GEVME

JUNE 13, 2018

The unique story of any conference should begin with the goal and then a detailed plan on how to reach this goal. In his article for Smashing magazine , the founder of HybridConf, Zach Inglis, states that the aim of every conference organiser should be to create experiences that reenergize people and fill them with new zeal for their work. If you understand your target audience, it’s not a challenge to build such a conference vision. Create a dedicated conference page.

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Conference Planning Conference 2018 Corporate Events 173

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 14, 2016

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. Conference Planning Treadmills Thinkhole.

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Conference Planning 2016 Conference Marketing 223

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 21, 2016

When Conference Plans Land On Chutes. So many conference leaders, organizers and planning teams are obsessed with details, logistics and planning. They try to bring their conference into a new level of effectiveness by adding shiny tech tools, new audio visual production upgrades, trendy marquee speakers, and meeting efficiencies resulting in more plans. Their plans actually obscure their conference’s vision.

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Conference Planning 2016 Conference Speakers 188

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 20, 2016

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. Defining Conference Planning Thinkholes. It is a depression in our ability to provide adequate mental assessment about our conference planning. Four More Hazardous Conference Planning Thinkholes. Conference Planning Treadmill Thinkhole.

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Conference Planning 2016 Conference Tech 173

Velvet Chainsaw

MAY 18, 2018

Does your conference committee practice organized abandonment and avoid no-bottom-line-mindsets? How are they at focusing on the purpose, goals and target market of the conference when making decisions? These three principles are vital to maintaining a healthy, strong conference. Often conference planning members lack experience with the tenets of organized abandonment, focus on strategic alignment and organizing for opportunity.

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Conference Planning 2018 Conference Conference Networking 184

InitLive

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

With an excellent event team and a good strategy, you can plan and organize a successful conference for your organization. However, approaching conference planning with outdated methods can lead to a slow and exhausting planning process. Event Planning Automation.

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2021 Conference Planning 2007 Tech 62

InitLive

NOVEMBER 29, 2019

Whether you are new to conference management or just starting out, as you prepare for your next conference it's always a good idea to step outside your box and explore what's changed. To help prepare for your next conference we thought the time was right to take a step back and look at how we manage logistics at our next conference and ask ourselves is there a better way? Not surprisingly conferences have played a big part in my responsibilities over the years.

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Conference Planning Conference 2019 Social Media 55

PCMA Convene

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

Host Hotels & Resorts’ Sourav Ghosh (clockwise from top left), STR’s Amanda Hite, and Hotel News Now’s Stephanie Ricca participate in the online Hotel Data Conference. The Hotel Data Conference has been held annually for around 700 attendees in Nashville for the past 12 years.

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2020 Conference Planning Hotels Conference 82

Hubilo Blog

APRIL 3, 2018

Conference planning is a no easy job. Event planning overall, for that matter, is a stressful job. There is a wide range of conference planning tools in the market that make life much easier for conference planners juggling 10 tasks at a time. The most beneficial of these tools is the all-in-one conference planning software. Well, here are 10 reasons to convince you as to why conference planning software is a boon for planners: 1.

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Conference Planning 2018 Conference Social Media 73

InitLive

APRIL 17, 2019

Conferences are some of the best places to meet like-minded colleagues within the same industry or creative individuals who share similar interests. In an increasingly interconnected world where relationship is key for business, conferences are a must-have for proper networking. And the company that organizes the conference will have the most prestige and visibility at the event. Start the planning process early. A great conference needs a great venue.

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Conference Planning 2019 Conference Venues 66

Endless Events

AUGUST 29, 2018

A conference is more than just talks and booths inside a ballroom. This means their experience both during and in-between conference events are in your hands. Not to worry, that’s why we’ve put together all our conference planning guides here, to make sure you plan the best event experience for them. Conference Events Think Outside the Ballroom. Where to Host Your Next Conference: 8 Best Locations. Understanding Conference Sponsorship.

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Conference Planning Conference 2018 Entertainment 38

Dynamic Events

MAY 10, 2017

Our sister company Hubb has created The Ultimate Guide to Conference Planning eBook to give you access to the collective decades of conference planning experience. The post The Ultimate Guide to Conference Planning appeared first on Dynamic Events Inc. Read More. Dynamic Events News

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Conference Planning 2017 Conference Events 28

Eventinterface

JUNE 11, 2016

Planning conferences and events takes great organizational skill and a close attention to detail. Make plans to cope with all weather extremes, from providing extra drinking water in hot weather to umbrellas in wet weather. Carrying out a risk assessment will enable you to plan for every possible eventuality. The better you plan, the less likely something unexpected will disrupt the event and cost you time and money.

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2016 Conference Planning Social Media Conference 126

webMOBI

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Conference planning is no cake walk. And event technology has offered these planners a wide range of event planning tools and designs that can facilitate any function – from social media to registrations to […]. The post 10 reasons why conference planning software are a boon for event planners appeared first on WebMobi. Every professional event planner and organizer has to pay attention to every possible nuance present at each stage in an event.

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Social Media Event Planning Tools Conference Planning 2018 40

Planner WIre

APRIL 6, 2017

Productivity Excel

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Conference Planning 2017 Conference 28

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 17, 2019

I have been struck by the disparity in how an association’s organizational culture translates (or doesn’t translate) to the on-site implementation or planning of its live events. But when it gets to “go time,” does that culture manifest at your conferences and meetings? Her boss apparently thought she should spend all her time out “doing meeting planning” and not hanging out in a hotel conference room. Conference staff are not able to do everything!

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Conference 2019 Conference Planning Hospitality 294

Velvet Chainsaw

DECEMBER 23, 2020

In spite of all the bad, there is also much that is positive for the next phase of association conferences. These event pros were not shy and shared many obstacles but always coupled them with an idea or plan to overcome, recalibrate or thrive. Conference Planning Hybrid & Virtual

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2020 Conference 2021 Conference Planning 201

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 20, 2020

While things have changed, these tenets will hold true and the principles can be applied to other D&I conferences and events. The six attributes of women’s leadership conferences that have stood out for me: [1] Movement. Women’s conferences are often shorter one or two-day programs.

2020 204

2020 Conference Sponsorships Government 204

Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 12, 2020

Develop scenarios for go-forward/cancellation/postponement and virtual delivery options, and devise game plans for all scenarios. This is what we do … we plan, we adjust, we adapt and we move forward. What kind of contingency plans were or are in place? Conference Planning Uncategorized canceling cancellation checklist coronovirus COVID-19 pandemicThe disruption to the live events industry due to the Pandemic COVID-19 is unprecedented and impossible to escape.

2020 256

2020 Government Contracts Social Media 256

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 21, 2019

In physics, the second law of thermodynamics says all things—bodies, businesses, conferences, energy, organizations, relationships—move toward chaos and disorder. As your conference matures, it experiences entropy. As a conference professional, you know this to be true. It is also the natural law of evolution for any conference. We fall into the trap that we’ve-been-there-done-that-already and can check it off of our planning to do list.

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Conference 2019 Sustainability Conference Planning 289

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Your conference strategy should include a plan to inject fresh content or experiences each year as part of an ongoing improvement process. There are a million ways to make these improvement plans. Working with one of our clients, we devised a simple framework to help develop innovative plans for meaningful and lasting change. Plan – Develop tactics to make this experience come alive.

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2019 Sustainability Meeting Planning Conference Planning 236

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Applying a story arc to the conference can activate participants’ brains. You can use the story arc concept to carefully craft the messages and issues you want your conference participants to explore, experience and learn. Your conference narrative can serve as a call to action for your participants to play a pivotal role in resolving that challenge personally and professionally. So exactly how do you use a story arc for your conference?

2018 288

2018 Conference Education Conference Planning 288

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 9, 2019

Do your conference learning opportunities—from the general session to networking to breakouts to deep dive workshops—empower registrants to participate in their own learning journey? Or do your conference education sessions motivate participants to see the finish line? Authentic learner-centered conferences foster a connection between the participant and the learning taking place. So exactly how do conferences promote learning as a finish line?

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2019 Conference Education Conference Planning 277

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 13, 2020

Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. While these numbers look dismal for hotels, similar forecasts would apply to AV companies, exhibit service contractors, DMOs, exhibitor and attendee participation, conference-organizer revenue, and nearly any other product or service you can link to the live events industry. Conference Go/No-Go Decisions in a Pandemic.

2020 209

2020 Contracts Negotiating Conference Networking 209

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Conference Planning Uncategorized champs coaching dreamwork encouragement teamworkHallelujah! The Washington Nationals won game seven of the World Series to become world champs. This is a huge deal for Washington sports fans and their story should resonate for all of us in the meetings industry as we are dependent on our teams to successfully execute our events.

2019 214

2019 Sports Conference Planning Management 214

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 7, 2019

Many conferences are stuck in the rut of legacy routines, age-old rituals and cloned programming. Conference organizers and its advisors replicate the past maintaining the traditions and well-established procedures of yesteryear. The event is nothing more than a zombie conference—a conference that appears to be alive yet in reality creates the walking undead. Conference organizers and advisors can breathe new life into their events.

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2019 Conference Conference Planning Events 284

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 18, 2018

To paraphrase Hoffer, you can never get enough of conference fads, gimmicks and trends. Unless your a conference participant and we often have had enough!). They also want access to your conference budget. Evergreen conference practices that have promising results are often obscured by our obsession with fads and trends. To avoid being fad-like in our conference planning process, here are seven emerging evergreen practices to consider and invest in instead.

2018 265

2018 Conference Conference Planning Meetings 265

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 17, 2019

As conference organizers this leads us to bad decisions when selecting speakers and programming where we promote sharing success stories over asking questions, verifying validity and understanding context. Because you could be planning for a problem that doesn’t exist. So how often have you promoted conference round table discussions for attendees to share stories and take advice from peers? Conference Planning narratives stories stories over stats story arc story sharing

2019 273

2019 Government Speakers Conference Planning 273

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 31, 2019

It’s difficult to determine what to include — and not include — when collecting attendee data at the time of conference registration. In the spirit of making it easy to say “yes,” session sign-up should be delayed until 30–45 days prior to the conference. This timeframe better syncs up with the attendee journey — instead of being in the consideration phase, they’ll be in the planning phase. One best practice for conference registration?

2019 209

2019 Airlines Trade Shows Consulting 209

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 9, 2020

Although each situation has its own unique issues, we hope you find nuggets to help you with your disruption response and planning. Scenario Planning. The Conference Board has the best we’ve come across so far: May Reboot – quick recovery. In the beginning of this crisis, organizers of major conferences and trade shows were canceling with very little lead time. What advice would you add for scenario planning and predictions?

2020 176

2020 Conference Airlines Contracts 176

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Most conference and meeting professionals want the coolest, hippest, latest ideas and trends for their events. We want to know what unique things other conferences are doing so we can borrow their ideas. We pursue fads, gimmicks and trends as the silver bullets of our conference woes. We expend resources searching for the mysterious conference trend panacea. Conference trend and fad bandwagons. What was the last conference trend bandwagon that you jumped on?

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Conference 2018 Meetings Food and Beverage 249

Velvet Chainsaw

FEBRUARY 2, 2018

So what does this mean for those of us responsible for organizing and executing conferences and events? With millions of people experiencing face-to-face conferences, meetings and events each week, we have a unique opportunity to make some small shifts in the way we design them, which could have some dramatic results in the battle against loneliness. What would it take to implement radical hospitality at your conference? We’re lonely. And not just a little lonely.

2018 276

2018 Attendance Marketing Conference Networking Hospitality 276

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

Conferences that are like time capsules promote and preserve nostalgia and the past. Conferences that are like time machines teleport people to the future so they can discover what’s next. Conferences that resemble time capsules defend the status quo and traditions. Ultimately, our conferences should be where the present and future collide for the benefit of our customers! Meeting Planning Evolves. Why Large Conference Rarely Innovate.

2018 229

2018 Meetings Government Marketing 229

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Are 50%-80% of your conference attendees in your programming at any given time? One thing is certain, if your conference attendees are not fully engaged in the experience you provide, there is little, if any, chance that they will leave your event with any real ROI. Attendee engagement happens as a result of a conference organizer’s intentional planning, implementation and execution of specific strategies. Four Factors That Affect Your Conference Attendees’ Engagement.

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2016 Conference 2009 Conference Planning 313

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 24, 2016

Ultimately, if there are no job improvements, then you, your company and the conference organizers have just experienced learning scrap. The Conference Copycat Critter: Quick Just Give Me The Highpoints So I Can Copy Them! And they even demand—and thus conference organizers provide—someone else’s path to success. Those copycat conference critters become victims of mimicry. You leave the conference session with the speaker’s sound bites.

2016 305

2016 Education Speakers Conference Planning 305

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 27, 2018

Who wants to attend a common, ordinary, ho-hum, everyday , I’m-just-like-all-the-others traditional conference? And who wants to plan or sell one? Your conference growth and revenue depends upon repeat paying attendees year after year. And your customer loyalty is built upon making your common conference uncommon. Routine Been-There-Done-That Conferences. When your conference experience is no-frills run-of-the-mill…. Making The Common Conference Uncommon.

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Speakers 244

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 25, 2017

Our conference learning spaces affect our audience. Then we can focus on changing our conference participants’ learning spaces with the right goal in mind—nurturing their learning. Are You Putting Lipstick On Outdated Conference Education Models And Calling It A Success? Too many conference organizers think that they are creating new learning experiences by using new room sets, different furniture or unusual staging and lighting.

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2017 Conference Education Conference Design 243

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 10, 2019

It’s hard for conference organizers to stick to planning the essential elements of their events. As a conference professional, it is your mission each day to keep your focus on the essential elements of your event for your customers’ sake. Some of essentialism’s guiding ideas apply well to business and conferences. Most conferences exist to help their primary target markets progress and advance in their industry, profession and trade.

2019 221

2019 Conference Social Media Entertainment 221

Velvet Chainsaw

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

When planning meetings, conferences and events, ask yourself, “What hammers are these people bringing to this experience? How do we help conference participants place more value on problem identification and less on solutionitis? What steps have you taken to make sure you consider the hammers your conference participants carry to your event? If all you have is a hammer, everything else looks like a nail. The hammer nail analogy is a common business idiom.

2018 230

2018 Conference Planning Meetings Conference 230

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Developing Your Conference Story Arc. Conference organizers that grasp our brains’ need for stories can use narratives to help their participants develop and grow. As you plan your conference, take into account one of the biggest challenges that your target market faces. Then make it the central focus of your conference. What’s the most memorable story from a conference that you can remember that served as a frame for your learning?

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2018 Conference Conference Planning Marketing 224