Content marketing has grown by leaps and bounds during the past five years. Unfortunately, too few event organizers fully embrace the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing. Likewise, many conference professionals have no idea what embracing the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing even means. It’s a foreign concept to them. Most marketing and communications … [Read more…]
When Velvet Chainsaw Consulting conducted speaker research with 120 associations with research and consulting company Tagoras Inc. in 2013, we found that nearly 77 percent use a call for speakers/sessions process. Associations value member input. One-third of these organizations accept 60 percent or more of the proposals, indicating either a low number of submissions or … [Read more…]
Better session copy helps put butts in seats! As conference education trumps the exhibit hall experience at many association meetings, or creeps into your trade show experience to create a solutions-driven, holistic experience for your attendees, upping your game with session titles, descriptions, and learning objectives has become more important than ever. In 2013, we … [Read more…]
This is the second in a series of posts on the findings of reports published by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) based on research recently conducted on attendee retention strategies. The way we buy has evolved for both the B2B and B2C sectors. Trade show organizers who have re-imagined their expo floors into … [Read more…]
When talking about conference education, most people think about the traditional lecture. It is perceived as the holy grail of much of the conference. Many attendees swear they learn a lot from those subject matter expert speeches. It’s a paradox. Attendees flock to general sessions and breakouts to hear a lecture. Yet science says they … [Read more…]
Much of what we take for gospel about how to learn is wasted effort. Learning is grossly misunderstood. The most effective learning strategies are counterintuitive. We believe that attending education and listening to a presenter leads to learning. Just give me the crib sheets, the list of tips, the high level takeaways and I have … [Read more…]
Your conference doesn’t have to be the place that only offers expert lectures. It doesn’t have to only offer authorized, approved speeches. Or one-way monologues and panel dialogues. You have the opportunity to pave the way for rich, two-way, peer to peer dialogue. You can create education offerings that provide time for audience elaboration, discussion, … [Read more…]
Do you know where your suppliers are? Seriously, do you? Are they attending your conference education? Or just hanging around for the networking and social events? Side-by-Side Learning Should Be a Must for Suppliers The home page of the Meetings Mean Business website sums up the coalition’s main message: “Great things happen when people come … [Read more…]
Have you seen the Gary Larson cartoon of the student asking if he can be excused because his brain is full? As author Roy Pollock points out, it’s funny as a cartoon. However overwhelming a listener’s brain is a tragic and wasteful problem that happens in many education sessions. Especially conference keynotes and breakouts. Jam … [Read more…]
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. – Ferris Bueller Virtual event strategies are evolving fast too! First, many tried to monetize them (instead of viewing them as a campaign). Next, quite a few associations embraced hybrid as their future. Now we’re seeing … [Read more…]
