Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

And yes, I admit it, during the second day of my vacation while enjoying the harmonies I hear, I’m jolted to think about religious meeting design…. Religious services are thought to be around 300,000 years old — by far the oldest form of organized meeting that humans have created. Include lots of communal activities.

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Meeting Design Meeting Speakers Conference 61

Stova

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

A hybrid event is one that combines a face-to-face (F2F) event at a physical location with a “virtual” online component for remote attendees. There will likely be reduced travel funds available for event attendance due to economic downturns. The onsite group has social connectivity, focus, and high sensory input.

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Remote Audience Events Meeting Design 111

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 29, 2016

BizBash consistently uses the term “event design” to mean “ visual design” As an example, consider the 2016 Design Issue. The cover proclaims “What’s Next in Event Design?” Instead, let’s broaden our conceptions of what meeting design is.

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Logistics Event Design Conference Design Conference 54

Endless Events

JUNE 15, 2018

Forever gone are the days when event registration meant signing a sheet of paper. Today there are multiple options for attendees to check in to events, whether offline or online. Also, take into account the real-time feedback of your attendees. Just make sure to mind the coherence of the whole event.

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Registration Events Sponsors Event Marketing 258

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 16, 2021

And it made me think about meeting design. And, me being me, I thought about what Marcy had just said in the context of meeting design. And meetings are no exception. The art and craft of the meeting designer. It’s a meeting designer’s job to create these contextual layers.

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Rehearsal Meeting Design Conference Planner 126

Social Tables

OCTOBER 6, 2018

While the shifts are plentiful, there are five that stand out from the fold when it comes to modern event design. Here are five meeting industry trends that are changing the game. Because of that, they’re also now the largest pool of potential meeting attendees. Millennials are the decision makers now.

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Trends Meeting Trade Show Events 157

Social Tables

OCTOBER 6, 2018

While the shifts are plentiful, there are five that stand out from the fold when it comes to modern event design. Here’s how the meetings industry is changing the game. With that, they’re also now the largest pool of potential meeting attendees. Control over the meeting agenda is moving to attendees.

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Meeting Trade Show Events Social Media 158

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 16, 2024

If you are serious about improving your conferences, my meeting design workshop can be the game-changer your organization needs. In a world where passive listening no longer satisfies attendees, traditional lecture-based conferences are ineffective and outdated. What are the nature and sizes of other attendee groups?

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Meeting Design Conference Meeting Proposal 62

Conferences that Work

MAY 11, 2020

In person meetings have vanished overnight. It’s time to implement what we’ve learned about great face-to-face meeting design and process into online meetings. Meetings will never be the same. Regardless of the time needed, conference attendees should be otherwise engaged during step #2.

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Online Conference Platform Publishing 150

Conferences that Work

APRIL 25, 2022

Today’s attendees are no longer satisfied sitting and listening to people talking at them. If you want to hold meetings where effective learning, connection, and engagement take place, you need to build in authentic and relevant participation. This workshop is limited to 100 attendees, so register now ! What We Will Talk About.

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Online Registration Meeting Design Conference 116

Conferences that Work

APRIL 11, 2022

First, you need to understand before the meeting what your practitioners and suppliers want, need, and expect. As a meeting designer, if a meeting is going to include both practitioners and suppliers I always ask my clients about the relationship between these groups and their wants and needs.

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Meeting Vendor Sponsors Attendee 118

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

As Kiesow illustrates for journalism, emphasizing community over audience also pays rich dividends for meeting attendees. When the attendees are the owners, meeting designs that build and support community are the obvious way to go. But, all too often, attendees are not the conference owners.

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Audience Meeting Manufacturing Meeting Design 83

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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Meeting Online Conference Booking 164

Conferences that Work

JULY 19, 2021

If you want maximum learning, interaction, and connection at a meeting, small meetings are better than large meetings. This is the classic hybrid hub and spoke format that we used 10 years ago at Event Camp Twin Cities (ECTC). Producing Event Camp Twin Cities 2011. Increased learning, interaction, and connection.

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Meeting Online Remote Conference 132

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. I’d argue that hiring me is the most effective and cost-effective way to improve any event.

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Sponsors Registration Conference Attendee 80

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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Preparation Venue Conference Proposal 106

Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2019

At traditional conferences with fixed programs set in advance, at best half of sessions offered are what attendees want. I was an amateur in the meeting industry, and that led to some mistakes, but it also gave me a fresh perspective at a time when meeting design wasn’t really a “thing.”

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Booking Conference Speakers Meeting Design 97

The MICE Blog

MARCH 11, 2021

This new set of values brings significant opportunities for the gaming industry and events. 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.’ Attendees must take the essentials of a certain problem area (e.g.,

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Contracts Contracts Virtual Events Online 130

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

JUNE 13, 2016

Why mention this on an event design blog? Well, the most effective aspect of China’s online censorship regime illustrates what happens when you don’t incorporate covenants into your meetings. The Chinese government runs a massive online censorship program. Tech In Asia explains: “Imagine being near a steep cliff.

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Meeting Online Conference Government 63

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

I think of status at events as the relative levels of proclaimed or perceived social value assigned to or assumed by attendees. And power at events is an individual’s capacity to influence the actions, beliefs, or conduct of attendees. Typically, but not always, higher status implies greater power at meetings.

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Meeting Conference Speakers Booking 129

Convene by PCMA

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

We’re tapping the talent of PCMA’s staff so they can share the design thinking and process behind the innovative experiences they create for PCMA events. In other words, we’re showcasing the event professionals behind the events for event professionals. One participant later said she cried during the song.

Events 72

Events Audience Attendee Conference 72

Conferences that Work

OCTOBER 21, 2024

I’ve not always agreed with Freeman’s Reports , but, if you’re in the meeting industry, Freeman’s Trends Report Q4 2024 is a must-read. “We’ve calibrated our research and confirmed our hypothesis: many organizers are operating on outdated definitions of attendee and exhibitor value. The good news?

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Trends Attendee Event Design Networking 80

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 80

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

Let’s look at these three conclusions in the context of meeting design. Most meeting presenters still lecture. And most meeting session presenters resort to lecturing as their dominant session modality. Attendees learn more when presenters use active learning modalities.

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Publishing Speakers Education Booking 85

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

I decided to design the wake as a three or more hour event. This timing is not great for potential European attendees. Attendees (~90 right now) are registering on an online platform that’s free for free events. It’s scheduled to be optimum for North American participants (6:00 — 9:00+ pm EDT).

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Online Registration Logistics Affiliate 126

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.

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Meeting Design Conference Online Audience 65

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Participant-driven and participation-rich peer conference designs improve on traditional events because they don’t treat openings and closings as necessary evils but as critical components of the meeting design. Let’s examine each phase of the peer conference arc in more detail.

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Conference Conference Design Meeting Design Education 64

Meeting Tomorrow

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Imagine that each event has a “window” into all the other locations, and that the focus can be shifted from place to place–like a group video chat but with an event in each window. There are a number of meeting design elements that need to be accounted for, but the cost savings and expanded participation seem well worth it.

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Trends Event Apps Events Planner 57

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 Meeting Design 58

Conferences that Work

JULY 3, 2023

Back in 1992 , I developed The Three Questions as a fundamental opening process for participant-driven meetings and conferences. Those who offer it are usually first-time attendees. At subsequent community conferences, my experience is that such a response is less likely. How well does this refinement work?

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Conference Attendee Meeting Design Booking 62

Brightspot Incentive Events

MARCH 18, 2021

To execute a successful virtual event, our team was tasked with developing a strategy that enhanced meeting design, optimized the attendee’s experience, and increased attendee engagement. Virtual Event Platform and AV Partner. Attendees have shorter attention spans when viewing a screen for several hours.

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Virtual Events Meeting Speakers Platform 52

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Venue owners can make other attendees co-hosts. The host can broadcast a text announcement to all attendees in all rooms. A Rally attendee just needs a link to the venue, and only needs to provide their name. Right now, it’s good to have a dedicated host who notices when new attendees appear and helps them acclimatize.

Online 80

Online Platform Panel Venue 80

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

JUNE 18, 2018

I’ll bet that even today, if you asked attendees what they remembered about the event, most would immediately recall the There Was No Coffee moment. Experienced meeting planners know that every meeting has its share of unexpected surprises. Surprising Meetings But not all meeting surprises are bad.

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Meeting Conference Planner Online 70

Conferences that Work

MARCH 25, 2019

Ultimately, the attendees are the losers when this happens. A client asked me to facilitate a 90-minute workshop for 600 attendees. But when it was time to start, no attendees appeared. But I was disappointed and puzzled that so many attendees had missed out on an excellent experience. Obviously, I wanted to find out why.

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Rehearsal Logistics Contracts Contracts 70

Conferences that Work

JULY 1, 2024

PSFG has a deep appreciation for the importance of meeting design. ” Its members include over fifty well-known international foundations, non-profits, and collectives.

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Conference Speakers Proposal Online 80