Four Ways To Create Customer Evangelists For Your Conferences And Events March 30, 2012 by Jeff Hurt What if you could create a volunteer army of true believers who spread the word about your conference? Would you? Sure you would. Creating Customer Evangelists More Profitable Than Marketing Creating customer evangelists is a more efficient and profitable approach to acquiring and retaining customers than traditional marketing says authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba … [Read more…] Filed Under: Attendance Marketing Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference marketing, conferences, content marketing, customer, customer evangelists, loyalty, meeting planning best practices
Deal Or No Deal: Overcoming Barriers With Hotel Contracts March 23, 2012 by Dave Lutz You’ve found the perfect hotel for your meeting. It’s a great location. You were able to negotiate a good room rate. The concession package and your meeting space flows well too. The Contract’s T&Cs Cause You To Pause The hotel sends you a contract to secure the deal. As you review the 14-page document, you … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , contract negotiations, contracts, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
How To Use Your Meeting Space To Create An Ownership Experience March 22, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Have you ever been in an Apple Store? They are bright, open spaces with lofty ceilings, sleek design and great technology to play with at your fingertips. They offer a variety of services from the private one-on-one Genius Bar consultations to how-to classes to events to roving staff that are more like personal assistants than … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, design for participation, informal learning, meeting planning best practices, participatory learning, social learning
Six Shifts From Meetings Logistics To Designing Experiences March 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Our world continues to change rapidly. Today conference organizers must respond to fundamental shifts in attendees’ needs and expectations. Attendees want more connectedness, customization, interactions, personalization, group problem-solving and mobility. Conventional thinking for meeting professionals is to focus on the logistics of the meeting space. We spend our time and energy on designing the container … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professional
The End Of Conference Education As We Know It March 8, 2012 by Jeff Hurt “In the spirit of honoring tradition, conferences hang on to past practices imperiling their futures,” paraphrase, Clayton Christensen, Harvard University. Conference speakers present today, exactly the same way they did one-hundred years ago. Little has changed. Yet, we’ve learned so much more about how people learn and retain information. Unfortunately, the conference presentations have not … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference design, conference education, conferences, Education & Adult Learning, meeting planning best practices
When Conferences Go Awry February 24, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Most nonprofit organizations host some type of annual meeting every year. Generally their bylaws require that they hold at least one annual membership meeting. Similarly, many corporations and associations organize, plan and implement one or more conferences every year that have other goals beyond the annual membership meeting. Some corporations hold customer events to showcase … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association, conference best practices, conference revenue models, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
Six Conference Committee Improvements February 22, 2012 by Dave Lutz When it comes to the traditional volunteer conference planning committee model, there seems to be plenty of room for improvement. Here are a half-dozen ways to create a more rewarding experience for your volunteers and better results for your organization: 1. Stay out of the weeds. If your committee charter includes selecting what kind of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , association best practices, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planner, meeting planning best practices
Overhauling Your Conference To Adapt To The Lean, Mean, Thinking Machine February 21, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Regardless of one’s age, culture, gender or race, we share one thing in common: Our human brains love to learn! Our brains are a lean, mean, thinkin’ machine. It’s always on the prowl for new things to explore. It is genetically programmed to learn. Brain Boredom Our brains are always paying attention to something says … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , brain science education, brain-friendly conferences, brain-friendly meetings, conference best practices, conferences, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals
The Way You View Your Annual Meeting Changes The Way You Look At Things February 16, 2012 by Jeff Hurt We see the world as we are. Scientists will tell you that there is no objectivity. Researchers influence the outcome of their research. The questions that we ask influence the information we uncover. If you change how you think, you’ll change how you see the world. How Do You View Your Annual Meeting? Valeria Maltoni … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, logistics, meeting logistics, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, strategic thinking
Changing Attitudes: The Conference Mindsets Of Progress February 15, 2012 by Jeff Hurt Where are the dynamic conferences going in the future? Who is driving these conference changes? A renewed vision focused on learning, value, connections and ROI is driving this change. Participants and conference organizers are leading the charge. Mindset: Conferences Are About Learning Not Just Distributing Information Participants can find information online. Ask any Millennial for … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conferences, logistics, meeting logistics, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, strategic thinking
