Ever run your car over some severe potholes? It can do some major damage to your tires. And to your vehicle too. Potholes can be an expensive problem for both drivers and cities. Just like potholes, conference planning thinkholes can be an expensive problem for your event. They can create some major cavities and damage to your participants’ conference experience. Adapted from author Will Mancini’s writings on organizational leadership. Defining Conference Planning Thinkholes A … [Read more...]
Common, Yet Hazardous, Conference Planning Thinkholes That Inhibit Uniqueness
Why do so many people rate the conference experience as stale, predictable and average at best? Why do conference leaders miss the mark at preparing their own unique DNA conference experience? Why do so many conference organizers miss the opportunity to create a matchless thumbprint on their event’s identity? We as conference organizers often have the common habit of neglecting what makes our event’s experience unique. Instead, we gravitate towards programs and mindsets that work … [Read more...]
Exposing Your Mental Model For Conference Education
Most conference organizers are not even aware of the mental models that drive their decisions—especially when it comes to conference education. Rarely do we openly examine or actively process our mental models. We just act. So those beliefs continue to govern our thoughts and decisions, without our awareness or knowledge. As a conference organizer, your primary task should be to develop appropriate and accurate mental models. That means your current thinking may need to change. Your … [Read more...]
Your Mental Model Influences Your Conference Success
Imagine walking down the hall of a conference venue. You stop and enter one of the rooms. A speaker is telling the audience the three steps that they must follow to be successful. The audience sits quietly. Some write or type notes. Now imagine walking into another room at the same venue. The audience is talking to each other in pairs and triads about how to customize and apply one of the three steps needed for success. The speaker walks around the room listening and engaging in various … [Read more...]
Since We Are Already Doing What We Are Doing It Cannot Be Too Risky-NOT!
We frequently avoid change. We take comfort in doing the same thing over and over again. It feels safe. When it comes to making changes to a conference or association service, we opt to do what we’ve done in the past. It’s easier. We know the outcome. We believe it’s less risky than changing. Putting Risk In Context I would argue that doing what you’ve always done in the past is one of the riskiest things you can do. It can result in eventual demise. Don’t believe me? Consider Kodak, … [Read more...]
The Traps And Transgressions Of Traditional Thinking
That won’t work for us because we are different than everyone else. We’ve always done it this way. We don’t need to change. We’ve tried that in the past and it failed. These are just a few of the traditional thinking excuses we face every day. Whether we are trying to create a new conference experience or consider a new association service, these excuses hold us back from improvements. The Usual Suspects Here are several traps of traditional thinking identified by Mathew May that can … [Read more...]
When Opinion By Committee Can Lead You Astray
Last night we went to a local chain restaurant. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t bad. It was average at best. After our meal, I told others about my visit. My relatives all had an opinion about the restaurant. So did my spouse and my friends. I started to post a comment in Facebook to ask others about their thoughts. Then I wondered “Why am I asking for their opinions?” Our Need For Others’ Opinions Why do we want others’ opinions so much? I wondered why I needed others’ opinions of the … [Read more...]
Practicing Strategic Thinking To Strengthen Intellectual Capacity
It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that. ~ The Red Queen, Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass Strengthening Strategic Thinking Muscles Becoming a strategic thinker is not as difficult as it sounds. Although if we’re not careful, it may mean running-in-place, twice as hard. It just means practicing different behaviors than what you probably already do. Being more strategic … [Read more...]
