Many annual meetings are like funerals of the past. Quiet, stoic, painfully long, full of tradition, and extremely passive. It's hard to tell who really died as the audience is just as lifeless as the deceased. Sometimes these traditional conferences have doses of fear and damnation trying to scare people into doing something they don't want to do. That's not the best way to get engagement! Destined To Repeat The Past? Most conferences have clung to outdated modes of thought and action. The … [Read more...]
Old Guard Conferences Vs. Cutting Edge Conferences
When the winds of change blow, some people build walls. Others build windmills. ~Chinese Proverb Conferences are divided today between Old Guard and Cutting Edge Conferences. Old guard conferences build walls when the winds of change blow. Cutting edge conferences build windmills to capture and leverage the winds of change. Old Guard And Cutting Edge Conferences These two types of conferences move at different speeds. They value different things. They measure success differently. They think … [Read more...]
Creating EPIC Conferences For Connected Times
Name two words that describe the web today. Connected and community are two that come to my mind. Conferences Are In The Connexity Business Amazon and eBay say they are in the connexity business-making connections and building communities. Both companies demonstrate that the web is less an information source than a social medium. Conferences need to shift to become more of a connexity business. They need to transition from information channels to being a catalyst for making connections and … [Read more...]
Metaphors, Stories And Images Are Important For Conferences: The I In EPIC Conferences
Try this. Next time you are in the grocery store, ask the seafood clerk for fresh sardines. Guess what most seafood clerks say? "There is not really one fish called a sardine." Most of us are used to seeing sardines in a can. In reality, the name applies to twenty-one species of small fish that, they moment they hit the can, can be labeled sardines. FishBase, an online database of fish, lists 18 fish species that qualify as sardines and many more that are described as sardines. The name, or … [Read more...]
