Conference organizers and their planning teams should understand, identify and quash organizational debt. Once they pinpoint and distinguish it, they need to refactor it. “Refactor it?” you say. “What does refactor mean?” Refactor is a technology concept that meeting professionals can use as a metaphor. Software programmers refactor their code once they develop a better understanding of how and why the program works. They clean up its internal functions, simplifying the program and … [Read more...]
The Conference Debt You Cannot Afford
There is one debt every conference organizer must face and vanquish. It can cripple a conference. It doesn’t show up on your profit and loss statement. What is this debt? Organizational debt—the interest your conference pays when its structures, policies, procedures, practices, committees and leadership roles stay fixed and accumulate even as the world around it changes.* Anyone striving to build a 21st century sustainable conference needs to understand organizational debt, how it impacts … [Read more...]