Reinventing, Reimagining And Rethinking Traditional Conferences April 10, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Activism, advocacy, associations, boardrooms, battlefields, churches, education, faith groups, governments, media, nonprofits, philanthropy, retail, technology and work are all being reinvented. We are rethinking and reimagining all of our traditional institutions. This includes the meetings industry’s traditional conference. Our conferences are being reinvented by people who don’t follow the accepted practices and unspoken rules. They … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conferences, meeting best practices, meeting planning best practices
Do You Create Conference Experiences That Lead To Ahas? April 8, 2013 by Jeff Hurt “If I can get at least one takeaway from this conference, then I’m happy,” said attendee X. Seriously? You are willing to spend $1,500 – $2,000 (registration, travel, lodging and expenses) for one conference takeaway? Are you kidding? Why have we lowered our conference expectations so much? Is it because we’ve attended too many boring, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences
Research: People Want Learning Opportunities At Tradeshows! April 5, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Many (exhibition) attendees have dual needs for attending: shopping (69%) and learning (66%). ~ CEIR, What Attendees Want From Exhibitions, February 4, 2013 They come to your tradeshow with very real learning needs related to their own personal and professional development. If you are not integrating more education experiences within and at your tradeshow, you … [Read more…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, learning, tradeshow best practices, tradeshows
Your Conference Speakers’ Skills Gap Is Causing You To Lose Money April 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt The majority of your conference speakers have a major skills gap! They are relying on pedagogical mimicry–presenting the same way that their teachers taught them. That causes you and your conference to rely solely on a foundation of mimicry for education success. And this foundation is the exact the opposite of what your speakers should … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, industry speaker, professional speakers, speaker, Speaker Emerging Practices, speaker tips
Guaranteed To Disrupt Your Conference: The Generational Divide April 3, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Baby Boomers used to say “Don’t trust anyone under 30!” Today, the under 30s generation says, “Don’t trust anyone over 30!” If your conference is not prepared for the astonishing change in new attitudes and behaviors of the under 30s crowd, you are going to be left behind at the altar crying for more Baby … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conferences
Some Conferences Are Like Bad Funerals April 1, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Many annual meetings are like funerals of the past. Quiet, stoic, painfully long, full of tradition, and extremely passive. It’s hard to tell who really died as the audience is just as lifeless as the deceased. Sometimes these traditional conferences have doses of fear and damnation trying to scare people into doing something they don’t … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, connexity, EPIC conferences, event experience, participatory conferences
Content Is Not Education March 29, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Let’s get one thing straight: Content is not education! If content was education, then all of us would be very knowledgeable because we have information at our fingertips through the internet. But content is not education. Just as information and data is not education. Offering Content Is Not Enough People attend conferences for two primary … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, learning, meeting planning best practices
Nine Convention Center Trends For 2013 March 28, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Recently I participated in the Convention Sales Professional International’s Annual Conference “Tool Box For Success 2013.” I moderated a panel called “Current And Future Trends” with three meeting professionals and two CSPI members. Don’t worry! If you know me, you know it was not a traditional panel. I purposely included audience peer discussion on the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, exhibitions, tradeshow, trends
As A Conference Organizer Do You Have Delusional Data Hubris? March 22, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Do you believe that you currently collect all the necessary data from your meeting attendees? Are you convinced that you already have all of the important analytics regarding your conferences that you would ever need? Perhaps you are a conference organizer that thinks you have 100 percent of all the knowledge available to you through … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference data collection, conferences, data mining, meeting planning best practices
If Dr. Evil Were A Meeting Professional March 21, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Dr. Evil, a mastermind criminal cryogenically frozen in 1967 and reawakened in 1997, has challenges adapting to a new society, culture and rapid pace of change. This Austin Powers movie character is a great metaphor for many meeting professionals today. Dr. Evil frequently hatches new plans for world domination. Unfortunately, his plans are often just … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
