Four Visionary Leadership Conference Mindsets Needed In The 21st Century January 5, 2015 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting industry trends, meeting professional, mindset, trends
Nonprofits Contradictions And Real World Disruptors November 6, 2014 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , association trends, conferences, disruptive innovation, disruptive technologies, meeting industry trends, nonprofit predictions, nonprofit trends
6 Real World Conference Disruptors November 4, 2014 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association trends, conferences, disruptive innovation, disruptive technologies, meeting industry trends, nonprofit predictions, nonprofit trends
7 Fundamental Ways To Drastically Improve Conference Breakouts February 25, 2014 by Dave Lutz 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…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference education, conference session, conferences, learning trends, meeting industry trends
20+ Tradeshow Trends For 2014 And Beyond December 20, 2013 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conference, exhibitions, exhibitor, meeting industry trends, trade show, tradeshow, tradeshow best practices, trends
Establishing A New Model To Select Conference Content And Programming December 4, 2013 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association best practices, conference best practices, conference curator, content-strategist-curator, curate, meeting best practices, meeting experience, meeting industry trends
Today’s Conference Education Model Was Created For An Economy That No Longer Exists November 20, 2013 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Business Model, Conference Education Tagged With: , conference education, conferences, learning trends, meeting industry trends, workplace trends
Three Conference Speaker Ahas You Need to Know November 6, 2013 by Dave Lutz 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…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , association trends, conference education, conference tips, conferences, industry speaker, meeting industry trends, speaker
The Function Of Content Changes In Revolutionary Conferences October 18, 2013 by Jeff Hurt 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…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , conferences, content, meeting industry trends, sponsorship, trends
Disruptive Revolutionary Conferences Are Coming: The Need To Refocus On Our Customer October 17, 2013 by Jeff Hurt “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…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, meeting industry trends, revolutionary conference, sponsorship, trends
