Expert insights. Personalized for you.
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. Participant-driven and participation-rich events provide far more opportunities to meet people you actually want to meet. Mythodology: A “ conference curator ” can improve the quality of your conference content. MORE
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. Make colleagues and vendors feel welcome and involved in conference operations. Conference staff are not able to do everything! How can you make your conference culture more open and transparent? MORE
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. We are in the middle, I hope, of an extraordinary time in the meetings industry. MORE
What are the fairest rules to use when running meetings? ” I think it’s reasonable to concentrate on fairness to participants : the majority of those involved with the meeting. Status and power at meetings. I introduce the third agreement at meetings…. …by MORE
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. MORE
Is it possible to routinely start online meetings on time? Think about the last three meetings you attended. Why don’t scheduled meetings start on time? You will have to wait around until the host starts the meeting and lets you in. Only your meetings though.). MORE
I think it’s also a meeting problem: “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” And so it goes with meetings. It’s why businesses sponsor meetings. MORE
when you are hosting an event over more than one day, we recommend adding in some short activities to help break up the meeting part of your event. The post conference activities appeared first on Seven Events. MORE
Should meetings be efficient ? “Yes” say thousands of books on how to improve business meetings. But “No”, when we’re taking about most meeting industry events. Obviously there are aspects of meeting events that should be efficient whenever possible. MORE
The meeting industry old normal is over, and many event professionals are hoping and waiting for a new normal. What will the meeting industry new normal look like? The meeting industry old normal. For most of human history, of course, this has been the only meeting option. MORE
Tired of meetings that don’t end on time? Things were bad enough when we held our meetings in person. Now so many meetings are online, it’s easy to saddle remote workers with back-to-back meetings. But you can stay on time at online meetings when they’re your meetings — if you follow the guidance below! NOTE: Many of these suggestions are good practice for any meeting! Before the online meeting starts. MORE
Over the past nine months, many industry experts have proclaimed that meetings and conferences are forever changed and hybrid is here to stay. Meetings of the future will be improved and monetized by embracing the tenants of strategic product management. MORE
COVID-19 has virtually eliminated in-person meetings: our industry’s bread and butter. In order to overcome the many significant challenges created by the coronavirus, the meeting industry has made valiant efforts to rethink in-person meetings. MORE
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. MORE
What is the mix of presentation versus interaction at your meetings? Traditional meetings focus heavily on presentation. Presentation versus interaction at meetings. But our meeting designs, in large part, haven’t changed to reflect this shift in cultural awareness. MORE
If a person’s actions do not meet this standard of care, then the acts are considered negligent…”. Over the next year or so, conference organizers will need to define their responsibilities for duty of care, as well as what is expected of those who choose to attend your conference in person. MORE
I’ve been noticing a strange trend, ever since COVID-19 caused just about all bread and butter meetings to vanish. Suddenly, people are calling the meetings we’re holding these days virtual meetings. Why the rise of the phrase “virtual” meetings? MORE
Ever since my first encounter with the hybrid hub and spoke meeting topology at Event Camp Twin Cities in 2011, I’ve been a big fan of the format. Yesterday [see below], I realized that hub and spoke is a great format for purely online meetings too. MORE
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the in-person meeting industry. Now, meeting planners can add an affordable air quality tool to their site visits. A meeting planner doing a site visit should take CO? readings in occupied meeting rooms, restaurants, hotel lobbies, etc. MORE
As it becomes more apparent that face-to-face events will return in some form this year, conference organizers have an opportunity to make changes that would have been more difficult to sell up the ladder in the past. Long-term traditions can deter next-generation conference participants. MORE
How can we provide new experiences at meetings? Providing new experiences at meetings can be as simple as this. This universal fear is the reason the meeting industry continues to struggle with incorporating new experiences into events. MORE
The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) has published some useful lessons learned from organizing six online scientific meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online meetings improve access and attendance. Hybrid meetings in the future. MORE
Most of the event industry and our clients continue to assume that if you can make the meeting bigger it’s a good thing. Online and hybrid meetings have seen less drastic reductions. The event industry unduly focuses on large meetings. MORE
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. 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…. And when your conference content can be found on the web for free…. MORE
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. Before your conference can find its true target market, you as the conference organizer must find your conviction. What’s your conference conviction? What’s your conference North Star? MORE
Could there be an upsell opportunity in offering conference attendees extra rooms for C-suite meetings? A recent EventBrew podcast speculated about the possibility of combining C-suite and senior leadership team meetings […]. MORE
Why not make your entire conference a braindate? 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. Instead make your entire conference a braindate! MORE
Many event professionals are hoping and waiting for a meeting industry new normal. We want to believe that, at some point, in-person meetings like the ones we’ve held for decades will return. Even in these places, the meeting industry is not back to the “old” normal. MORE
The essential characteristics of meeting professionals. If there is a heaven on earth in the event industry, there are four essential characteristics of successful meeting professionals you’ll meet there. So, good meeting professionals obsess about details. MORE
Leading learning firm Tagoras has launched another round of its virtual conferences survey , the results of which will be compared to its last round, conducted near the beginning of the pandemic. The post How Much Has Covid Affected the World of Virtual Conferences? MORE
Talk to any meeting owner who has managed a large virtual event this past year using a skilled emcee and he or she will tell you it made all the difference. She is responsible for ensuring that the conference’s objectives are met and that the audience is engaged from beginning to end. MORE
What makes attending conferences worthwhile? As I described in Conferences That Work , the two most common reasons for attending conferences are to learn useful things and make useful connections. But there are numerous other ways that conferences provide value to stakeholders. MORE
Most conference and meeting professionals want the coolest, hippest, latest ideas and trends for their events. We are on the hunt for the next meeting, seating, session format, technology, and food and beverage fad. 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. MORE
Far too much money is spent on meeting glitz at the expense of good meeting design. “There’s no budget” I’ve noticed over the years that every meeting has a budget for F&B. Seth Godin makes an analogous point in this post…. MORE
Many hospitality conferences and conventions were virtual or hybrid events , while others were forced to cancel altogether. As a result, many industry professionals are wondering what to expect from the top hospitality conferences of 2022. HFTP Mid-South Atlantic Regional Conference . MORE
So for many event planners looking for the right tool to host a virtual conference, Zoom is the first thing that comes to mind. This means planners can easily connect their Zoom account with EventMobi to deliver a seamless and user-friendly experience to their virtual conference attendees. MORE
How can we design the optimum balance between control versus freedom at meetings? Note that I’m not suggesting meeting professionals give up any attempt to control what happens at their events. Creating events that truly meet participants’ wants and needs. MORE
Why people continue to speak for free at meeting industry conferences : Another issue of an occasional series— Dear Adrian — in which I answer questions about event design, elementary particle physics , solar hot water systems, and anything else I might conceivably know something about. My post Why don’t meeting conferences pay speakers? But of course, by definition, the meeting gets someone with: little or no speaking experience; no track record; and. MORE
The Association for Software Testing (AST) has just issued a free guide to creating peer conferences. I believe the software testing community adopted my term “peer conference” for their get-togethers after a conversation I had with pioneer software tester James Bach in 2004. MORE
Providing downtime during any meeting is important , but it’s especially important to schedule breaks during online meetings. What happens if you don’t schedule breaks during online meetings. Hopefully they explained that at the start of the meeting.) MORE
Conferences that Work
JANUARY 10, 2022
Most of the event industry and our clients continue to assume that if you can make the meeting bigger it’s a good thing. Online and hybrid meetings have seen less drastic reductions. The event industry unduly focuses on large meetings.
Velvet Chainsaw
MAY 20, 2021
As it becomes more apparent that face-to-face events will return in some form this year, conference organizers have an opportunity to make changes that would have been more difficult to sell up the ladder in the past. Long-term traditions can deter next-generation conference participants.
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Conferences that Work
JULY 19, 2021
Ever since my first encounter with the hybrid hub and spoke meeting topology at Event Camp Twin Cities in 2011, I’ve been a big fan of the format. Yesterday [see below], I realized that hub and spoke is a great format for purely online meetings too.
Velvet Chainsaw
MARCH 30, 2021
Talk to any meeting owner who has managed a large virtual event this past year using a skilled emcee and he or she will tell you it made all the difference. She is responsible for ensuring that the conference’s objectives are met and that the audience is engaged from beginning to end.
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.
Conferences that Work
SEPTEMBER 13, 2021
What is the mix of presentation versus interaction at your meetings? Traditional meetings focus heavily on presentation. Presentation versus interaction at meetings. But our meeting designs, in large part, haven’t changed to reflect this shift in cultural awareness.
Conferences that Work
AUGUST 9, 2021
Far too much money is spent on meeting glitz at the expense of good meeting design. “There’s no budget” I’ve noticed over the years that every meeting has a budget for F&B. Seth Godin makes an analogous point in this post….
Velvet Chainsaw
JUNE 17, 2019
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. Make colleagues and vendors feel welcome and involved in conference operations. Conference staff are not able to do everything! How can you make your conference culture more open and transparent?
Velvet Chainsaw
SEPTEMBER 17, 2018
Most conference and meeting professionals want the coolest, hippest, latest ideas and trends for their events. We are on the hunt for the next meeting, seating, session format, technology, and food and beverage fad. 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.
Velvet Chainsaw
FEBRUARY 8, 2021
Over the past nine months, many industry experts have proclaimed that meetings and conferences are forever changed and hybrid is here to stay. Meetings of the future will be improved and monetized by embracing the tenants of strategic product management.
Velvet Chainsaw
AUGUST 31, 2021
If a person’s actions do not meet this standard of care, then the acts are considered negligent…”. Over the next year or so, conference organizers will need to define their responsibilities for duty of care, as well as what is expected of those who choose to attend your conference in person.
|
Conferences that Work
OCTOBER 12, 2020
Many event professionals are hoping and waiting for a meeting industry new normal. We want to believe that, at some point, in-person meetings like the ones we’ve held for decades will return. Even in these places, the meeting industry is not back to the “old” normal.
Conferences that Work
JANUARY 11, 2021
What makes attending conferences worthwhile? As I described in Conferences That Work , the two most common reasons for attending conferences are to learn useful things and make useful connections. But there are numerous other ways that conferences provide value to stakeholders.
Conferences that Work
AUGUST 30, 2021
The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) has published some useful lessons learned from organizing six online scientific meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online meetings improve access and attendance. Hybrid meetings in the future.
Conferences that Work
MARCH 29, 2021
The essential characteristics of meeting professionals. If there is a heaven on earth in the event industry, there are four essential characteristics of successful meeting professionals you’ll meet there. So, good meeting professionals obsess about details.
Velvet Chainsaw
AUGUST 18, 2021
Leading learning firm Tagoras has launched another round of its virtual conferences survey , the results of which will be compared to its last round, conducted near the beginning of the pandemic. The post How Much Has Covid Affected the World of Virtual Conferences?
Conferences that Work
JANUARY 18, 2021
Why people continue to speak for free at meeting industry conferences : Another issue of an occasional series— Dear Adrian — in which I answer questions about event design, elementary particle physics , solar hot water systems, and anything else I might conceivably know something about. My post Why don’t meeting conferences pay speakers? But of course, by definition, the meeting gets someone with: little or no speaking experience; no track record; and.
Conferences that Work
DECEMBER 27, 2021
Tired of meetings that don’t end on time? Things were bad enough when we held our meetings in person. Now so many meetings are online, it’s easy to saddle remote workers with back-to-back meetings. But you can stay on time at online meetings when they’re your meetings — if you follow the guidance below! NOTE: Many of these suggestions are good practice for any meeting! Before the online meeting starts.
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.
Conferences that Work
NOVEMBER 8, 2021
What are the fairest rules to use when running meetings? ” I think it’s reasonable to concentrate on fairness to participants : the majority of those involved with the meeting. Status and power at meetings. I introduce the third agreement at meetings…. …by
Conferences that Work
SEPTEMBER 6, 2021
How can we provide new experiences at meetings? Providing new experiences at meetings can be as simple as this. This universal fear is the reason the meeting industry continues to struggle with incorporating new experiences into events.
Conferences that Work
AUGUST 17, 2020
COVID-19 has virtually eliminated in-person meetings: our industry’s bread and butter. In order to overcome the many significant challenges created by the coronavirus, the meeting industry has made valiant efforts to rethink in-person meetings.
Conferences that Work
AUGUST 10, 2020
Is it possible to routinely start online meetings on time? Think about the last three meetings you attended. Why don’t scheduled meetings start on time? You will have to wait around until the host starts the meeting and lets you in. Only your meetings though.).
Conferences that Work
JANUARY 20, 2020
The Association for Software Testing (AST) has just issued a free guide to creating peer conferences. I believe the software testing community adopted my term “peer conference” for their get-togethers after a conversation I had with pioneer software tester James Bach in 2004.
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. 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…. And when your conference content can be found on the web for free….
EventMB
MAY 24, 2021
Could there be an upsell opportunity in offering conference attendees extra rooms for C-suite meetings? A recent EventBrew podcast speculated about the possibility of combining C-suite and senior leadership team meetings […].
Conferences that Work
OCTOBER 19, 2020
The meeting industry old normal is over, and many event professionals are hoping and waiting for a new normal. What will the meeting industry new normal look like? The meeting industry old normal. For most of human history, of course, this has been the only meeting option.
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. Before your conference can find its true target market, you as the conference organizer must find your conviction. What’s your conference conviction? What’s your conference North Star?
Conferences that Work
MAY 4, 2020
Providing downtime during any meeting is important , but it’s especially important to schedule breaks during online meetings. What happens if you don’t schedule breaks during online meetings. Hopefully they explained that at the start of the meeting.)
Conferences that Work
MARCH 2, 2020
Should meetings be efficient ? “Yes” say thousands of books on how to improve business meetings. But “No”, when we’re taking about most meeting industry events. Obviously there are aspects of meeting events that should be efficient whenever possible.
SevenEvents
SEPTEMBER 23, 2021
when you are hosting an event over more than one day, we recommend adding in some short activities to help break up the meeting part of your event. The post conference activities appeared first on Seven Events.
Conferences that Work
JANUARY 25, 2021
How can we design the optimum balance between control versus freedom at meetings? Note that I’m not suggesting meeting professionals give up any attempt to control what happens at their events. Creating events that truly meet participants’ wants and needs.
Conferences that Work
OCTOBER 11, 2021
I think it’s also a meeting problem: “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” And so it goes with meetings. It’s why businesses sponsor meetings.
Conferences that Work
JUNE 29, 2020
I’ve been noticing a strange trend, ever since COVID-19 caused just about all bread and butter meetings to vanish. Suddenly, people are calling the meetings we’re holding these days virtual meetings. Why the rise of the phrase “virtual” meetings?
Social Tables
JANUARY 14, 2022
Many hospitality conferences and conventions were virtual or hybrid events , while others were forced to cancel altogether. As a result, many industry professionals are wondering what to expect from the top hospitality conferences of 2022. HFTP Mid-South Atlantic Regional Conference .
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. Participant-driven and participation-rich events provide far more opportunities to meet people you actually want to meet. Mythodology: A “ conference curator ” can improve the quality of your conference content.
Conferences that Work
NOVEMBER 25, 2019
Why not make your entire conference a braindate? 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. Instead make your entire conference a braindate!
Conferences that Work
OCTOBER 18, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the in-person meeting industry. Now, meeting planners can add an affordable air quality tool to their site visits. A meeting planner doing a site visit should take CO? readings in occupied meeting rooms, restaurants, hotel lobbies, etc.
Eventmobi
NOVEMBER 26, 2020
So for many event planners looking for the right tool to host a virtual conference, Zoom is the first thing that comes to mind. This means planners can easily connect their Zoom account with EventMobi to deliver a seamless and user-friendly experience to their virtual conference attendees.
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.
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