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.

Online 158

Online Conference Platform Publishing 158

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. Some attendees may simply accept remote event attendance as an acceptable substitute with no travel time, no travel costs and reduced environmental impact.

Remote 111

Remote Audience Events Meeting Design 111

Conferences that Work

APRIL 5, 2021

Between individuals, in organizations, and at a societal level. And it is easy for it to happen at meetings. Designing for trust, safety, and learning. In general, the more meeting attendees trust each other, the safer they feel. This is a positive feedback loop that guarantees low trust and knowledge sharing.

Meeting 144

Meeting Conference Booking Attendee 144

Convene by PCMA

AUGUST 2, 2024

Others brought up approaches to conferences — which have stood the test of time but are as flat as stale beer — that are within event organizers’ power to rework or at least to advocate for their re-imagination. So employees took sledgehammers to a wall instead.” Sound familiar?

Social Media 119

Social Media Events Consulting Culture 119

The MICE Blog

JULY 27, 2022

One of the presentations that highly inspired me to think differently about event design took place in 2019 at the MICE Forum at ITB Berlin (Organised by VDVO ). The conference programme was designed to highlight the importance of the individual who is the centre of every live event. ethics of artificial intelligence (AI)).

Events 147

Events Speakers Conference Attendee 147

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.

Audience 98

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. Sometimes, it’s also the medium.

Proposal 149

Proposal Communications Communications Venue 149

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.

Preparation 112

Preparation Venue Conference Proposal 112

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.

Meeting 118

Meeting Vendor Sponsors Attendee 118

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.”

Sponsors 96

Sponsors Registration Conference Attendee 96

Convene by PCMA

MAY 19, 2023

Amsterdam’s well-connected infrastructure means attendees can easily jump between venues, hotels, attractions, and restaurants. After all, when event organizers choose host cities that embrace innovation and forward-thinking ideas, those values inevitably set the tone for their event programs and become part of the attendee experience.

Sustainability 52

Sustainability Attendee Fashion Panel 52

Convene by PCMA

APRIL 4, 2022

USTA also has compiled a database of case studies describing meetings of all sizes that were safely and successfully conducted in a variety of formats — in-person, all-digital, and hybrid — since May 2020. Instructions for how organizations can add their events to the database are available on the Meet Safe website.).

Meeting 116

Meeting Trade Show Social Media Hospitality 116

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. For decades, I’ve championed responsible conference designs that prioritize participants.

Platform 96

Platform Media Conference Sponsors 96

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. Attendee Experience Trends. Industry Performance Trends.

Trends 167

Trends Meeting Planner Venue 167

Social Tables

OCTOBER 14, 2016

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. When you incorporate the event hashtag into a live tweet, it makes it easy for other attendees to join the conversation.

Audience 68

Audience Social Media B2C Networking 68

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. Attendees loved my events! So here’s my story.

Booking 96

Booking Consulting Meeting Design Manufacturing 96

Conferences that Work

MARCH 25, 2019

Though it’s clearly sensible to keep a conference running on schedule, we’ve all attended meetings where rambling presenters, avoidable “technical issues”, incompetent facilitation, and inadequate logistics have made a mockery of the published program. Ultimately, the attendees are the losers when this happens.

Rehearsal 79

Rehearsal Logistics Contracts Contracts 79

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).

Site Selection 59

Site Selection Regulations Events Retreat 59

Conferences that Work

APRIL 8, 2019

1992: I organize a conference where there are no expert speakers available (it’s a new field, there are no experts). 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.

Publishing 66

Publishing Consulting Manufacturing Conference 66

Conferences that Work

JULY 1, 2024

PSFG has a deep appreciation for the importance of meeting design. We asked for share outs at various points in our agenda, but found that asking for share outs after the individual retrospectives was really helpful both for us as organizers and for the participants.

Conference 96

Conference Speakers Proposal Online 96

Motivation Excellence

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

For decades, high-performing organizations have used incentive travel as an effective management strategy, but the program is largely misunderstood because there is so much diversity in how it is implemented. The group also helps organizations develop effective strategies for improving employee productivity. Industry on the rebound.

Incentives 130

Incentives Travel Travel Social Media 130

Convene by PCMA

JUNE 14, 2024

The tour also made strategic stops where participants could talk with suppliers and vendors who spoke about their own practices and strategies — a move engineered, Goradesky said, “to encourage discussion between meeting organizers and suppliers.” We know [sustainability] investments will be taken seriously if there is demand.”

Sustainability 52

Sustainability Vendor Consulting Planner 52

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.

Booking 54

Booking Education Conference Meeting Design 54

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. Code of conduct, inclusive language, Conference Buddy,photo policy. pic.twitter.com/9V1S109OaO.

Conference 62

Conference Proposal Meeting Design Publishing 62

Gavel International

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

Understanding these cultural clusters and their influence on organizational behavior can help organizations drive desired cultural changes. ( 12 ) Organizations open to improvement balance their time across all three dimensions (discovery, development/delivery, and diffusion) for long-term future success and short-term results.

Planner 52

Planner Meeting Vendor Culture 52

Conferences that Work

JULY 30, 2018

Running these workshops helps me continually refine the design, stripping away components that distract focus from the desired outcomes. Many organizations focus on getting the “best” experts to speak at their meetings.

Consulting 54

Consulting Education Venue Conference 54

Smart Meetings

JUNE 9, 2023

For meeting designers, ChatGPT can save the organizer time by answering mundane questions like, “What does business casual mean?” thereby freeing up time to design more meaningful, sustainable and motivating programs. We are in a race to make it easy to do business together,” he said. Another change?

Incentives 246

Incentives Prospect Insurance Hospitality 246

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?

Meeting Design 62

Meeting Design Conference Meeting Proposal 62

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.

Attendee 62

Attendee Meeting Conference Design Fashion 62

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?

Trends 96

Trends Attendee Networking Event Design 96

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

Event planners often overlook the importance of attendee conversations. So, perhaps it’s not surprising that many conference organizers today make a similar mistake by emphasizing broadcast content over attendee interactions. Why does this happen?

Attendee 62

Attendee Planner Advertising Conference 62

Gavel International

FEBRUARY 3, 2025

Reading Time: 7 minutes The connection between a productive meeting culture and high-performing teams is clear. High-performing teams benefit from well-planned, organized, and structured meetings. 54% of high-performing teams have a meeting ritual, compared to 33% of other teams.(

Culture 52

Culture Meeting Production Organization 52