Many conference organizers and their organizations tend to focus only on linear, incremental improvements. Most of those improvements are transactional in nature. Improving online registration, ecommerce, confirmations, lodging, CEU tracking, etc. Or they tend to copy what another conference is doing. Rarely do they explore the actual reasons behind number trends. Instead, they just twist metrics into their own exaggeration to serve their own needs. We have to remember that correlation of … [Read more...]
Your Conference Is Unbalanced!
Your conference is out of balance. And most conference organizers don’t even know it. Sure as a conference organizer you know that creativity and innovation are important to your planning. You probably even realize that collaborating with others on the schedule and programming make for a better conference experience. However, as a conference organizer most of the paths you take for conference improvement follow the traditional path. You spend all your time on improving the efficiency and … [Read more...]
Putting Design Empathy Into Conference Practice
Empathy is powerful! It plays a fundamental role in our connections, our networking, our learning, our problem solving, our innovation and our collaboration with others. According to research, when we are empathetic, we actually enhance our cognitive abilities. (Decety and Ickes, 2011). Putting ourselves into others shoes helps us improve our thinking. We improve our ability to see contextual clues and put information within context. This helps us understand how things relate to each other … [Read more...]
Your Conference Needs To Adopt Design Empathy Practices
The group kept returning to this word. I thought we were finished discussing all of its nuances and implications. Then another small group would underscore its importance. It’s as if this word was a floating bobber in a lake constantly tossed around due to wind and waves. It wouldn’t disappear. Just when we thought no one would mention the word again, its concept and its real meaning jumped back to the center stage. And The Word Is… Recently, my colleague, Sarah Michel, and I spent a … [Read more...]
Measuring What Matters To Your Conference
If the only conference numbers you care about are attendance, exhibitors, revenue and profits, you will never be able to understand why those numbers fluctuate. You’re only guessing and planning conference programming through a shot-gun approach if you don’t get serious about measurement. It’s time to stop relying on your gut. Or your volunteer conference planning committee. It’s time to measure what matters to improve your conference. Data Counting Versus Measurement You probably … [Read more...]
Using Empathy Mapping To Create Conference Target Market Personas
We could all use a little more empathy…and a little less yelling! And your organization could definitely cultivate more empathetic team members who help plan and design your conference and education offerings. Why We Need More Empathy For Our Stakeholders Empathy is walking in another person’s shoes and understanding life through their eyes. It is trying to experience and feel what they are feeling. When we experience empathy, we are known to increase our helping behaviors. It’s … [Read more...]