Making Up for Fewer Skilled Workers at Your Conference November 16, 2022 by Dave Lutz 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference planning, Covid effects, labor shortage, no shows, short staff
Fostering a Winning Conference Culture June 17, 2019 by Lisa Block 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , big tent, conference planning, event planning, meeting planning, on-site culture, radical hospitality.
Meeting Professionals Anxiously Want To Start Their Improvement Planning Process Yesterday July 26, 2018 by Jeff Hurt 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , backward design, conference organizers, conference planning, conference professionals, future-back planning process, long-term trends planning mindset, present-forward planning mindset
The Crisis of Connection February 2, 2018 by Sarah Michel 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. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , association insights, attendance marketing, conference planning, connexity, cultivating connection, epidemic of loneliness, face-to-face connection, networking, radical hospitality.
Why Your Conference Should be Target-Audience Obsessed July 10, 2017 by Dave Lutz 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference planning, meeting design, target audience
Our Increased Distrust Of Institutions And What It Means To Your Association, Conference November 8, 2016 by Jeff Hurt “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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association trends, co-creation, collaboration, conference best practices, conference planning, conversations, institutions, Josh Packard, participation, The Dones
When Your Conference Planning Process Eclipses Your Purpose July 21, 2016 by Jeff Hurt 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference planning, conference planning committee, conference planning team, conference stakeholders
When Committee Bureaucracy Stymies Your Conference Potential December 7, 2015 by Jeff Hurt 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. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association bureaucracy, conference planning, conference planning committee, equipping catalhyst conference committee, nosend, organizational theory, structures
Silos Suffocate Your Successful Conference June 25, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Imagine an extended family of eight living under one roof together. Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad and four siblings. Everyone lives in a separate room. Imagine they never speak to each other except once a week at a Sunday lunch. Each engages in their own personal activities in separate schedules. They just pass each other coming … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference planning, conference planning team, meeting planning best practices, silo mentality, Silos, vision
Your Conference Renewal Begins With Wondering April 22, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Where does true conference improvement begin? The conference revitalization process is probably very different than many of your past experiences. It’s so different that we have to view it through new lenses. By taking charge of your own understanding of conference improvement and transformation, you begin a new journey. You are exploring uncharted territory. You … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference improvement, conference organizer, conference planning, conference planning team, culture of learning, inquiry, meeting planner, meeting professional, reflection, strategy, transformation, wonderings
