Velvet Chainsaw

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

High-tech user conferences like Dreamforce and Microsoft Ignite have been designing innovative hub spaces to engage and nurture their top customers for years. A conference hub should be a destination that participants want to go to when not attending sessions or walking the expo hall. Here’s what we came up with.

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Conference 2022 Sponsorships Tech 487

Conferences that Work

APRIL 29, 2024

Since 2009 I’ve maintained an informal calendar of peer conferences (aka unconferences) on this site. Currently, I add a few peer conferences a month. As you can see, peer conferences take place all over the world! Who holds peer conferences? Do you want to let me know about an upcoming peer conference?

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Conference 2009 Healthcare Conference Design 208

Eventmobi

MAY 23, 2024

A well-planned and executed conference will do wonders for your organization. A conference can help you achieve these things—if you host it correctly. To ensure your conference is a smashing success, invest in conference management. Keep reading this comprehensive guide to learn: What is a Conference?

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Conference Management Speakers Event Apps 292

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

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. Screw your users, screw yourself.”

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Conference 2012 Conference Design Government 202

Conferences that Work

OCTOBER 30, 2023

Meetings and conferences are perhaps one of the most important fundamental ways in which people come together and change happens. So I’m pleased to discover an academic research article paper about unconference — especially since its title is: The Future Of Conferences Is Unconferences !

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Conference 2023 Education Travel 271

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. What are they?

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Conference Meetings Food and Beverage Social Media 350

Conferences that Work

JULY 11, 2022

It’s time to stop networking at meetings. No, I’m not saying we should only listen to lectures at meetings. This post was inspired when Victoria Matey shared the following thought about networking at meetings: Random thought. No related posts.

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Meetings Conference Event Design Events 427

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. While I agree in principle, I think the future is so much more than hybrid.

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Conference Sponsorships Education 2022 366

EventMB

AUGUST 20, 2024

A conference focused on female founders would seem like an accepting place for babies, wouldn’t it? Elena Brandt, the founder of a market research startup called Besample , was excited to attend the Y Combinator Female Founders Conference 2024 , in August. The conference featured successful female speakers that I wanted to hear from.

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Conference 2024 Trade Shows Meetings 138

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. It’s a good time for planners to challenge their organizations to make the meeting experience more valuable than ever.

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Conference 2021 Conference Design Entertainment 397

Velvet Chainsaw

JULY 23, 2020

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. Not every effort was a rousing success but attempting to inject new conference elements made us more nimble, creative and smarter as a team. Do virtual expos work?

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Travel Conference Speakers Meetings 448

Velvet Chainsaw

AUGUST 31, 2021

As conference organizers, it can be helpful to consider our responsibilities from the viewpoint of duty of care — the legal definition of which is “a requirement that a person [or organization] act[s] toward others and the public with the watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence that a reasonable person in the circumstances would use.

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Conference Risk Management Contracts 2021 459

Velvet Chainsaw

APRIL 5, 2022

It’s expected that meetings in Q3 or Q4 will outperform those held in the first half of this year. A lot of meetings operating in Q1 and Q2 ended up extending their early-bird deadlines multiple times. The post 2022 Conference Registration Pacing appeared first on Velvet Chainsaw. Adjust your date fees. Market differently.

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2022 Conference 2020 2019 397

Velvet Chainsaw

AUGUST 9, 2023

For many annual meetings, the Great Resignation has resulted in erosion of loyal, regular attendees and an increase in first-timers, whose experience can be improved with guidance on the best course for them to follow during your program. What advice can you share for helping attendees configure their conference journey?

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Conference Education Corporate Events Tech 195

Eventmobi

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

With so many moving parts to juggle, planning a conference can seem like a daunting task. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through how to plan a conference from A to Z. What Does It Take to Plan a Conference? But how long does it take to plan a conference? The first key to success is to start early!

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Conference Sponsorships Speakers Advertising 195

Eventmobi

JULY 31, 2024

An annual meeting is many things—a gathering, an experience, and a way to build connections. But an annual meeting is only three days out of the year, maybe four. Many organizations are producing better meetings than ever. That’s especially true once you hit the trade show floor.) EventMobi Director of Sales Ian Webb thinks so.

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Meetings Education Trade Shows Conference 296

Coterie Spark

APRIL 3, 2024

Why should you hire conference and meeting planners? Experienced conference and meeting planners, however, allow you to focus on the important stuff: VIPs, attendees, speakers. We produced a conference for 250 guests where a famous singer was set to perform in the evening. Contact us to learn more!

Conference 95

Conference Meetings Transportation Entertainment 95

Velvet Chainsaw

JUNE 15, 2022

In my experience, most large conferences this year are realizing about 80 percent of their 2019 revenue performance. For some of the major annual meetings we’re tracking, sponsorship revenue has been a bright spot when compared to exhibit revenue performance. Some of the indicators for using this model: A) They’re in high demand.

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Sponsorships Conference 2022 2019 370

EventMB

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

Skift Take: The theme of this week’s FICP Conference in Denver was ’Elevate,’ as the association raised the bar on its annual event. Barbara Scofidio Read the Complete Story On Skift Meetings

Conference 110

Conference Meetings Events 110

Conferences that Work

APRIL 18, 2022

I’ve been writing about hybrid meetings for a long time; my first post was in February 2010. The COVID19 pandemic created an explosion of interest in hybrid meetings, and the marketplace and event professionals are still defining what “hybrid” means. (No, Sounds crazy, yes, but stay with me!

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2010 Meetings Conference Travel 411

EventMB

AUGUST 20, 2024

Skift Take: A nursing mom brought her infant son to a women’s conference. Andrea Doyle Read the Complete Story On Skift Meetings She thought it would be a non-issue. It was anything but.

Conference 144

Conference Meetings Event Management Management 144

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.)

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Conference 2009 Conference Design 2015 202

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. an unknown level of expertise.

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Conference Meetings Speakers Trade Shows 248

Conferences that Work

MARCH 18, 2024

On Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 10:00 EDT I’ll sit down with Martin Duffy and Paul Nunesdea on LinkedIn Live for a deep dive into peer conferences : participant-driven, participation-rich events I’ve designed and facilitated for over thirty years. Sign up today for our LinkedIn Live event today!

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Conference 2024 Meetings Events 214

Event Industry News

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Cvent CONNECT Europe, one of the region’s largest meetings, events and hospitality technology conferences, hosted by Cvent, brought together thousands of industry professionals both in-person in London and online last week for three days of networking, education and hands-on technology training.

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Conference Hospitality Meetings Education 119

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. Obvious problems. Complicated problems.

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Conferences that Work

MARCH 28, 2022

My work at a pre-con is different from that of a typical meeting planner since I focus on the meeting’s design and facilitation. I’ve been convening meetings for decades, though, so I know a fair amount about meeting planning. The traditional bread and butter of a meeting planner’s job.

Food and Beverage 422

Food and Beverage Meetings Meeting Design Site Selections 422

Conferences that Work

JUNE 27, 2022

Want a simple way to improve meeting session learning? Read the full article at Conferences That Work The post Improve meeting session learning with this simple tip! appeared first on Conferences That Work. Provide a shared Google doc where all participants can take notes, ask questions, and get answers!

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Meetings Conference Event Design Events 404

Conferences that Work

MARCH 4, 2024

During a 1992 conference, I created the first of what I now call spectives. Spectives are popular and successful because, like peer conferences, they adapt beautifully to participants’ wants and needs. the 2015 PCMA Education Conference ) and small (e.g. the 2023 BizBash Leadership Summit ) conferences. A hat tip!

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Conference 2015 2023 Education 214

EventMB

APRIL 30, 2024

Skift Take: Logistics are important when planning conferences but often overshadow what most are in the room for, content. Andrea Doyle Read the Complete Story On Skift Meetings

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Conference Meetings Speakers Event Design 196

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. Bottom line: Having an emcee allows you, the meeting owner, to sleep better at night. The post Does Your Conference Need an Emcee? Now it’s a must-have. Check That Box.

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Conference Speakers 2020 Meetings 448

Conferences that Work

JULY 29, 2024

.” You can learn the what, why, and how to run a Fishbowl Sandwich from my book Event Crowdsourcing: Creating Meetings People Actually Want and Need. Having only one tool in your tool chest of conference session designs and formats won’t get you far. But wait, there’s more! No problem! When to use the format.

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Meetings 2015 2024 Consulting 202

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Many meetings still focus on creating audiences rather than community. And not just at meetings. Damon Kiesow , @dkiesow@social.kiesow.net, Mastodon toot on Nov 06, 2022, 10:37 Kiesow concisely sums up why the news business and the meeting industry concentrate on audience rather than community.

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Meetings Meeting Design 2015 2022 208

EventMB

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Skift Take: Tech industry insiders say fake female speakers were featured in the DevTernity conference lineup to create the illusion of diversity. Andrea Doyle Read the Complete Story On Skift Meetings

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Speakers Tech Conference Meetings 253

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. One bright spot has been the normalization of online meetings for routine connection and collaboration. It ain’t necessarily so.

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Meetings Meeting Design 2020 Speakers 330

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 […].

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Conference Meetings Events 230

EventMB

AUGUST 7, 2024

Conferences and trade shows are key drivers of this growth, with significant recovery in regions like Asia Pacific and North America. Andrea Doyle Read the Complete Story On Skift Meetings

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Meetings Trade Shows 2024 2019 173