Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

What’s an Ideal Meeting? April 2018, Meetings and Conventions Magazine Do you incorporate participatory sessions into your events? 80% of meeting professionals prefer f acilitated workshop-style, participatory sessions [ survey by M&C Research, April 2018 Meeting and Conventions magazine ]!

Education 267

Education Meetings 2011 2012 267

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. We need to raise the bar higher and meet the needs of the experienced and advanced practitioners.

Education 281

Education Conference 2019 2020 281

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 14, 2017

The mass-personalization wave that is dramatically changing what and how we buy as consumers has application to conferences. I’ve been doing a lot of research and have learned that personalization can be achieved in a number of ways: Individualized — The customer gets exactly what meets their preferences or needs.

Conference 308

Conference 2017 Hospitality Tech 308

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. Invest in Professional Speakers.

Speakers 278

Speakers Conference Food and Beverage Negotiating 278

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 23, 2018

Likewise, many conference professionals have no idea what embracing the long-tail, pull benefits of content marketing even means. Most marketing and communications teams agree that content marketing serves as the foundation to their conference marketing strategy. A Poverty Of Conference Content Marketing Success. Get specific.

Conference 294

Conference 2018 Marketing Tech 294

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 10, 2017

In order to design relevant education and networking experiences at our conferences, we need to be focused to the point of obsession with our target audience. Over the past 18 months, we’ve carefully scrubbed and analyzed the attendance of 20 major conferences. Who has the professional development budget to attend every year?

Conference 288

Conference Education 2017 Speakers 288

Velvet Chainsaw

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Most annual meetings have used the same template agenda for decades. If you want to breathe new life into your conference, and increase relevance for next-generation attendees, start with this kill/change list. Annual Business Meeting. Annual Meeting Brand. They just replace the filling each year.

Meetings 307

Meetings Trade Shows 2017 Financial 307

Velvet Chainsaw

MAY 23, 2017

When considering long-term conference or organizational strategy, it’s wise to future-cast the impact major workforce trends may have on your profession, particularly because conferences are about people first and content second. They are less likely to pay full freight to attend a premium conference experience. Job Hopping .

Conference 315

Conference Consulting 2017 Technology 315

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 24, 2018

Here’s my article “ Five Reasons to Change Conferences “ , published in the December 2018, NSA Speaker magazine. But our conference programs still focus on lectures, where a few experts broadcast their knowledge to passive listeners. Related posts: Conferences That Work goes to Japan!

Conference 215

Conference 2014 2018 Speakers 215

Velvet Chainsaw

AUGUST 22, 2017

There’s a place for sponsored content in conference programs, if you’re thoughtful in your approach. As more sponsors embrace content marketing or thought leadership as arguably the most powerful strategy for improving attitudes and perceptions of their brand, conference-speaking slots are increasing in value. Transparency.

Conference 283

Conference Sponsorships Education 2017 283

Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2024

On Tuesday, March 26, 2024 , I sat down with Martin Duffy and Paul Nunesdea on LinkedIn Live for an hour’s deep dive conversation about peer conferences: the participant-driven, participation-rich events I’ve designed and facilitated for over thirty years. Peer Conferences Unveiled—The Transcript! Here it is—enjoy!

Conference 208

Conference Meetings Corporate Meetings Association Meetings 208

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 11, 2019

So is this the right strategy for your association and conference? It’s not uncommon to see student pricing that is $200–$300 below the per-person direct meeting costs. When looking at the annual meeting repeat attendance of students into the early years of their career, we usually see conversion rates below 20 percent.

Conference 252

Conference Education 2018 Travel 252

Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 15, 2023

IStock Photo by cyano66 Before the pandemic, one could argue that jobs with life-and-death consequences were surely more stressful than planning an annual conference. Exhibitors are being more selective about the conferences they will support. Annual conference budgets are usually finalized 12-plus months prior to the event.

Event Planning 370

Event Planning Food and Beverage 2023 2019 370

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 4, 2021

A number of our consulting clients have made social responsibility a cornerstone of their conference strategy — with the desire “to leave the host city better because we were there.” When you adopt a strategic objective like that for your conference, it leaves room for creativity in achieving that desired outcome. Reuse and Reduce.

2012 364

2012 2014 Banking Conference 364

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 24, 2019

As the event-tech space continues to evolve with a number of mergers and acquisitions, I see four changes coming for larger annual conferences. #1. Software solutions built on older platforms and smaller companies with fewer resources are going to have a harder time meeting event organizers’ more stringent data-security requirements. #2.

Event Tech 362

Event Tech Tech B2B Event Technology 362

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. In his article for Smashing magazine , the founder of HybridConf, Zach Inglis, states that the aim of every conference organiser should be to create experiences that reenergize people and fill them with new zeal for their work.

Conference Planning 200

Conference Planning Conference Speakers Advertising 200

Velvet Chainsaw

FEBRUARY 21, 2017

We outlined the first 10 things you need to kill — from making your annual business meeting part of your general session to promoting invitation-only events — in order to bring your meeting up to speed. For most conference committees (and next-gen participants), they’re a snore. Here are the next 10 elements to knock off.

Meetings 218

Meetings Fashion Speakers Advertising 218

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 14, 2021

One of our early — and still applicable — recommendations was for conference organizers to communicate and publish the date when they expect to make the decision for their in-person conference. Are You an Expo with a Conference, or a Conference with an Expo? It’s not going to happen overnight.

2020 370

2020 2021 Consulting Airlines 370

Velvet Chainsaw

AUGUST 3, 2022

With live conferences’ comeback, event organizers need to make complex decisions about how to incorporate digital product extensions into their business model. Based on our research, we estimate that there’s an even split between conference owners who are including synchronous or asynchronous hybrid options and those who aren’t.

Conference 195

Conference 2022 2019 Marketing 195

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 16, 2022

Throughout 2022, nearly every meeting service provider continues to be short-staffed and plagued by last-minute no-shows or insufficiently skilled workers. To best prepare you, here are eight kinds of curveballs other meeting professionals have been thrown so far in 2022, with expectations extending into 2023— and how to deal with them.

Conference 195

Conference Food and Beverage 2022 Hotels 195

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

Velvet Chainsaw

OCTOBER 31, 2019

It’s difficult to determine what to include — and not include — when collecting attendee data at the time of conference registration. Data fields and pick lists should be normalized and updated across membership, meetings, subscriptions, and all of the organization’s other programs and services.

Airlines 294

Airlines Trade Shows Conference Consulting 294

Velvet Chainsaw

NOVEMBER 6, 2017

According to Convene ’s most recent Meetings Market Survey , on average 6 percent of a meeting’s direct expenses fall in the marketing/promotion category. After studying 100 or so meetings’ profit and loss (P&L) statements in great detail, I can confirm that this expense line item varies greatly.

Marketing 80

Marketing Food and Beverage Attendance Marketing Conference 80

Velvet Chainsaw

JANUARY 26, 2017

Impact on Healthcare Conferences? If these waves of change haven’t impacted your medical meeting’s business model, it’s just a matter of time. Here are four questions (and tips) for your conference committee to consider as they navigate this changing landscape: 1. Session Mix. Submissions or curation?

Conference 150

Conference Healthcare 2016 2017 150

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 24, 2019

Most meeting organizers invest a significant amount of time creating the educational programming for their annual conference. Models vary, but most include a 15- to 20-person conference committee (slotters) and army of reviewers (graders). Conference program committee responsibilities are shifting.

Education 273

Education 2019 Conference Speakers 273

Velvet Chainsaw

DECEMBER 11, 2019

If your conference is like most, sponsorship revenue is underperforming. There are two benchmarks we like to use to identify healthy conference revenue business models: Industry revenue — 30 percent or more of a conference’s total revenue should come from the combination of sponsor, exhibit and advertising revenue.

Sponsorships 273

Sponsorships Advertising Transportation Education 273

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 4, 2019

I wonder about the future of peer review for conference abstracts. While it is a critical filter for high-quality journals, it is a very inefficient process for accelerating innovation and discovery at conferences. We refer to these conferences as meetings of speakers speaking to speakers. Flip the Approach.

Speakers 223

Speakers Healthcare Conference 2020 223

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 5, 2017

So the quality of our conversations — especially those participants have with others at conferences and meetings — has a direct chemical impact on them, those around them, and therefore on the organizations they belong to. You want to strive for Level 3 at your conferences: Level 1 conversations are transactional in nature.

Conference 218

Conference 2017 Speakers Meetings 218

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 5, 2024

To apply the concepts of customer centricity to Annual Conferences, identify the attributes of your most frequent full conference paying attendees (top 5 or 10%) over the past five years or so. Design the education and networking experience to primarily meet the needs of this select audience.

B2B 221

B2B 2023 Conference Education 221

Velvet Chainsaw

MAY 21, 2018

It’s even tougher for those independent meeting companies that survive on commissions. Meanwhile, corporations and associations have increasingly outsourced non-core business functions, like hotel sourcing and meeting logistics. Marriott’s has already begun for most intermediaries.

Marketing 231

Marketing Hotels Negotiating 2017 231

Velvet Chainsaw

MARCH 2, 2018

There are two primary segments that leverage the traditional exhibit business model — conferences with an expo and expos with a conference. The slow death of expo revenue is not an indicator that meetings don’t mean business any more. Many of these conferences still have high deal-making value. Move to Solutions Center.

B2B 244

B2B Food and Beverage Trade Shows Education 244

Velvet Chainsaw

AUGUST 6, 2019

For those of you who organize large annual conferences and trade shows, there undoubtedly is a chicken-vs.-egg Some conference organizers have responded by cutting 90-minute education sessions down to 75 minutes and then paring them down to 60 minutes. egg debate. Adapted from Dave’s Forward Thinking column in PCMA’s Convene.

Sponsorships 236

Sponsorships Trade Shows Advertising Education 236

Prestige Events Magazine

MAY 7, 2024

Arena Racing Group (ARC), the UK’s largest racecourse group, boasting 21 venues and 16 premier racecourses nationwide, has launched ‘Step Into Summer’ – a Wellness-inspired experience at meetings and conferences this summer.

Conference 105

Conference Meetings 2024 Venues 105

Attendease

MAY 1, 2019

According to MeetGreen , the average conference produces 4.17 McKinley also suggests becoming aware of the carbon footprint generated by event-specific activities, writing, “Using the same mid-sized national association conference tradeshow with around 5,000 attendees we can see the breakdown contributing to an event carbon footprint.”.

Sustainability 285

Sustainability Transportation Education Event Apps 285

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 17, 2024

Here’s a simple project-management tool that can help streamline internal communications — and clarify accountability — for annual meetings. Some components of planning an association annual meeting involve multiple departments and competing priorities. It will also help guide and expedite cross-functional team meetings.

Consulting 221

Consulting 2024 Management Marketing 221

PCMA Convene

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

Two groups, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), increased the audience size of their 2020 scientific meetings that went virtual. told Science, the magazine published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, earlier this year.

Meetings 119

Meetings 2020 2016 Conference 119

MeetingsNet

OCTOBER 17, 2023

The announcement was made by Sherrif Karamat, president and CEO of PCMA, during an October 17 press conference at the IMEX America conference and exhibition in Las Vegas. Look for that digital-magazine edition on MeetingsNet.com starting on November 1. platforms to build out their events.

Meetings 109

Meetings Conference Event Technology Technology 109