Emerging Evergreen Conference Practices—From This To That September 18, 2018 by Jeff Hurt 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 … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , chief participant experience officer, conference fads, conference gimmicks, conference trends, Customer Centricity, emerging practices, evergreen conference principles, insights, metrics, strategy
Tactical Or Strategic: Which Best Describes Your Governing Nonprofit Board August 19, 2016 by Jeff Hurt Tactical board members are focused on the predictability of the past for today, the here and now, and getting through the year. Strategic board members think, prepare and act on challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Why? Because they care about the organization’s future. They know they can play an important role in creating their … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , ASAE16, association governance, association issues and challenges, integrated reasoning, strategic thinking, strategy, tactics
Conferences Need a Strategic Purpose April 11, 2016 by Dave Lutz Does your annual conference have a documented purpose or strategy? My experience is that most organizers either don’t have one or haven’t updated, or used it, in quite a while. With competition for attendee time and share of wallet reaching new degrees of complexity, revisiting this strategic step should be a high priority. Defining the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference purpose, strategy
Four Stupendous Strategic Steps You Should Practice Regularly February 19, 2016 by Jeff Hurt One of the biggest challenges we face—especially nonprofit association and conference professionals–is spending adequate time thinking. For some reason, we believe that doing is better than thinking. When we do something, we seem to make progress. Well, at least that’s what we tell ourselves. When we think, there doesn’t seem to be any forward movement. … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , association executives, credibility, event professionals, hospitality professionals, meeting planning best practices, meeting professionals, strategic thinking, strategic value, strategy
Bill MacDonald Joins the Velvet Chainsaw Team October 22, 2015 by Dave Lutz We’re excited to welcome Bill MacDonald, Vice President, Analysis & Insights to the Velvet Chainsaw Consulting team starting November 2, 2015. VCC will now a team member in Michigan. Having our roots in Ohio, Michigan is public enemy #1. I had to set aside my emotions on this choice and make the rational decision of … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , Bill MacDonald, strategy
Attitudes That Separate Growing, Healthy Conferences From Declining Ones June 10, 2015 by Jeff Hurt So what’s the difference between a growing, healthy conference and a declining one? Well, there are a lot of differences. Leadership—boards, committees, volunteers, staff—of growing, healthy conferences share some common attitudes. And leaders of declining conferences share similar outlooks as well. These mindsets have a huge influence on a meeting’s outcomes. Here are five leadership … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference growth, conference health, Conference Profitability, Conference Revenue Performance, conferences, long term growth, strategic planning, strategic thinking, strategy
Your Conference Renewal Begins With Wondering April 22, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Where does true conference improvement begin? The conference revitalization process is probably very different than many of your past experiences. It’s so different that we have to view it through new lenses. By taking charge of your own understanding of conference improvement and transformation, you begin a new journey. You are exploring uncharted territory. You … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference improvement, conference organizer, conference planning, conference planning team, culture of learning, inquiry, meeting planner, meeting professional, reflection, strategy, transformation, wonderings
Rebalancing Conference Vertigo By Starting With Design-Less Strategies April 17, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Leaping to action without a solid comprehension of your conference target market and their needs causes all sorts of mayhem. Some conference organizers and their planning team members don’t even realize they are in the eye of a storm. That mayhem is their blind spot. Planning a conference without a deep understanding of what makes … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design Tagged With: , conference design empathy, conference organizer, conference planning, conference planning team, constrained collaboration, culture of learning, customer empathy, empathy, learning organization, meeting planner, meeting professional, strategic empathy, strategy
Constrained Collaboration Can Derail Conference Improvement April 16, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Collaboration – it’s one of the buzzwords of business today. Collaboration is when people work together to achieve a goal. Multiple individuals from different departments work together to accomplish a task or project. Evan Rosen in his book The Culture of Collaboration says “[Collaboration is] working together to create value while sharing virtual and physical … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference organizer, conference planning, conference planning team, constrained collaboration, culture of learning, learning organization, meeting planner, meeting professional, strategy
Pivoting Away From Past Procedures To New Conference Horizon Returns April 15, 2015 by Jeff Hurt Your current conference planning and improvement procedures have its roots in industrial revolution models. We are still designing our conference in the exact same way that companies designed their manufacturing production process, to paraphrase Dave Gray author of The Connected Company. We are trying to imitate the industrial age to make our conference networking, programming … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , conference organizer, conference planning, conference planning team, culture of learning, learning organization, meeting planner, meeting professional, strategy
