How strategic is your thinking? Do you crave information? Do you believe that more is actually better? Do you desire data, data and more data? If you hunger after more and better ideas at all cost, your info-craving habits actually zap your brain’s energy. The persistent pace of focusing on details makes it more difficult for your brain to decipher and understand the big picture. Details Or Big Ideas According to cognitive neuroscience expert and author Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, when you … [Read more...]
What You Are Doing Today Probably Will Not Drive Your Long Term Conference Growth
Most conference strategy is stuck! It’s stuck in strategic thinking based on ideas and frameworks designed for a different era. Our current conference growth strategy is out of context with today’s dramatic accelerated pace of change. We have taken for granted a set of growth strategy assumptions that served us in the past. But they have been overthrown by a new set of customer and market principles. The Purpose Of Old-School Strategy Most strategic plans and goals are based on one … [Read more...]
Leading Change With Brain Friendly Strategies
Change can be hard! All organizations face challenges of maintaining employee or volunteer engagement and motivation in the midst of uncertainty. Organizational change is challenging even in the best situations. According to McKinsey Quarterly, 2010, only about 30% of organizations are successful with organizational change. For many people, the unknown is extremely frightening. We default to routine and resist change at all costs. Case Study On Successful Organizational … [Read more...]
Conferences Need Dynamic Planning That Relies On Insight
Your conference planning process needs a dynamic strategy that relies on insight, not call for proposals and scheduling of speakers. Most meeting professionals who devote their time to the development of detailed conference schedules are destined to eventual disappointment. Why? Because the focus is entirely on the structural framework for the meeting. Until the focus shifts to the effectiveness of the experience and moves away from the construction of the schedule, the conference will have … [Read more...]
Are You Using The Rear View Mirror To See What Is Ahead?
What vantage point do you use to move forward? The rear view mirror, your headlights or a travel advisor who tells you what's ahead? The Three Views Seth Kahan recently spoke at Texas Society of Association Executives New Ideas 2011 Conference at the Omni Houston Galleria in Houston, Tx. Kahan is the CEO of Visionary Leadership and author of Getting Change Right. Kahan identified three perspectives organization leaders use when making decisions about the future. 1. Rear View Leaders that … [Read more...]
Is Your Conference Like A Five Course Meal Or A Smorgasbord Buffet?
If you had a choice and money was not a concern, which would you prefer? A fine dining five course dinner or an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord buffet? I prefer a fine dining five course meal anytime. Smorgasbord All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Smorgasbord buffets are usually prepared fast, easily and inexpensively. They are a popular method for feeding a large number of people with minimal staff and effort. The food is displayed in a public area where diners serve themselves. The consumer chooses from a … [Read more...]
Nine Ground Rules To Adopt During Strategic Planning
Strategic Planning: those two words can cause groans, sighs and rolling eyes. Some run screaming from the room when they discover it's strategic planning time! Nine Strategic Planning Ground Rules Regardless your thoughts about strategic planning, here are nine ground rules to help your team maneuver the minefields and complex paths. Establishing these ground rules will keep you from grinding to a halt. 1. Nostalgic times should be reserved for retirement villages. History has a time and … [Read more...]
