning of its live events. There are many associations that tout their open and supportive cultures. But when it gets to “go time,” does that culture manifest at your conferences and meetings? Online forums have tackled this issue in recent weeks and it is clear that not all organizations support their on-site operations effectively or … [Read more...]
Meeting Professionals Anxiously Want To Start Their Improvement Planning Process Yesterday
Conference and meeting professionals like action when planning their events. They are accustomed to juggling multiple demands. They have long to-do lists that require their attention and often exceed their available time. So, they have the tendency to want to hurry up and check-off items on their to-do list--yesterday. Herein likes one of their challenges when starting a conference improvement process. They have to put on the breaks to avoid jumping into planning before they’ve identified … [Read more...]
The Crisis of Connection
We’re lonely. And not just a little lonely. We’re experiencing a global epidemic level of loneliness. Last week, the U.K. appointed Tracey Crouch as the Minister of Loneliness after the British parliament released a five-year study on loneliness that found more than 9 million people in the country reported they often or always feel lonely. Across the globe, loneliness is fast becoming one of our most serious health epidemics and is a greater predictor of early death than obesity, smoking … [Read more...]
Why Your Conference Should be Target-Audience Obsessed
In order to design relevant education and networking experiences at our conferences, we need to be focused to the point of obsession with our target audience. Over the past 18 months, we’ve carefully scrubbed and analyzed the attendance of 20 major conferences. These projects had an aggregate attendance of 110,000-plus participants with registration revenue in excess of $30 million. Peter Fader, professor of marketing at Wharton, and author of Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers … [Read more...]
Our Increased Distrust Of Institutions And What It Means To Your Association, Conference
“I’m done with __________________!” Go ahead and fill in that blank with any type of institution. Big business, conferences, education, government, medicine, membership associations, nonprofits, professional societies, religious organizations, trade organizations, etc. We are witnessing the rise of the Dones, as Dr. Josh Packard calls them. Groups of people that are done with traditional, outdated institutions. And before you dismiss this post…know that Packard’s research applies to your … [Read more...]
When Your Conference Planning Process Eclipses Your Purpose
Did you ever play the board game of Chutes and Ladders? The object of the game is to get to the end of the path first. You avoid landing on a chute, which makes you slide backwards. And take advantage of the ladders which help you climb ahead. I played this game a lot with kids in my early teaching career. Some of my students were fascinated with sliding on the chutes because it reminded them of playground slides. They would squeal with glees as they slid down chutes. Ultimately, landing … [Read more...]
When Committee Bureaucracy Stymies Your Conference Potential
It is often said that an association’s board of directors is the brain of that organization. Its committees serve as the central nervous system influencing all parts of the body. The conference planning committee is similar to our spinal cord, serving as the internal communication highway between the parts of the body and the brain. When the brain, central nervous system and spinal cord operate well, they accurately sense the environment, process information and provide valuable insight to … [Read more...]
