Why Your Conference Needs Meeting Anthropologists March 24, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Your annual meeting needs a couple of meeting anthropologists! No, not a couple of people in Raiders of the Lost Ark clothing, carrying shovels and picks. You need curious people, preferably outsiders, to observe your meeting participants’ actions, behaviors, decisions and group culture. You need to know how your attendees interact with each other, respond … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
Tech Seeds Of Revolution In Meetings And Events March 8, 2011 by Jeff Hurt The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed. ~ William Gibson. From The Information Age To The Participatory Culture The explosion of digital media and the emergence of the participatory culture have amplified and transformed communication in ways we are only beginning to discover. Today, creating and sharing information is the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology Tagged With: , conferences, event technology, meeting planner, technology
Confessions Of An Industry Speaker: What I Dislike About Your Conference March 7, 2011 by Jeff Hurt I feel like a professional conference attendee lately. I have attended and spoke at nine different conferences in the last 63 days. That’s one conference for every seven days. In reality, I spoke more than nine times because sometimes I had two or three presentations at each event. Seeing Your Speakers As Partners As a … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conferences, industry speaker, meeting planner, presenter, speaker
Tuning Into Your Conference Participants So They Do Not Tune Out January 26, 2011 by Jeff Hurt In the right hands and delivered on key, the spoken word can be a powerful force. It can move mental mountains. Part emotional Red Seas. Awaken sleepy souls. Change stubborn minds. Persuasion: A Powerful Tool To Create Change Conferences are ultimately about persuading audiences to change. It’s about transforming conference attendees into powerful participants that … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, meeting planner, presentation best practices, presentation strategies
5 Reasons Why CSMs And CVBs Should Use Social Media January 21, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Convention Services Managers (CSMs) and Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVBs): They are a meeting professional’s right hand. They are event professionals’ co-pilots. We need them. We love them. We can’t succeed without them. They help provide the onsite scaffolding and structure of our events. Without them, our meetings would implode from the time we set … [Read more…] Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , ACOM, conferences, convention operations, convention service managers, CSM, CVB, Facebook Fan page, meeting planner, Social Media, social networking, Twitter for events
What Dr. Seuss, Horton The Elephant, Oprah And Conferences Have In Common January 17, 2011 by Jeff Hurt “We are here. We are here. We are here,” cried the Whos of Who-ville. “Boil that dust speck! Boil that dust speck! Boil! Boil! Boil!” chanted the Wickersham brothers. Horton The Elephant Most people know the story of Horton the Elephant. Horton hears a small speck of dust talking to him. Amazingly, that small speck … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , association, conference purpose, conferences, meeting, meeting planner
What Would Happen If? How To Eat Your Own Dogfood December 27, 2010 by Jeff Hurt “If you want to be disruptive, don’t start with your best practices,” says Unmair Haque. “Try instead with your industry’s worst practices and take tiny steps–or better yet, giant leaps–towards bettering them.” Umair Haque’s post, “Why You Should Focus On Your Worst Practices” got me thinking. His statement “Diet on your own dogfood” resonated with … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , annual meeting, conferences, meeting best practices, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
14 Conference And Event Trends That Will Shape The Next Decade December 20, 2010 by Jeff Hurt What do the next ten years have in store for conference and event organizers? Plenty. 14 Conference And Event Trends That Will Shape The Next Decade As 2010 comes to a close, many conference and event professionals have been looking ahead to the 2011. Here’s a look into 2011 and the next decade. 1. Increased … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conferences, engagement, meeting, meeting planner, trends
Obituary For A Conference Education Session December 7, 2010 by Jeff Hurt It was a wasted ninety minutes of life. 5,400 seconds of possibility that are now gone forever without a shred of hope, learning or motivation. It had such potential. It died so quick and so young. No one understood a single thing that was said. The barrage of PowerPoint slides with small fonts, too many … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , active learning, adult learning, conferences, content, delivery, Education & Adult Learning, engagement, meeting planner
Leveraging Six Right-Brain Aptitudes For Successful Conferences November 11, 2010 by Jeff Hurt “The future belongs to a different kind of person,” Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind. It belongs to “…creative and empathetic right-brain thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn’t.” Pink claims we are living in a different age. A different time that demands different thinking. According to Pink, … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association, conferences, meeting, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
