Most conference experiences are very similar. They have similar schedules, receptions, general sessions, breakouts, exhibit halls, lecture-style education offerings, quality and price. They all look and feel alike. Too many conferences are on the verge of commoditization. One of the conference’s main offering—delivery of information disguised as education—is so widely available and mutually interchangeable with other types of information delivery—that potential customers cannot distinguish … [Read more...]
Does Your Conference Promote The Wrong End Of A Telescope?
“How much are our attendees willing to pay?” It is a question that many conference hosts and organizers frequently ask when they begin planning their events. It’s like asking the question, “What topics do you want to hear at next year’s conference?” Instead of asking, “What’s keeping you up at night?” Challenge is that this stumble is classic. It is something that happens all around us on a daily basis. The Typical Grand Stumble Higher education and universities keep pushing the same old … [Read more...]
Does Your Conference Foster These Five Core Attendee Experience Principles?
The experience matters! It is one of the most (over?) used business phrases today. Most business professionals agree that the experience matters to consumers. As consumers, we even agree that our experiences with brands and organizations drive our future buying decisions. So why is it that most conference organizers do not focus on designing the best conference experience possible for all of its stakeholders? Instead, we focus on logistics and details claiming that “designing the … [Read more...]
Is Your Conference Twitter Worthy Or Not?
If no one tweets about your event, did it really happen? While you may think this question is absurd, research shows that we’ve moved from the “experience economy” to the “social economy.” Now, it’s not good enough to simply attend an event. We have to tell others about that event while it’s happening, or the event was worthless. In other words: Pics or it didn’t happen. Tweets or it didn’t happen. Facebook posts or it didn’t happen. If your event is hot—as in Twitter-hot, or … [Read more...]
Transitioning From The Experience Economy To The Social Economy
To paraphrase President Bill Clinton, "It's the Social Economy, stupid!" The McCann Worldgroup says that we have moved from the Experience Economy to the Social Economy. Their research indicates that the current economy is moving into a new phase where people seek to define themselves by their ability to connect, share and communicate. Consumers place more emphasis on something that can be shared not just by what they own or what they experience. Thus we have the Social Economy. History Of … [Read more...]
