Danger, conference organizer! Danger! Did you ever watch the late-’60s sci-fi TV series Lost In Space? Yeah, most of you reading this are too young to know or remember it. Still you may have watched it in reruns or at a slumber party. It was known for its iconic robot that served as an early-tornado-type-siren. Whenever it sensed a terrifying situation, it would flail its metal arms and shout danger. Your Conference Data Just Might Be Flailing Its Arms If you are paying close attention … [Read more...]
Moneyball For Conferences: You Want Your Meeting to Mean Something
We just won twenty games in a row, said the fictitious Peter Brand, advance scout for Oakland A’s. And what's the point? said Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane. We just got the record, said Brand. Man, I've been doing this for... listen, man. I've been in this game a long time. I'm not in it for a record, I'll tell you that. I'm not in it for a ring. That's when people get hurt. If we don't win the last game of the Series, they'll dismiss us, said Beane. Billy….said Brand. I … [Read more...]
Seven Conference Early Shatterpoints To Measure Immediately
How financially sustainable is your conference? Too often the metrics we use for our conferences are lagging indicators—inputs and outputs. We measure our P&L, attendance, sponsorship, exhibitors and attendee satisfaction. But that is not enough! We need to measure leading indicators. The VCC team gets asked repeatedly how to know if a conference is successful or not. And conference organizers ask us what metrics they should measure. Here’s a modified repost of seven metrics you … [Read more...]
If Your Conference Metrics Feel Good, Use Discernment
Yahoo, our conference attendance is up 30% from last year. Whoa, don’t be fooled by that conference data! Too many organizations pat their leaders on the back for increased attendance, selling out the show floor or selling all of their sponsorship packages. We need to use discernment to look deeper into what that conference data is really telling us. Be careful of letting emotions guide your decisions based on vanity metrics—attendance, sell-outs, number of sessions, etc. We need to delve … [Read more...]
Measuring Actionable Or Vanity Conference Metrics
Your conference needs a checkup! Just like you need an annual doctor’s appointment for routine health checkup, your conference needs a routine checkup. Sure, you may feel like your conference doesn’t need it, just like you feel you don’t need a medical checkup. Regardless of how you feel, it is important. You need to assess a variety of areas to understand your conference’s level of health. You need some pre-established benchmarks to determine the health of your conference and plan for … [Read more...]
Misguided And Misinformed Conference Barometers
Many of us who plan conferences have become so busy at the logistics of the event that we lose sight of the goal. When planning an event, we immediately go into automatic overdrive. We do the same things we’ve always done because it’s efficient and familiar to us. The over arching goals of the conference—providing networking, education, business leads and making a profit for the host organization—become eclipsed by the expectations of the organizing team. Rarely do we take the time to step … [Read more...]
Six Early Behavioral Warning Signs To Monitor Your Conference Sustainability
Understanding conference shatterpoints is critical to comprehending your conference’s financial sustainability. Essentially, conference shatterpoints are fault lines pointing to areas of vulnerability. They’re leading indicators that illustrate areas of weakness that usually don’t fully appear in your results until years later. You want to know about these imperfections before it’s too late. Detecting them early and reversing those trends can lead to years of conference … [Read more...]
How To Use Shatterpoints as Early Conference Warning Signs
Have you ever hit a shatterpoint with your conference? You’ll know if you have because it made your entire conference unravel, freeze or die. Conference Shatterpoints What’s a shatterpoint, you ask? A shatterpoint is like a fault line, crack or an area of weakness in a path of action. In Star Wars, shatterpoints are a juncture in the Force where things are especially vulnerable. One little change in that shatterpoint can have a domino effect with drastic galactic consequences. All … [Read more...]
