Creating A Conference Culture Of Learning: Reflections From Marcia Conner January 9, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Check out this abbreviated video from author and learning maven Marcia Conner on conference learning from PCMA‘s Learning Lounge, Really Live Chat Rooms at Convening Leaders, January 9-11, 2012 in San Diego. Here’s a rundown of her video if you want to fast forward to a specific area. 00:10 – A Philosophy Of Learning 01:03 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning principles, conference best practices, conference education, conference session, conferences, meeting planning best practices
Three Conference Speaker Processes That Will Alarm You [Free Speaker Report] December 15, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Who has the final decision making power to hire a professional speaker for an organization? The answer may surprise you. And it may cause you to drop your jaw, raise your eyebrows and shout, “Huh?” Recently, Velvet Chainsaw partnered with Tagoras, Inc., a leading continuing education company, to survey conference professionals about their use of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , association trends, conference education, conference tips, conferences, industry speaker, meeting industry trends, speaker
The Person Who Chooses Your Conference Content Has All The Power December 12, 2011 by Jeff Hurt “If we live in a world where information drives what we do, the information we get becomes the most important thing. The person who chooses that information has power,” says Seth Godin. Currently many conference hosts put the power of their conference content into the hands of administrators focused on shuffling speaker proposals and scheduling … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference curator, conference education, conferences, content-strategist-curator, curation, meeting planning best practices
The Meeting Space Should Not Define The Use, The Behavior Should December 9, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Most conferences look and feel the same. Each session room is set theater style. Chairs are positioned one by one in neatly arranged rows. They all face the front of the room with a stage and screen. The conference organizers’ identify and beliefs are reflected with how they view, value and design space. It also … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, meeting planning best practices
The Internet Is Changing Conference Learning. Are You? December 5, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Whether we like it or not, the Web has changed the way we view things. For example, we are accustomed to clicking to a new page when the current one is boring. We spend our time on Websites that give us the most satisfaction. During conferences, people have no problem with walking out of a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conference education, conferences, connections, engagement, networked learning, presentation best practices
Sometimes You Need To Trash The Container With The Leftovers December 1, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever put leftover food in an empty plastic container? Sure you have! We’ve all done it, especially around the holidays. It Came From The Fridge Have you ever opened up the refrigerator and smelled something foul? Bet you’ve done that too, even if you won’t admit it. Once you take a whiff of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conference tips, conferences, meeting planning best practices
Learning Is Not Easy When Speakers Make It So Hard November 30, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Speakers talk. Audiences listen. Let me rephrase it another way. Trainers talk. Learners listen. This is one of the most powerful learning beliefs in our culture today. We embrace it as truth. We create education programming based on this conviction. We pay for professional development grounded in this certainty. Our belief in this idea creates … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , adult learning, adult learning strategies, conference best practices, conferences, learning, presentation best practices
Expert Presenters Make A Difference In Conference Education November 28, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Your conference presenters have tremendous power. They probably have more power than the venue, the logistics, other registrants, the host organization, the schedule or the content on your attendee’s experience. So shouldn’t conference organizers focus their energies on enhancing the aspects that truly make a difference in an attendees’ experience? How many of your past … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , adult learning, conference best practices, conferences, master presenters, presentation best practices, presenter
Using Emotional Targeting In Your Event Marketing Materials November 23, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Logic makes people think. Emotions make people act. Often our event marketing simply over-intellectualizes everything. It emphasizes the number of education sessions, the number of qualified attendees, the hours of continuing education credit, the technology applications available, the years of experience of the speakers, the economic data of the attendees and the like. But are … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, emotional connection, event marketing, market segmentation, meeting planning best practices
Four Primary Reasons People Will Not Register For Your Event November 22, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Your supervisor walks into your office and closes the door. She sits down and says, “We’ve set a new goal for you for our annual meeting. We need an increase of 10% in full registrations.” “As the point person for our meetings and events, you need to make this happen,” she exclaims as she exits … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing, Business Model Tagged With: , attendee growth, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, registration
