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.

Conference 170

Conference 2014 Consulting Meeting Design 170

Gallus Events

JULY 24, 2017

I have always used the metaphor of a production line to explain the need for meeting design. The production line approach to Meeting Design. Most departments are set up to deal with an exhibition or a conference. The post The production line approach to meeting design appeared first on Gallus Events.

Meeting Design 124

Meeting Design Meetings Technology Sponsorships 124

EventMB

AUGUST 9, 2017

Be more engaging and ditch the slideshow with these presentation ideas that will ramp up your keynote and really get the message across. Speakers have an important role at conferences because they not only need to share learning, we need them to connect, interact and engage with attendees to make a strong impact.

Speakers 148

Speakers Conference Meeting Design Meetings 148

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Events and media consultant Julius Solaris shared at the Unforgettable Experience Design Summit that he was initially very enthusiastic about unconference format events. He thought conferences would eventually adopt unconference models. Includes breakout sessions as well as presentations isn’t an unconference. [No,

Conference 266

Conference Venues 2023 Consulting 266

Conferences that Work

APRIL 11, 2022

By “practitioners” I mean the folks who do what the meeting is about; e.g., doctors at a medical event or scientists at a conservation conference. Often, vendors meet with practitioners at a tradeshow, and sponsors (who are usually vendors too) get opportunities to address practitioners.

Meetings 296

Meetings Conference Meeting Design Advertising 296

Gallus Events

MARCH 22, 2016

At the end of February we supported Practically Perfect PA to run their second “Assist Conference” They reached their target of 100 PAs just a few days before the date of the conference, and everyone was delighted to have sold out the event. The five keys to great conference content. And the reason?

Conference 173

Conference Meeting Design Speakers Fashion 173

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

It’s a good time to invite guest presenters into your online classroom. As an experienced facilitator and designer of participant-driven and participation-rich meetings, I love to share what I’ve learned during my four decades in the meeting industry. You won’t get a canned presentation.

Hospitality 189

Hospitality Education Meeting Design Conference 189

Conferences that Work

MAY 11, 2020

I’ve been designing and facilitating participant-driven and participation-rich in person meetings — aka peer conferences — for almost thirty years. Because participants love these meetings ! Now the covid-19 pandemic has forced meetings online. In person meetings have vanished overnight.

Conference 375

Conference 2012 Meetings Meeting Design 375

Conferences that Work

APRIL 18, 2022

The first novel hybrid meeting format was invented by Joel Backon back in 2010. The second is a design I’ll be using in a conference I’ve designed and will be facilitating in June 2022. Collaborative Tools Workshop ” designed by Joel Backon at the 2010 annual edACCESS conference.

2010 411

2010 Meetings Conference Travel 411

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

07:45 Behind the scenes: How I got into designing and facilitating participant-driven and participation-rich meetings. 11:00 What participant-driven and participation-rich meeting design means, and the core components. 13:45 Creating a conference program on the fly at the event. 03:30 How Anca and I met.

Event Design 156

Event Design Meetings Social Media Meeting Design 156

Conferences that Work

MARCH 14, 2022

Personal meetings like these, whether brief or extended, between good friends or strangers, are fundamental. Someone to tell it to at conferences. Conferences, whether in-person or online, are also potential arenas for conversations. But some conferences offer better opportunities than others. No related posts.

2006 162

2006 Meeting Design Conference Meetings 162

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Before 2020, I was designing and facilitating around a dozen in-person meetings and conferences a year. After COVID decimated the meeting industry, I focused on the design and facilitation of online meetings. And David gave me a free hand with the design. The design parameters were interesting.

2023 208

2023 Conference 2006 2020 208

Conferences that Work

MARCH 15, 2021

Recently, I’ve been appearing as a guest at college event planning and hospitality courses to talk about meeting design. (I Rather than lecture for an hour, I’ve been using an Ask Me Anything (aka AMA ) meeting format. Related posts: Ask Me Anything About Conference Panels — Thursday, July 21, 4-6 pm EDT Blab!

Hospitality 169

Hospitality Meeting Design Conference Event Planning 169

Gallus Events

MARCH 22, 2016

At the end of February we supported Practically Perfect PA to run their second “Assist Conference” They reached their target of 100 PAs just a few days before the date of the conference, and everyone was delighted to have sold out the event. The five keys to great conference content. And the reason?

Conference 100

Conference Meeting Design Speakers Fashion 100

Conferences that Work

JULY 3, 2023

Back in 1992 , I developed The Three Questions as a fundamental opening process for participant-driven meetings and conferences. Answering it gives every person present, in turn, an opportunity to share what they would like the ensuing meeting to be about. Those who offer it are usually first-time attendees.

Conference 156

Conference 2023 Meeting Design Meetings 156

Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2019

This (slightly edited) interview by JT Long appeared in the March 2019 issue of Smart Meetings Magazine. What led to writing the book, Conferences that Work ? I invented the format by accident 26 years ago when there were no expert speakers to invite for a conference on administrative computing issues in small schools.

2014 244

2014 2019 Conference Meeting Design 244

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Some say I have high status in the event industry, but when I’m facilitating a roomful of subject matter experts, I’m the most ignorant and lowest status person present. At a traditional meeting, however, perceived status roles rarely change significantly during the event. The first agreement…. …is

Meetings 323

Meetings Conference Negotiating Speakers 323

Conferences that Work

JULY 31, 2017

Although I have good reasons to champion meeting designs where the participants get to choose what they want and need to discuss and learn rather than a program committee , there is invariably a place for some predetermined presentations at conferences. Read the full article at Conferences That Work.

Meetings 196

Meetings Meeting Design Conference Speakers 196

Conferences that Work

JUNE 7, 2021

Why am I writing about social learning on a blog that’s (mainly) about meeting design? Because social (uncovered) learning is the best learning model for conference sessions. Which means, to create the best meetings we need to maximize the social learning that takes place. Humans’ true superpower.

Meeting Design 284

Meeting Design Conference Meetings Event Design 284

Conferences that Work

JULY 19, 2021

If you want maximum learning, interaction, and connection at a meeting, small meetings are better than large meetings. For example, think about a conference to explore the implications of a medical breakthrough. Increased learning, interaction, and connection. Seven of us were in a Zoom, watching a Zoom….

Meetings 330

Meetings 2011 2021 Fashion 330

Conferences that Work

JUNE 12, 2017

I love my meeting design clients, but there is one mistake I see them making over and over again. Clients invariably ask me to help design their meeting after they’ve chosen a venue! Read the full article at Conferences That Work. Face The Fear—Then Change Your Conference Design!

Venues 210

Venues 2010 Meetings Conference Design 210

Conferences that Work

APRIL 5, 2021

Only about 10% of adult learning involves formal classroom or meeting presentation formats. Unfortunately, traditional conferences are poor places for this kind of learning to occur, since they’re filled with broadcast-style lectures, during which no interpersonal interaction takes place. No related posts.

Meetings 324

Meetings Conference Meeting Design Management 324

Slido

JANUARY 30, 2019

In December 2018, we set out to explore the future of town hall meetings. The goal of our one-day event in partnership with Convene was to show how a successful all-hands could look in 2019 and beyond by using interactive technology and meeting design thinking. It was a new experience for everyone, and the audience loved it.

Speakers 69

Speakers Meeting Design 2018 2019 69

Slido

OCTOBER 30, 2018

A good icebreaker at the onset of your conference can set the tone for your event, boost audience engagement and create the right conditions for networking. But before you dive into planning one for your conference, keep these three things in mind: Set a clear goal Know what you want to achieve with your icebreaker.

Conference 80

Conference Speakers Meeting Design 2016 80

Conferences that Work

APRIL 9, 2018

Over the last five years I’ve heard increasing concern from the meeting professionals community about the deterioration of the quality of our national industry conferences. In my case, the demand for the meeting design and facilitation services I provide has been exploding. (In

Education 185

Education Meetings 2006 2012 185

Gallus Events

MAY 2, 2017

Clients often ask me, what should they look for in a venue that will support a creative conference? Too many venues, especially hotels, are still designed and to house traditional conferences. If you want to run a creative conference, one that uses Meeting Design you have to find a venue that will really support your conference.

Venues 164

Venues Meeting Design Conference Meetings 164

Slido

OCTOBER 15, 2018

How many times have you reached into your creative ideas shelf when planning a conference and realized you’ve used all the usual session formats way too often? This can be difficult at the end of a conference day as people’s attention tends to wane. After the presentation, people submitted the unanswered questions via Slido.

Conference 75

Conference Speakers 2018 Meetings 75

Conferences that Work

JANUARY 24, 2022

But I see meetings where hallway learning trumps a majority of, if not all, conference sessions as failures of design, rather than a fact of life. By far the best way to significantly improve hallway learning and connection is to build it into our meeting sessions. Why should we do this? Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0).

Food and Beverage 360

Food and Beverage Meetings Conference Meeting Design 360

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

Let’s look at these three conclusions in the context of meeting design. Most meeting presenters still lecture. And most meeting session presenters resort to lecturing as their dominant session modality. Attendees learn more when presenters use active learning modalities.

2012 213

2012 Speakers Education 2019 213

PCMA Convene

APRIL 4, 2019

The appetite for experiential tours among those who come to Portland for meetings and conventions has grown noticeably in the last two years, Morgan said. So much so, that she predicts that the days when business travelers see only see the inside of their hotels, moving from conference room to hotel room and back again, will soon be history.

Meeting Design 40

Meeting Design Meetings Food and Beverage Hotels 40

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Adding to my reports on new platforms providing online incarnations of traditional conference socials , here’s a review of online social platform Rally. Presentation & panel capability. So you can’t use Rally to create a presenter or panel session for more than (currently) 36 people. Two points before we start.

Conference 202

Conference Venues Marketing Meeting Design 202

Event Industry News

JANUARY 9, 2018

Some meeting designers are starting to give up on speakers because speakers can’t seem to get interaction embedded in their presentations. Are they too stressed or too focused to do anything else besides their presentation? Or are they just not skilled or capable in this kind of work? In comes the Pitbull Session.

2018 40

2018 Conference Meeting Design Speakers 40

Conferences that Work

MARCH 4, 2019

I’m excited to present my Participate! After a highly successful debut in 2018, three Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Chapters — MPI Toronto , MPI Montréal/Québec , and MPI Ottawa — have again joined forces to provide cutting edge, innovative, experiential education at The EVENT.

2012 125

2012 Education 2018 Meeting Design 125

Conferences that Work

MARCH 25, 2019

Though it’s clearly sensible to keep a conference running on schedule, we’ve all attended meetings where rambling presenters, avoidable “technical issues”, incompetent facilitation, and inadequate logistics have made a mockery of the published program. By which I mean, of course, don’t run late !)

Contracts 175

Contracts 2011 Conference Education 175

Conferences that Work

APRIL 8, 2019

1992: I organize a conference where there are no expert speakers available (it’s a new field, there are no experts). Invent a way to make the conference successful based on the collective needs, wants, and experience of the attendees. The conference has run continually for the last 27 years.) This is something new.

2005 147

2005 2009 Consulting Conference 147

Conferences that Work

APRIL 16, 2018

Fun fact: the testing community often uses my term “peer conferences” for their get-togethers, due to a chat about meeting design I had with tester James Bach at the 2004 Amplifying Your Effectiveness conference.) See the post for full details.)

2018 145

2018 2004 Conference Trade Shows 145

GEVME

DECEMBER 19, 2019

Take a look at the following picture of a trade fair back in 1979: National Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association Conference & Trade Show 1979. Today, we see professionals from the UX & Design field apply design thinking to meetings to explore how to reinvent them. Sure, what people wear has changed.

Trade Shows 156

Trade Shows 2019 Speakers Meeting Design 156