Conferences that Work

MAY 20, 2019

Events operate by stories. Events operate by stories Like science fiction, events also create futures, and events operate by stories. Just as good stories have a story arc , coherent events have a conference arc. The promise of events springs from the reality that we are the stories we tell about ourselves.

2010 180

2010 Conference Design Conference Events 180

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 8, 2021

Dave will talk about his forecasts for future trends for association events at a virtual education session on July 15 at 10 a.m. EDT for the Reston Herndon Meeting Planners, “Ready or Not, Here They Come: 5 Post-Pandemic Conference Design Changes.”. He believes leadership will be more open to change after a live-event hiatus.

Consulting 195

Consulting Conference Design Education Conference 195

Conferences that Work

JUNE 12, 2017

Face The Fear—Then Change Your Conference Design! Want to see my 6 minute 40 second Pecha Kucha presentation Face The Fear—Then Change Your Conference Design! given at EventCamp Twin Cities on September 9, 2010? If so, download.

Venues 221

Venues 2010 Meetings Conference Design 221

Conferences that Work

JUNE 22, 2020

I’m leading a free online workshop on Friday, June 26, 12 – 2 pm EDT, that will give you a unique opportunity to experience The Three Questions : in my opinion, the best way to open a conference designed for active learning, connection, and engagement. Full details about the event are available here.

Conference Design 263

Conference Design Conference Venues Events 263

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Here’s an independent review of my conference design work, published as a case study in Chapter 25—Designing and Developing Content for Collaborative Business Events—of the book The Routledge Handbook of Business Events. Tip: The hardback version is expensive, the ebook is a quarter of the hardback cost.)

Conference 240

Conference 2009 Conference Design 2015 240

Prestige Events Magazine

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

To further captivate the audience, we introduced the Air Elite Dunkers—a troupe of aerial trampolinists who stunned guests with acrobatic basketball stunts, perfectly complementing the event’s flying and soaring motif. Drinks and canapés were served, and the dance floor was buzzing throughout the night.

Conference Design 264

Conference Design Conference Entertainment Management 264

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

.” —Jeff Jarvis At conferences, the “users” are primarily participants. For decades, I’ve championed responsible conference designs that prioritize participants. Jeff Jarvis Similarly, peer conference designs are transparent. A good platform is transparent. Black boxes breed distrust.

Conference 240

Conference 2012 Conference Design Government 240

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Traditional conferences focus on a hodgepodge of pre-determined sessions punctuated with socials, surrounded by short welcomes and closings. Such conference designs treat openings and closings as perfunctory traditions, perhaps pumped up with a keynote or two, rather than key components of the conference design.

Conference 179

Conference Conference Design Meeting Design Education 179

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 25, 2017

Regardless, we must get our attendees up and moving and not sitting for sixty-, seventy-five-, ninety-minutes or event eight hours a day. The Best And Biggest Question To Ask During Your Conference Planning Process. (You don’t have to change everything. Start with changing twenty percent of your sessions.)

Conference 315

Conference Education Conference Planning Conference Design 315

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 6, 2018

Summary Given the sheer volume of information available from the assembled scientific minds at this event and the considerable investment of time and money to hold this conference, it’s important to use session formats like these. given at EventCamp Twin Cities on September 9, 2010? If so, download.

Conference 252

Conference 2010 2011 Conference Design 252

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 29, 2016

How your audience responds will have a direct impact on your conference’s brand image and credibility. From a conference design perspective, we believe the current best practice is to bookend your conference by opening with a strong-thought provoking speaker and closing with inspiration. What to Look For.

Speakers 278

Speakers Conference Food and Beverage Negotiating 278

Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 6, 2017

Your real conference competition is not that event held six months after yours. Today’s technology driven, hyper-connected, instant gratification, real-time world puts you as a conference organizer in a difficult position. We also strive to offer something for everyone at our event. We’re outdated from the start.

Conference 295

Conference Trade Shows Conference Planning Contracts 295

Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 17, 2017

The speaker, Sourabh Kothari, also a DES, presenting on how content should drive conference design , welcomed the virtual audience, but didn’t dwell on us. It was the epitome of online sharing around content and problem solving—and therefore learning—that we strive for at in-person conferences.

Meetings 264

Meetings 2011 Speakers Education 264

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 29, 2016

The following year, David was kind enough to honor me in his flagship publication BizBash as one of the most innovative event professionals. However, one recurring theme in David’s magazine irritates me, because it perpetuates a common misconception in the events industry. 3 — Conferences That Work.

Event Design 136

Event Design 2010 2016 2009 136

Conferences that Work

JULY 2, 2018

Thirty minutes of discussion with three stakeholders revealed they hadn’t yet settled on the event’s specific purpose, scope, and format. The needs assessment trap Conference design clients who “know what they want” have already decided on their “ why? Conferences That Work goes to Japan!

Meeting Design 192

Meeting Design 2012 2014 Meetings 192

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 4, 2018

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. Then create a conference outcome based on designing a great planning process for you and your team.

Conference 271

Conference Conference Planning Conference Design Meetings 271

Smart Meetings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

How to incorporate a sense of belonging into the attendee event experience The phrase “sense of belonging” is defined as the psychological feeling of connectedness to a social, spatial, cultural, professional or other type of group or community (Hurtado & Carter, 1997).

Food and Beverage 246

Food and Beverage Entertainment Sustainability Hotels 246

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. The solution to this is to design your unconference before choosing the venue.

Conference 280

Conference Venues 2023 Consulting 280

Conferences that Work

JUNE 27, 2016

In this two-part article I’ll share a little of my experience and takeaways, followed by their relevance to event design ( red ). In Lessons From Improv , and other posts I’ve shared how improv shines a powerful light on core practices that improve events. Face The Fear—Then Change Your Conference Design!

2015 192

2015 2012 2016 2010 192

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

I’m indebted to Martin Sirk for sharing remarkable information about an 1828 conference designed by the German geographer, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Read what follows to discover that Humboldt was also a meeting designer way ahead of his time! Martin Sirk Modern meeting design!

Meeting Design 245

Meeting Design Meetings Conference Conference Design 245

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

As you’d expect from LLMs these days, NotebookLM provided a good written summary of the post: “The sources compare the responsibilities of news organizations to the responsibilities of conferences, arguing that both should prioritize their users and be transparent, open, and reliable. ” So far, so good.

Conference 359

Conference Conference Design Technology Tech 359

Event Marketer

MAY 24, 2023

The flagship experience, launched in 2018 as part of a portfolio consolidation, marked a new chapter this month as it reconvened May 9-11 in Orlando as a smaller, targeted in-person conference designed to serve up content and networking experiences “that matter most to you.” Emphasis on the you. It’s a curated experience unique to ‘me.’

2023 246

2023 Conference Trade Shows Technology 246

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 28, 2018

Organizational debt—the interest your conference pays when its structures, policies, procedures, practices, committees and leadership roles stay fixed and accumulate even as the world around it changes.* Think about the process some organizations use to pick conference speakers, award lecturers and content for a scientific program.

Conference 186

Conference Conference Planning Conference Design Speakers 186

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

I’ve been promoting the Conferences That Work meeting format for so long, that some people assume I think it’s the right choice for every meeting. two meeting types and three situations when you should NOT use a Conferences That Work design: — Most corporate events. Many corporate events have a tight focus.

Meeting Design 120

Meeting Design Conference Meetings Conference Design 120

Conferences that Work

MARCH 25, 2024

And then in 2005, twenty-eight years later, I felt compelled to write a book about the new ways I’d developed to design and lead conferences that became what the participants wanted and needed. Attendees loved my events! I don’t want to go to another traditional conference again.” Nothing worked.

2005 240

2005 2009 2007 Consulting 240

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 2, 2020

Traditional conference designs also adopt this model. Eventually, a transforming idea or event allows a period of transition away from chaos, via integration and practice , towards a new status quo. Somehow, the inspiring keynote will instantly change attendees’ lives for the better. This provokes our feeling unsettled.

Consulting 257

Consulting Conference Design Conference Management 257

Conferences that Work

JANUARY 11, 2021

Peer conferences reduce problem solving limitations in the obvious domain, by allowing participants to influence the content and scope of meeting sessions in real time during the event. So it’s much more likely that participants’ top-of-mind obvious problems will be effectively addressed at a peer conference.

Conference 371

Conference 2010 2011 2014 371

Conferences that Work

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Another issue of an occasional series— Dear Adrian —in which I answer questions about event design, elementary particle physics , solar hot water systems, facilitation, and anything else I might conceivably know something about. There’s no single answer for this design decision that’s optimum for all circumstances.

2010 120

2010 2011 Conference Design Conference 120

PCMA Convene

MAY 10, 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. 5 Program Design Change Trends. 5 Program Design Change Trends. Purposeful abandonment :?This

Conference 124

Conference Sponsorships Consulting Conference Design 124

Event Industry News

JULY 13, 2020

The Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP) the umbrella body and advocacy group for the UK’s £70 billion events industry, is now calling on the Government to save the industry from complete collapse by providing further targeted and long-term support for the sector.

Government 95

Government Trade Shows B2B Sustainability 95

Bizzabo

NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Searching for top technology events to attend in 2019? Or looking to wrap up 2018 with an exceptional conference? Scouring the internet for event information could be an overwhelming task. This carefully curated conference directory features over 200 (and growing) 2019 tech conferences across multiple industries.

Tech 168

Tech 2019 Conference Technology 168

Conferences that Work

JULY 18, 2016

Each session was designed to discover and meet wants and needs of the executive officers and volunteers of the association’s regional chapters’ members in an area of special interest. Face The Fear—Then Change Your Conference Design! Room set has a huge effect on the dynamics of a session. If so, download.

Consulting 120

Consulting Sponsorships 2010 2011 120

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

After I talked about my meeting design work with pioneer tester James Bach at the 2004 Amplifying Your Effectiveness conference, the testing community somehow adopted the term peer conference for their get-togethers. I miss hanging out with the folks I got to know at these events. The Unexpo Experiment.

Conference 156

Conference 2022 2004 Meeting Design 156

PCMA Convene

AUGUST 4, 2022

Thirteen is a lucky number in Italy — and for Milan-based conference organizer AIM Group International, which created Re-Think MS , a multi-hub, one-day CME event in 13 different cities in the country in early March. Another multi-hub AIM event connected as many as 40 venues, she told Convene. Barbara Sambugaro. Adrian Segar.

Conference Design 98

Conference Design Hotels Conference Hospitality 98

Expo Pass

JUNE 20, 2024

Hello, event planners! Get ready to elevate the event experience for your attendees with human-centric design principles. Our recent webinar, Rethinking Events: The Human-Centric Approach , was led by Expo Pass and featured two masters of engaging human-focused experiences.

Trade Shows 78

Trade Shows Speakers Technology Events 78

Slido

OCTOBER 24, 2018

To help you find the best of the game content as well as the hidden gems of the event blogosphere, we scoured the web and put together blogs that keep us on top of things. Event trends, news and inspiration 1. Eventbrite Blog Who in the event world wouldn’t know Eventbrite? Julius is also a community building pro.

Social Media 75

Social Media Consulting Conference Education 75

Bizzabo

DECEMBER 26, 2018

Attending conferences is one of the best ways to stay ahead in the ever-changing marketing industry. At these events, you will learn from the top industry executives while networking with marketing professionals just like yourself. Summit - Similar to conferences but usually smaller and features higher-level executives.

2019 81

2019 Marketing Conference Social Media 81