Wikipedia defines design as the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction (as in architectural blueprints, engineering drawings, business processes, circuit diagrams, and sewing patterns). So, when you read the word design, what pops into your mind? Artists? Fashion Designers? City planning? Interior design? Graphic design? Meeting and conference professionals? Wait! Go back and read that last phrase: meeting and conference … [Read more...]
En Route For Next-Gen Conference Audiences
Will Millennials be joiners and conveners? Who are some of your next audiences to attract? Will your organization accumulate comparable lifetime customer value from next-generation members as it did from loyal Boomers? This is the first of two posts that are intended to be a helpful resource for conference organizers as they develop their attendee succession-plan strategy. Key Indicators For Most Conferences While every association and profession has its unique issues, I’ve picked up on a … [Read more...]
When Contemplating Conference Growth, Think Next Audiences Which Includes Next Gen
Too often when we think about conference growth or sustainability, we assume it means attracting next gen customers. We pinpoint a specific generation, usually Millennials. Then we discuss how to plan, program and market to that specific age group. Eventually our planning discussions turn to generational differences. Those conversations can quickly digress into personal pet peeve complaints about each generation. Before we realize it, we’ve polarized current and future … [Read more...]
Four Ways To Attract NextGen Conference Participants
Attracting the next generation of participants is an urgent priority for most professional conference organizers. Too often we think that means injecting conference botox to give our event a more youthful, trendy hip vibe. Yet it is much more than giving our conference a face-lift. The Conference Demographic Bell Curve Recently, I was involved in analyzing attendance demographics for an organization. The x-axis of the graph displayed age ranges, each one spanning about a decade (under … [Read more...]
Strategies To Create Conferences That Angry Millennials Love To Attend
Millennials are angry, vocal and hungry for social change says Nancy Lublin, CEO of dosomething.org and Umair Haque, director of Havas Media Labs in a September 2013 Fast Company article You need to adapt your conference or die! (Paraphrasing these two thought leaders). “You have to [change] if you want to stay in business. You're listening to your target market and your target market cares. They are angry, they're posting about these things, they're hungry to have an impact on the world. … [Read more...]
Catalyst Conferences: How To Plan And Produce Next-Generation Conferences & Events
Here is the slidedeck from my presentation to EventSolutions 2010 on Catalyst Conferences: How To Plan and Produce Next-Generation Conferences And Events. People today are learning in new ways that are both collective and egalitarian. They contribute to Wikipedia, comment on blogs, teach themselves programming and figure out work-arounds to online video games. They follow links embedded in articles to build a deeper understanding. They discuss issues in online chats in an interactive and … [Read more...]
