Like moth to the flame, mosquitoes to blood or honey bees to pollen, the mall crowd surrounded the young man. Piranhas Devouring Their Prey They looked like a frenzied group of piranhas, devouring their prey. They were driven by the opportunity for a taste on a toothpick. The chance to sample food. To digest and … [Read more…]
Your Conference Is Like Vanity Press Are you charging speakers a full or discounted registration fee to present at your conference? Perhaps they must cover their own travel, lodging and expenses to attend your conference in addition to spending time to develop their presentation. And pay a registration fee. Does your conference do that? If … [Read more…]
It felt like a scene from Groundhog Day. I was stuck in a time warp loop. Presenter after presenter after presenter started with the same phrase, “I have no financial conflict of interest to disclose.” Then each one launched into a diatribe of data, diagrams, facts and research. Dark, boring PowerPoint slides flashed before my … [Read more…]
Presentations are the economy of most conferences and business today. Yet most presentations are boring. A majority of them are just uninteresting. They lack humanness, life, passion and emotional connections. Today, many conference participants feel trapped by a parade of monotonous, dreary, insipid presentations. It doesn’t take long to recognize a corpse. It takes even … [Read more…]
“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” When it comes to selecting industry speakers, that adage is especially sage. You’ve read their speaker proposal, description and bio. They look like the right fit for your conference. But just because they’ve got the right dancing shoes doesn’t mean they can pull off the dance. Here are … [Read more…]
Information Indigestion. You can find it in the new book of conference diseases. Information indigestion is a symptom of the conference organizer’s inability to filter unnecessary topics from the conference agenda. It is a real dis-ease to conference participants. And the culprit is the conference content organizer. One of the biggest challenges facing meeting professionals … [Read more…]
I woke up with an intense craving for golden, fluffy, hot, spongy pancakes with a crispy edge. I rarely eat pancakes. But this morning the desire was strong. My mind was deluged with the smell of fresh pancakes on the griddle, the sound of the batter hitting the pan and the sight of a pancake … [Read more…]
Here is the heart of why most people attend conferences: learning. Learning about others. Learning new ideas through collaboration and problem solving. Learning what has worked. Learning solutions to our problems. Learning current trends and research to further our careers. Learning is the heartbeat of today’s world. Stop learning and you stop progression, and business … [Read more…]
Have you used a mixologist recently? Most people think the term mixologist is a fancy term for a bartender. That’s partially true. Many of today’s mixologist start out as bartenders and transition into the art and craft of creating new drink recipes. A mixologist is a bartender that specializes in the creation of cocktail recipes. … [Read more…]
Dear Conference Organizers: This relationship isn’t working out. You know, the one between us, the attendees, and you the conference organizers. It’s time for us to explore other educational, community-building and networking opportunities. We’ve tried to make it work. But it’s not us — it’s you (really). We thought we would do things together. We … [Read more…]
