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We are biased against truly creative event design

Conferences that Work

A “creative” event design is one with a novel venue and/or decor and lighting and/or food and beverage. Consequently, planners restrict the entire focus of creative event design to novel visual and sensory elements. Truly creative event design We are biased against truly creative event design.

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Designing conferences to solve participants’ problems

Conferences that Work

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. Complicated problems.

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An innovative conference competition format

Conferences that Work

My Dutch friend and expert moderator, Jan Jaap In der Maur , recently shared an innovative format for an in-conference pitch competition he devised for the Conventa Crossover Conference , in Ljubljana, Slovenia: “There were also the Conventa Crossover Awards. given at EventCamp Twin Cities on September 9, 2010? If so, download.

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A calendar of peer conferences

Conferences that Work

Since 2009 I’ve maintained an informal calendar of peer conferences (aka unconferences) on this site. It’s informal because I only list events I hear about, a minuscule fraction of the unconferences people hold every day. Even so, the calendar lists hundreds of events. Currently, I add a few peer conferences a month.

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Case Study: Adrian Segar – “Conferences that work”

Conferences that Work

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.)

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Three better alternatives to the conference lecture

Conferences that Work

Ah, the ubiquitous conference one-hour lecture. As an example I’ll use a three-day conference I’m currently designing. Here are three session formats we’re using for the middle of the conference arc. In my experience, each of them is far more effective than a traditional conference lecture.

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How the Responsibilities of Conferences Mirror Those of Media Platforms

Conferences that Work

Rereading a 2012 post by Jeff Jarvis , I was struck by the parallels between his take on news organizations’ responsibilities to their platforms and the responsibilities of conferences. ” —Jeff Jarvis At conferences, the “users” are primarily participants. Design in flexibility. Give them power.