Many conferences are stuck in the rut of legacy routines, age-old rituals and cloned programming. Conference organizers and its advisors replicate the past maintaining the traditions and well-established procedures of yesteryear. The event is nothing more than a zombie conference—a conference that appears to be alive yet in reality creates the walking undead. If you want to refresh, reimagine and reform your zombie conference, you’ll need a team of people pushing in the same direction. … [Read more...]
Star Struck: Identifying Your Conference North Star
For centuries, explorers and those sailing the sea have relied on the North Star, or Polaris, to navigate. Long before the advent of the GPS, the North Star provided a distinctive visible position to true north. Travelers used its bright light as a guide to ensure they were voyaging in the right direction. Sailors adjusted their rudder and sails to align with it. It helped them steer and find their way through unexpected storms, turbulent winds and rough monster waves of unforeseen … [Read more...]
Conference Purpose With Power And Participants Leads To Profitability
Does your event have a clear and inspiring purpose? (If you’re shaking your head yes, then what is it?) Now imagine someone asking your conference participants that question. How would they respond? I suspect they would say “Yes, of course it has a purpose!” Then they would launch into a passionate description of your event’s annual Party with a Purpose, its pre-conference feel-good community service projects and its ongoing student scholarship fundraisers. However supporting a good … [Read more...]
Flourishing Conference Professionals Lead With Purpose
As a conference organizer, how purpose-driven are you? Successful conference organizers are purpose-driven! They grow into purpose leaders that influence others with a shared vision and purpose. They evolve into meaning-machines. They design conference experiences that become meaning-making opportunities for their participants. And they make their planning teams’ work important. Not clichéd or trivial. Critically important to their customers’ needs. (Hat tips Dr. Henry Cloud’s … [Read more...]
Conferences Need a Strategic Purpose
Does your annual conference have a documented purpose or strategy? My experience is that most organizers either don’t have one or haven’t updated, or used it, in quite a while. With competition for attendee time and share of wallet reaching new degrees of complexity, revisiting this strategic step should be a high priority. Defining the Conference Purpose Here’s a guide to help you down the strategic path of articulating your conference purpose: Owners – Identify task-force or committee … [Read more...]
What Dr. Seuss, Horton The Elephant, Oprah And Conferences Have In Common
"We are here. We are here. We are here," cried the Whos of Who-ville. "Boil that dust speck! Boil that dust speck! Boil! Boil! Boil!" chanted the Wickersham brothers. Horton The Elephant Most people know the story of Horton the Elephant. Horton hears a small speck of dust talking to him. Amazingly, that small speck of dust is a tiny planet called Who-ville, home to the Whos. Horton can't see the Whos but can hear them because of his big ears. The Whos ask Horton to help protect them from … [Read more...]
