Three Guaranteed Ways To Kill Your General Session Attendees February 6, 2013 by Jeff Hurt Is your general session like bug repellant only repelling attendees and attracting crickets? Is it a sure-fire way to keep attendees in their hotel beds? Here are three fail-safe strategies that are guaranteed to kill your general sessions and create the walking dead! 1. Be A Chest-Thumping Legacy Gorilla Male gorillas beat their chests to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , attendee engagement, conferences, engagement, general sessions, meeting planner, meeting professionals
Creating Conference Engagement With These Seven Social Spaces October 22, 2012 by Jeff Hurt People participate in a variety of behaviors at a typical conference. They enter the conference with specific expectations of what they can do at the event, who they can do it with and what’s expected of them. So how often do we plan conferences with a focus on the behaviors and types of spaces that … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , adult learning, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting space, participatory class, participatory conferences, participatory culture
Using Five Eyes To Improve Online Community Engagement August 9, 2012 by Jeff Hurt You may be familiar with the five eyes of Buddhism: human eye, divine eye, wisdom eye, dharma eye and the omniscient eye (or Buddha eye). So how familiar are you with the five eyes of online discussions? The Five Eyes Of Online Discussions Think of the following five strategies as different entry points to start … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , community management, conversations, eCommunity, engage in conversation online, engagement, online community, online conversations
How To Create A Sticky Conference May 25, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Just how sticky is your conference? Sticky conferences create experiences that last beyond the two to three days of the conference. They focus on creating real relationships with strong connections. It’s about more than speed networking where people just exchange business cards or speed sessions to see how much info people can cram into their … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conferences, engagement, meeting planning best practices, networking, sticky conference
Horseshoe Groups: Merging Two Buzz Groups To Increase Audience Discussion May 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are a barrier to the listener’s thinking. The constant one-way transfer of information is like a dripping faucet. The information keeps coming and coming and coming. And that constant drip of new data, facts, figures and info keeps the brain overwhelmed with new information. The listener is faced with a choice: listen to the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, engagement, lecture, participatory learning, presentation best practices
Creating Buzz Groups To Add Audience Participation To Traditional Lectures May 10, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Lectures are good for sharing information. They are not good for learning and getting listeners to think! Nor are the good for getting listeners to remember and apply the information they hear. Audience discussion methods are more effective for learning than the lecture. Lectures are the equivalent of distributing a report and asking people to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, attendee engagement, conference best practices, conference tips, conferences, engagement, lecture, participatory learning, presentation best practices
Improving Conference Attendee Experiences March 19, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Experiences are better when conferences are built around people. The conference experience greatly improves for all stakeholders when they are built around people and their relationships. Traditional Conference Experience The traditional conference is built around logistics and content. The majority of the conference organizer’s time is spent selecting and scheduling speakers. Organizers choose speakers based … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, engagement, event experience, meeting planner, meeting professional, network, social networking
Helping Your Remote Virtual Attendees Succeed As Participants February 9, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Our time is valuable. Many of us see our time as money, a resource that we don’t want to waste. Asking people to commit 30-, 45- or even 60-minutes of their time to attend your Webinar is asking a lot. It’s critical that your digital event provide tremendous value and ROI or you’ll lose your … [Read more…] Filed Under: Hybrid & Virtual, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , active participation, digital events, digital meeting, digital presentations, engagement, presentation best practices, virtual events, virtual meetings
5 Ways To Super-Charge Engagement On Your Facebook Page January 18, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Facebook. Say that name and people either nod in agreement or shriek with fear. Facebook’s jargon, processes and activity are part of mainstream society today. We judge relationships based on a person’s Facebook relationship status. We see if someone has current photos in their albums. We check their work history and their timeline. We review … [Read more…] Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , engagement, facebook, Facebook Fan page, Facebook marketing, social media for associations, social media for events
Cultivating Strong Online Relationships To Build An Ever Ready Troop Of Evangelists December 21, 2011 by Jeff Hurt It’s important to build your network before you need it! Building a network of organization supporters who can do a variety of things at a moment’s notice is imperative in today’s socially networked world. Transactions Versus Relationships Unfortunately, many organizations struggle with relationship building. Instead, they are masters of the transaction. Their emphasis on transactions … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , engagement, influencers, online conversations, online listening, online social media conversation, relationships, WOM
