Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 23, 2020

During my career leading association event teams, I regularly recalibrated and redefined team member roles in order to drive innovation and improve our meeting experiences. Not every effort was a rousing success but attempting to inject new conference elements made us more nimble, creative and smarter as a team. Associations are struggling with uncertainty for how to un-plan and re-plan their signature events in a time where mass gatherings are not possible.

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2020 Travel Conference Speakers 245

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. How to Create an Effective Event Culture.

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Conference 2019 Conference Planning Hospitality 293

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. Why do we falsely assume that our event and its customers are self-perpetuating? Entropy Examples In Your Event.

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Conference 2019 Sustainability Conference Planning 282

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 27, 2018

Who wants to attend a common, ordinary, ho-hum, everyday , I’m-just-like-all-the-others traditional conference? Your conference growth and revenue depends upon repeat paying attendees year after year. Customer loyalty is the cornerstone for your event’s success.

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Speakers 291

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Virtual events open up a whole new world of possibilities for engaging your attendees. This best practices guide will help you make the most of your online conferences, summits, keynote presentations, and more.

Events

EventMB

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

Conference Compass is an all-in-one platform that includes mobile and web apps and offers features for virtual, hybrid, and live events. Conference Compass Virtual Event Platform: What Is It?

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2020 Conference Events Event Technology 104

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Applying a story arc to the conference can activate participants’ brains. And you want stimulated, motivated engaged brains during your event for sure! Here’s where the story arc concept gets really cool for your event.

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Conference 2018 Education Conference Planning 349

Event Industry News

JULY 15, 2020

Live events are all about bringing people together. Whether it’s to get inspired, to share knowledge, or to do business, the human connection is the number one reason to attend events. At virtual events, by their very nature, this connection is much harder to achieve. Our #OneCommunity Virtual Event Platform offers incredible networking features to enhance your virtual and hybrid events. Contact Conference Compass to find out more.

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Conference Networking Conference 2020 Meetings 68

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. You can never get enough of what you really don’t need says Eric Hoffer.

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Meetings 322

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 21, 2018

The North Star is the perfect metaphor for your annual conference purpose. When your conference purpose serves as a North Star, it guides all decisions, tasks, behaviors and strategy. Uncovering Your North Star Conviction To Find Conference True Target Market.

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Conference 2018 Sponsorships Conference Planning 229

Speaker: Mike Damphousse, Managing Partner of Category Design Advisors and Founder of Green Leads

Business as we know it is never going to be the same. Working from home has become the norm, conferences and meetings are going online, marketing budgets are being shifted, reduced or put on hold – it's time to adapt. Join this insightful and informative webinar with Mike Damphousse, Managing Partner of Category Design Advisors and Founder of Green Leads, who will discuss how businesses can be resilient during these challenging times.

2020

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 expend resources searching for the mysterious conference trend panacea.

Conference 304

Conference 2018 Meetings Food and Beverage 304

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 31, 2020

Please stop treating adults like children at your conferences. for Sessions , described in Chapter 26 of my book Event Crowdsourcing , is exactly what you’ll need for an in-person session. So, please stop treating adults like children at conferences.

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2020 Conference Education Meetings 225

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 12, 2018

These mental models are deeply embedded in our conference planning and management practices. Savvy conference organizers realize that their mental models have much more influence over their outcomes than their decisions and actions. Surfacing our cognitive conference constructs.

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Conference 2018 Education Conference Planning 198

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 30, 2020

If you’re inbox is anything like mine, you could spend a good portion of our day consuming webinars, virtual events and networking in Zoom or Facebook Messenger Happy Hours. The dynamics that we’re seeing impact conferences and their business models are very similar to the Freemium movement we experienced way back in 2009. Go ahead and read Seth’s post and then come back for the linkage to conference monetization.

2020 241

2020 Conference 2009 Education 241

Attendease

JANUARY 22, 2020

The events industry has been behind some of the most innovative tech conferences in the past decade. Opening the doors for new business prospects, these conferences are places where the top professionals meet and showcase their innovative concepts and bold theories for the future.

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2020 Conference B2C Education 102

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Your association, annual conference, and governance are all institutions. One of the sacred cows for associations and their annual conference is attributing notoriety to the office of the president, board chair or annual conference committee chair.

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Conference 2018 Government Consulting 292

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. If you understand your target audience, it’s not a challenge to build such a conference vision. What is a corporate conference planning checklist? After a conference.

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Conference Planning Conference 2018 Corporate Events 225

Event Industry News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

Brighton Music Conference (BMC), the UK’s foremost electronic music and networking event will still be going ahead on 1st and 2nd of October but as a virtual only event, streamed live and on-demand.

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2020 Conference Government Speakers 61

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Here’s my article “ Five Reasons to Change Conferences “ , published in the December 2018, NSA Speaker magazine. OUTSIDE IN Five Reasons to Change Conferences Peer sessions provide greater connection around content The most important reason people go to conferences is to usefully connect with others around relevant content. But our conference programs still focus on lectures, where a few experts broadcast their knowledge to passive listeners.

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2018 Conference 2014 Education 190

Conferences that Work

JUNE 3, 2019

The first peer conference I convened and designed was held June 3 – 5, 1992 at Marlboro College, Vermont. So, as of today, the community of practice that eventually became edACCESS has enjoyed 27 years of peer conferences. Twenty-three people came to the inaugural conference. 27 years of peer conferences. Read the full article at Conferences That Work The post 27 years of peer conferences appeared first on Conferences That Work.

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Conference 2019 2014 Consulting 160

Eventmobi

APRIL 14, 2020

Achieve Virtual Event Success. While many planners haven’t yet had the opportunity to run a virtual or hybrid event, pivoting from an in-person to virtual format offers new opportunities to engage your attendees and sponsors, while extending the reach of your event.

2020 247

2020 Conference Social Media Sponsorships 247

Velvet Chainsaw

MAY 8, 2020

Webinar description: Monetizing Your Virtual Conference When Competing with Free. Join us to: Explore virtual experience quality filters that will best position your event for participation, value and revenue. Discuss and evaluate emerging pricing models to consider for your Fall 2020 event. Lisa Block, Executive Vice President, Conference Strategy & Design, Velvet Chainsaw Consulting.

2020 193

2020 Conference Consulting Speakers 193

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 12, 2018

At a recent conference consultation with a client, a millennial made me think that I wasn’t keeping up with the times. We were discussing their marketing and communication strategies for their event. I reiterated that their conference needed a home base to optimize.

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2018 Conference Attendance Marketing Social Media 305

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 13, 2018

If there’s something strange in your conference-hood. And your event don’t look good. Our cognitive frameworks—our mental models and paradigms—shape our thinking, behavior, operations and success of our conferences. Today’s winning conference program is part of yesterday.

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Management 201

Conferences that Work

MAY 14, 2018

Here are nine mythodologies about conferences. At least half the sessions programmed at traditional conferences are not what attendees want. Mythodology: Event socials are a good way to meet people. Reality : People tend to stay with people they already know at event socials. Participant-driven and participation-rich events provide far more opportunities to meet people you actually want to meet. Reality : Sadly, conference curators don’t exist.

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Conference 2018 2011 Contracts 171

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 29, 2018

Conference organizers and their planning teams should understand, identify and quash organizational debt. Refactoring As A Metaphor For Conference Improvement. Thus we refactor to improve the conference experience for our customers. Consider it as your conference source code.

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Management 207

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

Why not make your entire conference a braindate? One of Skift’s “ 10 event trends for 2020 ” is networking. The report predicts: “Activities such as braindates that deliver more meaningful connections will become mainstream at events.” I like the braindate approach , but it doesn’t have to be something that’s grafted onto a conference. Because good event design is about how a conference works.

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GEVME

MARCH 15, 2019

When you’re in the events industry, you should know the main event management conferences for 2019 so you can visit them to improve your knowledge and share your own experiences of working long hours while trying to pull off amazing corporate events for your clients. Discover the current top event management conferences with GEVME. The top 13 event management conferences to attend in 2019. The Special Event 1/8–1/1,0 San Diego, CA.

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2019 Event Management Management Conference 159

Conferences that Work

JANUARY 6, 2020

A recent Wired article argues that “ Science Conferences Are Stuck in the Dark Ages “ Unsurprisingly, I agree — but there’s some light in the darkness! Read the full article at Conferences That Work The post Are science conferences stuck in the Dark Ages?

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2020 Conference Event Design Events 156

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 277

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 13, 2018

Does your event have a clear and inspiring purpose? (If Now imagine someone asking your conference participants that question. Your Conference Purpose. So what’s your conference purpose? Your conference purpose is about building sustainable conference value.

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Conference 2018 Sustainability Conference Planning 219

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 23, 2018

Unfortunately, too few event organizers fully embrace the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing. Likewise, many conference professionals have no idea what embracing the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing even means. A Poverty Of Conference Content Marketing Success.

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Conference 2018 Attendance Marketing Education 257

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 24, 2018

As you embark on a new vision of conference renovation and reform, you may feel that you are crossing from a comfortable, familiar space to one that is unknown and unsettling. Conference Improvement As Your Threshold To New Growth. What’s your favorite room in your home?

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Conference 2018 Conference Planning Events 198

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 25, 2018

Too often conference and meeting professionals assume that their role is best suited to planning and executing the conference. I get that from the education section or the conference technical teams.”. However, savvy meeting professional know that their conference’s success depends upon moving from customer fragmented touchpoints to designing holistic conference customer experience journeys. They own designing the conference customers experience journey.

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Conference 2018 Fashion Education 162

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 2, 2019

Here’s what has changed: I’m convinced that “something for everyone” programming — including basic content for the novice or intermediate practitioner — is no longer the right strategy for positioning your conference as a can’t-miss experience. To distinguish your conference from the also-rans, you want your participant’s learning and understanding to grow from the ubiquitous “data and information” categories to “wisdom.” How Conference Sessions Can Deliver on Wisdom.

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Education Conference 2019 2020 192

Conferences that Work

JULY 13, 2020

How can we entwine content and connection during an online conference? During a MeetingsCommunity (MeCo) discussion thread “ Networking at conferences ” last week, Sharon Fisher posted this. As it happened, I’d just completed facilitating an online conference that I think did entwine content and connection. I thought it might be helpful to share an outline of how we blended content and connection throughout the event.

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2020 Conference Entertainment Education 146

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 21, 2020

This is the fourth in a series of blogs posts, written collaboratively by our team, which uncover lessons learned in advising dozens of our clients on their events in the time of COVID-19. In our Conference Go/No-Go Decisions in a Pandemic post , we provided a framework for scenario planning.

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2020 Conference Negotiating Hotels 241

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 4, 2018

As conference organizers, why can’t we also have a fun, fulfilling, and collaborative experience planning and designing the conference? Here are six ways to focus on designing your team’s experience during your next conference planning process. Embrace Your Event As A Giving Field. Read more about embracing your conference as a giving field here. It may seem paradoxical at first as we are used to focusing outward on the conference outcomes.

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Conference 2018 Conference Design Conference Planning 181

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 26, 2018

Once you’ve observed the conference through the lens of your target customer and gained insights from conference data, you can move to the next steps. These steps are critical for you and your conference planning teams to embrace, enlist and employ. You want to move from conference touchpoints to conference customer experience journeys. And remember, someone needs to own and to advocate on behalf of the conference customer’s experience.

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