Vision…it’s easy to talk about. It’s hard to create and implement. And it’s often even harder to upgrade. What’s your vision for the 21st Century conference? How are conferences evolving? As the new year starts, there’s no time like the present to think about creating a fresh vision and adopting a new frame of mind … [Read more…]
I don’t claim to know a lot. But I am pretty confident of these two things: Change is the constant today and continues to accelerate. Our nonprofit associations are dynamic, complex systems embedded within an even more dynamic, complex übersystem: human society. Six Changing Association Contexts Technology has radically altered human society, in at least … [Read more…]
All disruptions are innovations. But not all innovations are disruptors. At least that’s what Forbes writer Caroline Howard says. Think of innovation and disruption as both makers and builders. However disruption dislodges and changes how we think, act, do business, learn and go about our day-to-day tasks. Defining Disruptors Harvard Business School professor and disruption … [Read more…]
Concurrent sessions, often known as breakouts, are the meat and potatoes of conferences. They are also one of the most difficult areas for your continuous improvement efforts. In many associations, volunteers vet submissions, decide topics and select speakers for their annual meeting’s concurrent sessions. While well intentioned, volunteer committees rarely are equipped with a big-picture … [Read more…]
The events, exhibitions and meetings industry continues to evolve as it faces global changes and disruptive innovation. Here are 20+ tradeshow trends for exhibitors and show managers. 20+ Tradeshow Trends For 2014 & Beyond from Jeff Hurt View this the 20+ Tradeshow Trends for 2014 & Beyond in your own broswer . What trends would … [Read more…]
Is it time to end the speaker call for proposals? Does the traditional open call for topics and speakers actually meet the conference audience’s needs? The traditional call for volunteer and professional speakers is a roll of the dice that the submissions meet the needs of the conference attendees. Too often staff and committees rely … [Read more…]
Conference education has not kept pace with 21st Century workforce demands. It is usually devoted to information transfer through a lecture or panel, rote learning and memorization of facts and figures to pass a certification test. The reality is that this old style, 20th Century, traditional expert in front of the room presenting to rows … [Read more…]
How does your conference speaker selection process compare to other organizations? What’s working and what isn’t when it comes to selecting and securing industry and professional speakers? The Use Of Professional And Industry Speakers The past summer, Velvet Chainsaw partnered with Tagoras, a leading market research and consulting company for learning, to survey conference professionals … [Read more…]
Conference organizers strong commitment to content actually blocks the path to more attendee-focused and learner-centric conference experiences. This focus on content as the core of the conference creates a barrier that obstructs presenters. Most speakers freely acknowledge that the need to cover content strongly influences, and often dictates, their presentation decisions. Our allegiance to content … [Read more…]
“If anyone is going to disrupt this industry, it is going to be us!” I love this quote from Smart Customers, Stupid Companies. I think more conference organizers should adopt it! Here’s my question for meeting professionals and conference organizers: Are you going to have “Smart Attendees, Stupid Conferences or Smart Attendees, Smart Conferences?” To … [Read more…]
