I wish meetings and conferences were more fun! Don’t you? So many of them are nothing more than a boring, complicated, over stuffed information dump. Curating that information for the one or two tidbits of relevant, applicable take aways is like mining for gold. And there is little time for real dialogue and engagement. We … [Read more…]
Most organizations receive hundreds of emails and phone calls asking about their speaker call for proposals. In one of my past jobs, we received 30-50 inquiries a month from professional speakers trying to land a speaking gig. And we were flooded with industry speaker requests as well. We hated those inquires. They were like speaker … [Read more…]
Does your organization have any meeting planning practices that are sacred cows? Don’t you wish you could grind them up for a barbecue? Well, it’s time to kill those traditions and make way for new, emerging ideas. e4 2011 Innovation Labs Recently I attended Experient’s e4 2011 conference, “Outside the Lines” as one of their … [Read more…]
If you are a conference organizer, imagine your job as a museum curator. Art gallery and museum curators use judgment and a distinguished sense of style to select and arrange art. They juxtapose art pieces against one another to create a narrative, evoke a response and communicate a message. Conference organizers must approach a conference’s … [Read more…]
Our conference participants are becoming progressively more sophisticated. At the same time, our digital network is becoming increasingly complex bringing current information and our audience closer. Often our conference participants walk into our events knowing more than our speakers. Their experiences applying knowledge and information frequently surpass that of our presenters. So how can we … [Read more…]
I took my friends to one of my favorite weekend haunts, Kirin Court, a Chinese dim sum experience in far North Dallas. On weekends they offer a special buffet-type affair from 10 am – 10 pm. The Sunday wait time is usually at least an hour. The lines are long even though the restaurant seats … [Read more…]
I am a firm believer that the proper application of appropriate meeting technology is a corner stone of today’s successful meetings and events. The world has changed. Our customers have changed. Yet our conferences and meetings are institutionalized systems that have remained stagnant. Blessed Are Those… The following beatitudes are suggested ways to help meeting … [Read more…]
Attendees spend about 24 hours physically present in a three-day conference experience. (About eight hours a day, outside of sleep and night activities.) Students who attend school from kindergarten through high school typically spend more than 13,000 hours learning from teachers. 24 hours seem minimal as compared to 13,000 hours. Yet, most conference participants try … [Read more…]
The majority of conference and event organizers are not monitoring social media. Are you? According to a 2011 Social Media & Events Report released by amaindo, more than 60% of event organizers do not use social media to listen, connect and collect data about their customers and potential customers. Event organizers are overlooking a lot … [Read more…]
67% of event organizers do not monitor social media platforms. 37% of conference organizers only post up to three times per week in social media platforms. 76% of German event organizers see social media as an important or very important tool for marketing their events. 81% of English speaking event organizers see social media use … [Read more…]
