You can never get enough of what you really don’t need says Eric Hoffer. To paraphrase Hoffer, you can never get enough of conference fads, gimmicks and trends. We want more, more, more! (Unless your a conference participant and we often have had enough!) Fads and trends are often about gaining attention. They also want access to your conference budget. Evergreen conference practices that have promising results are often obscured by our obsession with fads and trends. Seven Emerging … [Read more...]
It Is Time For Some Conference Metrics Maintenance
If you own a car, you don’t want to ignore preventive maintenance. Rotating the tires, checking the oil and getting scheduled inspections are important to a safe ride and keeping you from expensive future repairs. Just like regular preventive maintenance for your car, your conference needs regular preventive maintenance. The first place to start with a conference check-up is collecting the right data. We’ve got to ignore those vanity metrics that make feel good. They will lead us to false … [Read more...]
Conference Organizer: Proceed With Caution!
Danger, conference organizer! Danger! Did you ever watch the late-’60s sci-fi TV series Lost In Space? Yeah, most of you reading this are too young to know or remember it. Still you may have watched it in reruns or at a slumber party. It was known for its iconic robot that served as an early-tornado-type-siren. Whenever it sensed a terrifying situation, it would flail its metal arms and shout danger. Your Conference Data Just Might Be Flailing Its Arms If you are paying close attention … [Read more...]
Measuring Actionable Or Vanity Conference Metrics
Your conference needs a checkup! Just like you need an annual doctor’s appointment for routine health checkup, your conference needs a routine checkup. Sure, you may feel like your conference doesn’t need it, just like you feel you don’t need a medical checkup. Regardless of how you feel, it is important. You need to assess a variety of areas to understand your conference’s level of health. You need some pre-established benchmarks to determine the health of your conference and plan for … [Read more...]