Conferences that Work

APRIL 18, 2022

The first novel hybrid meeting format was invented by Joel Backon back in 2010. The second is a design I’ll be using in a conference I’ve designed and will be facilitating in June 2022. 1—In-person attendees participate in an online session! Want to read my other posts on hybrid meetings? Conclusion.

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Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

Community versus audience I began my first book with the research finding (and common observation) that people go to conferences to network and learn. My later books (and many posts on this site) have emphasized the superiority of active over passive learning. But, all too often, attendees are not the conference owners.

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Audience Meeting Manufacturing Meeting Design 98

Social Tables

APRIL 17, 2019

Leading events such as IMEX, Dreamforce, and C2 Montréal are integrating opportunities for attendees to focus on their mental and physical health, as well as recharge. Sure, wellness programs don’t dictate the success of meetings, but they certainly enhance results. Our industry is resilient and events aren’t going away.

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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 ? At traditional conferences with fixed programs set in advance, at best half of sessions offered are what attendees want.

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Conferences that Work

MARCH 25, 2024

Since 2005, I’ve written three successful books on meeting design and facilitation and over 800 weekly blog posts on a wide range of topics. My books continue to sell, and this blog is the world’s most popular website on meeting design and facilitation. Write a book? Attendees loved my events!

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Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

I make conferences better by dramatically increasing attendee satisfaction. Increasing attendee satisfaction increases the effectiveness of the event for all stakeholders: attendees, sponsors, and event owners. For example: “Attendees want to connect with peers over shared challenges and specific topics.”

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

For decades, I’ve championed responsible conference designs that prioritize participants. This approach benefits everyone—participants, sponsors, and organizers—because when attendees’ wants and needs are met, their satisfaction positively impacts all other event stakeholders.

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Platform Media Conference Sponsors 96

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

” I think it’s reasonable to concentrate on fairness to participants : the majority of those involved with the meeting. In his influential 1971 book A Theory of Justice , John suggested that “the fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have.”.

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

I still believe that these events, when well-designed and facilitated, offer the best attendee experience for the majority of conferences that are held today. 2—Poor unconference design Half a century ago, as a lowly graduate student, I attended tons of traditional academic conferences. Here are my six reasons.

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

For a full explanation of why active learning modalities are superior, see Chapter 4 of my book The Power of Participation.). Let’s look at these three conclusions in the context of meeting design. Most meeting presenters still lecture. Attendees learn more when presenters use active learning modalities.

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The MICE Blog

MARCH 11, 2021

Now, after one year of hosting and attending virtual events, the events industry is facing the challenge of how to engage attendees and combat ‘zoom fatigue.’ A common example is booking websites. The gamification strategies on these websites endeavour to make us book as soon as possible. Why use gamification?

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Contracts Contracts Virtual Events Online 130

Conferences that Work

APRIL 9, 2018

In a nutshell, I think that our industry associations have become too focused on justifying their continued existence financially, and are neglecting their core mission of supporting and representing their members and association meeting attendees. In the first quarter of 2018, I’ve booked more business than all of 2017.)

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Social Tables

OCTOBER 14, 2016

You have all your ducks in a row: awesome venue booked, killer catering secured and tickets to your event are sold out. But you’ve forgotten one important piece of the puzzle: how do you plan on engaging your attendees? Attendee engagement is an oft-overlooked component that is just as important as the venue or food and beverage.

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Audience Social Media B2C Networking 68

Conferences that Work

MARCH 14, 2022

Given the fundamental human need to tell, meeting stakeholders owe it to participants to create opportunities and environments for rich conversations in the sessions, rather than just the gaps between them. Let’s give attendees the priceless gift of someone to tell it to at our events. Verkuilen , licensed under (CC BY 2.0).

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Conferences that Work

MARCH 29, 2021

Every successful meeting involves thinking about, planning for and executing countless details. You can create the most original, beautiful event in the world, but if there’s no coffee available on the first morning , attendees are going to complain and remember. People have written books about how to do this.

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Conferences that Work

APRIL 16, 2018

Fun fact: the testing community often uses my term “peer conferences” for their get-togethers, due to a chat about meeting design I had with tester James Bach at the 2004 Amplifying Your Effectiveness conference.) Most meeting conveners concentrate on feedback about meeting content (“great speakers!

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Logistics Conference Trade Show Attendee 69

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 12, 2016

significantly increase owner and attendee satisfaction and participation at your sessions and events. I’ve been convening, designing, and facilitating conferences for over 35 years, concentrating on participant-driven and participation-rich event facilitation and design since 1992. Learn more about Adrian and his books.

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Registration Conference Education Venue 30

Conferences that Work

APRIL 8, 2019

Invent a way to make the conference successful based on the collective needs, wants, and experience of the attendees. Organizations hear about these conferences and ask me to design and facilitate them. I decide to write a book about it, and in… 2009: I self-publish Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love.

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Publishing Consulting Manufacturing Conference 66

Conferences that Work

JULY 3, 2023

I’ve used it myself at hundreds of events, and many facilitators and meeting designers have also adopted it as an effective way for attendees to get to learn about each other and uncover what they would like to discuss while they are together. Those who offer it are usually first-time attendees.

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Conferences that Work

AUGUST 29, 2016

The first time I met him—at the premier EventCamp in 2010 —he immediately purchased my just-published book, sight unseen. Whenever I’ve had the pleasure of meeting David (not often enough!) 2 — Elementary Meetings. Instead, let’s broaden our conceptions of what meeting design is. I’m excited!

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Logistics Event Design Conference Design Conference 54

Conferences that Work

JUNE 26, 2017

The meetings industry is far more aware of the importance of treating and supporting attendees as active participants rather than passive consumers of education. I also moderated the #eventprofs Twitter chats for several years, and until recently, ran the weekly #Eventprofs Happy Hour Hangout for meeting professionals.

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Booking Education Conference Meeting Design 54

Conferences that Work

JULY 1, 2024

PSFG has a deep appreciation for the importance of meeting design. We had great feedback from participants and even had one participant interested in learning how to bring peer conferences to her own work (I recommended your book and blog!). Our second peer conference was even better than our first.

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Conference Speakers Proposal Online 96

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

So here’s my review of Butter, a meeting platform for facilitators to shine. In this review of Butter, I’ll share a big picture overview, what I think is Butter’s finest feature, an example of how to implement a meeting design in Butter, and my closing thoughts. Meeting design case.

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Platform Meeting Online Production 62

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. Want to create a peer conference, but don’t want to buy any of my excellent books on this topic?

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Conference Proposal Meeting Design Publishing 62

Motivation Excellence

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

By setting a goal of having attendees rate the business sessions, teambuilding events and their overall experience with an average of 4 out of 5, companies can easily determine whether the travel program is achieving its objectives. After all, 80% of Americans and 87% of Gen Z travelers say booking in one place is helpful.

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Incentives Travel Travel Social Media 130

Endless Events

JANUARY 12, 2018

On the side of the audience, we’ll see more innovation related to getting attendees to interact with speakers and giving them an active learning experience. As we mentioned earlier, we’re going to see a lot of human-centric tech this 2018, especially for events.

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Venue Booking Event Apps Events 287

Social Tables

DECEMBER 27, 2018

To succeed, you have to be dynamic, you have to be flexible, and, above all, you have to be in tune with attendee desires. Industry Performance Trends Attendee Experience Trends Meeting Destination Trends Event Technology Trends Meeting Design Trends. If there’s a mantra for this year, it might just be “book now!”

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Trends Meeting Planner Venue 167

Smart Meetings

JUNE 9, 2023

For hoteliers, AI and other event productivity technology can help remove friction and pain points in booking and checking in, but the goal is to relieve employees of mundane tasks so they can focus more on human interactions, explained Ben Space, vice president and commercial director Americas managed with Hilton. “We Another change?

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Conferences that Work

JUNE 13, 2016

As I’ve explained elsewhere , good covenants publicly clarify the freedoms that attendees have at an event, like the freedoms to speak one’s mind , ask questions , and share feelings. When such freedoms are agreed to individually and as a group at the start of a meeting, ambiguity about meeting behavior dissipates.

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Meeting Online Government Conference 63

Convene by PCMA

AUGUST 19, 2024

Rhanee Palma Rising global temperatures impact not only the health and safety of participants, but meeting design and site-selection strategies, said Rhanee Palma, CDME, operations and events manager for the Davis, California–based UC Davis Air Quality Research Center (AQRC).

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Site Selection Regulations Events Retreat 59

Conferences that Work

MARCH 3, 2025

Aside from my first book , I havent written much about the effects of attendee status attendees’ “relative rank in a hierarchy of prestige” at events. It’s time to revisit this important topic because you can improve your meetings by making attendee status a real-time construct.

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Conferences that Work

JANUARY 24, 2022

Similarly, your design layout will affect the likelihood and value of hallway learning conversations. Give your attendees plenty of breaks. There are many different formats you can use for such conversations (described in detail in my books ): pair and trio share, facilitated small group breakouts, fishbowls, etc. Conclusion.

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Conference Attendee Booking Meeting 157