I was extremely irritated. In less than twenty minutes I visited four different conference education sessions. Each of them was a waste of my time. Two sessions were about content that I already knew, even though their session descriptions said they were for advanced audiences. One session had two bumbling, rambling presenters speaking jargon and … [Read more…]
Is your conference content like an encyclopedia, a textbook or a report? Does your conference promote content-centric or learner-centric design? Unfortunately, most conferences default to content-centric design without even knowing it. SMEs Do It Difficultly If your conference prides itself on securing subject matter experts (SMEs) to present information, then consider the following. Your attempt … [Read more…]
Many years ago I taught school during the day and high school dropouts preparing for their GED exam at night. It was a grueling schedule. Yet, it was extremely rewarding. On The Road To GED Every evening, after a long day of teaching, I spent another five hours on my second job at Students For … [Read more…]
The 2012 London Olympics were an interesting diversion from U.S. politics, the scorching heat and a questionable economy. They captivated our attention as we rooted for our countries, the underdog and individuals that had overcome great odds. Even when an athlete from another part of the world broke some amazing record, we united with our … [Read more…]
The question isn’t whether most annual meetings and conferences are stuck. Just look at the data from some annual meetings. These conferences have declines in registration, participation in general sessions and education breakouts, sponsorship and exhibitors. Their growth in new attendees wanes. Their customer loyalty is steadily decreasing. The question is what it will take … [Read more…]
Many conference organizers are familiar with the saying location, location, location! They know that their conference location has to be attractive to their prospective customers or they won’t attend. Some organizers know the 4Ps of marketing: product, promotion, place and price. So how many meeting professionals are familiar with the 3Vs of big data? Defining … [Read more…]
Everyone seems to be talking about the tech trend Big Data! According to IBM’s 2011 CIO report of 3,000 global companies, more than 80% identified business analytics from big data as their top priority for business competitiveness. Technology guru Graham Oakes says that 90% of the data ever created has been created in the last … [Read more…]
Many CEOs name driving sustained and steady top-line growth as their top priority for their annual meeting. Yet how many conference organizers and meeting professionals see driving sustained growth as their priority? Even further, how many conference organizers see driving the CEO’s agenda as an essential objective of their conference? Is it even a wonder … [Read more…]
Most conference organizers focus on meeting their paid attendee goals for their upcoming annual event. They are so focused on that one event that they rarely take time to step back and think about the sustainability of the event for the next several years. They concentrate all of their energy, time and resources on meeting … [Read more…]
What would it take for your conference attendees to call your annual meeting the greatest event on the Earth? Animal acts? High wire tightrope acrobatics? Clowns? Three rings of ongoing entertainment? A live band? It’s challenging to keep annual meetings fresh and exciting while maintaining integrity. Yet it’s very easy to duplicate last year’s event … [Read more…]
