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Far too much money is spent on meeting glitz at the expense of good meetingdesign. If you ask about a budget for eventdesign, stakeholders think you’re talking about decor and drama. But “there’s no budget” for core eventdesign, which is actually about designing great meeting process.
Here are five meetingdesign books I especially recommend. Into the Heart of Meetings: Basic Principles of MeetingDesign ( ebook or paperback ). Into the Heart of Meetings: Basic Principles of MeetingDesign ( ebook or paperback ). Intentional EventDesign ( ebook or paperback ).
Why not make your entire conference a braindate? One of Skift’s “ 10 event trends for 2020 ” is networking. The report predicts: “Activities such as braindates that deliver more meaningful connections will become mainstream at events.” Because good eventdesign is about how a conference works.
I’ve been promoting the Conferences That Work meeting format for so long, that some people assume I think it’s the right choice for every meeting. two meeting types and three situations when you should NOT use a Conferences That Work design: — Most corporate events. Here are (drum roll!)
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know this from looking at meeting planning textbooks. The meeting industry has redefined novelty as creativity. A “creative” eventdesign is one with a novel venue and/or decor and lighting and/or food and beverage. Most assume that a meeting planner is all they need.
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. Complicated problems.
I’m indebted to Martin Sirk for sharing remarkable information about an 1828 conferencedesigned by the German geographer, naturalist, and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. Read what follows to discover that Humboldt was also a meetingdesigner way ahead of his time! Martin Sirk Modern meetingdesign!
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. Design in flexibility. Give them power.
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!
The first peer conference I convened and designed was held June 3 – 5, 1992 at Marlboro College, Vermont. So, as of today, the community of practice that eventually became edACCESS has enjoyed 27 years of peer conferences. Twenty-three people came to the inaugural conference. 27 years of peer conferences.
We talk about all kinds of things, with a focus on my work and thinking about participant-driven and participation-rich meetings and eventdesign. 06:00 On traveling to events, and my passion for what I do. 11:00 What participant-driven and participation-rich meetingdesign means, and the core components.
One of the presentations that highly inspired me to think differently about eventdesign 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.
For too long, we’ve equated a meeting’s “success” with its size. ” But if we concentrate on increasing attendance, we overlook getting the meetingdesign right. Improving an event’s design makes the meeting better for all the stakeholders: meeting owners, sponsors, and participants.
Traditional conferences focus on a hodgepodge of pre-determined sessions punctuated with socials, surrounded by short welcomes and closings. Such conferencedesigns treat openings and closings as perfunctory traditions, perhaps pumped up with a keynote or two, rather than key components of the conferencedesign.
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 meetingdesign…. Religious services are thought to be around 300,000 years old — by far the oldest form of organized meeting that humans have created. Keep ’em moving!
BizBash consistently uses the term “eventdesign” to mean “ visual design” As an example, consider the 2016 Design Issue. The cover proclaims “What’s Next in EventDesign?” 3 — Conferences That Work. Read the full article at Conferences That Work.
An entrepreneur since he was only 18 years old, Maarten has over 35 years of experience in meetingdesign. And since 2012, he has organized the FRESH Conference in Europe. Ready to hear all about the ground-breaking magic of multi-hub meetings? Don’t miss a beat, it’s Event Tech Podcast time!
I’ve been designing and facilitating participant-driven and participation-rich in person meetings — aka peer conferences — for almost thirty years. Because participants love these meetings ! Now the covid-19 pandemic has forced meetings online. In person meetings have vanished overnight.
And it made me think about meetingdesign. And, me being me, I thought about what Marcy had just said in the context of meetingdesign. And meetings are no exception. The art and craft of the meetingdesigner. It’s a meetingdesigner’s job to create these contextual layers.
Recently, a client asked for help designing a new conference. Thirty minutes of discussion with three stakeholders revealed they hadn’t yet settled on the event’s specific purpose, scope, and format. It’s an honor to work on a classic Conferences That. Conferences That Work goes to Japan!
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. Collaborative Tools Workshop ” designed by Joel Backon at the 2010 annual edACCESS conference.
Presentation versus interaction at meetings. But our meetingdesigns, in large part, haven’t changed to reflect this shift in cultural awareness. Read the full article at Conferences That Work The post Presentation versus interaction at meetings appeared first on Conferences That Work.
When the leading candidate for the Mayor of New York City has this take on how people learn, perhaps it’s not so surprising that we’re still sitting through endless broadcast-style sessions at meetings and conferences. Learning researchers and our best teachers and meetingdesigners have known this for a long time.
Finally, as a meetingdesigner I’m convinced that using meeting formats that facilitate and support sharing amongst peers of relevant information is one of the most powerful ways to improve the effectiveness of meetings. Share information; don’t hoard it. Image attribution: Flickr user ben_grey.
Software testers do peer conferences right! They even call them a peer conference , rather than unconference , a term I don’t like.) As evidence of software tester conference awesomeness, I offer three examples below. a short history of the peer conference. The 2022 SoCraTes peer conference. But first…. …a
If you want maximum learning, interaction, and connection at a meeting, small meetings are better than large meetings. For example, think about a conference to explore the implications of a medical breakthrough. Do you expect to use this format in future events? Increased learning, interaction, and connection.
Meetings may cover the simplest of topics, but mixing things up to break the mold can go a long way. From uncommon games and giveaways to choose-your-own-adventures and unique conference breakout sessions , it’s possible to make any meeting interesting. Just make sure to mind the coherence of the whole event.
During our 25 minutes together, we discussed various panel formats, their value, and how to structure and design powerful panel discussions into the larger context of meetings, conferences, and events. We covered a lot in a short time, but there’s much more to learn about Powerful panels and good meetingdesign!
All meetingdesign needs to recognize this reality. What we think of as modern business meetings and conferences are hundreds of years old. The traditional top-down formats of meetings and conferences reflect the top-down structure of the institutions that still largely dominate our world. Institutions.
Today, planners are racing to adapt to trends that make conferences and events more engaging and dynamic than ever before. But when it comes to trends, where should meeting industry professionals put their focus? While the shifts are plentiful, there are five that stand out from the fold when it comes to modern eventdesign.
The Conference Arc: Building connection while uncovering wants, needs, and resources. Ask Adrian Anything: using a fishbowl sandwich to facilitate group discussion on meetingdesign and facilitation. Human spectrograms: a simple tool for learning about other participants. Creating the right program. Consolidating learning.
Community versus audience I began my first book with the research finding (and common observation) that people go to conferences to network and learn. Creating community at conferences around participant-driven content , therefore, creates a far more effective learning and connection-rich environment.
While the shifts are plentiful, there are five that stand out from the fold when it comes to modern eventdesign. Here’s how the meetings industry is changing the game. By creating “journey maps” at a recent conference, the team was able to outline completely different experiences for attendees based on their personas.
Why am I writing about social learning on a blog that’s (mainly) about meetingdesign? Because social (uncovered) learning is the best learning model for conference sessions. Which means, to create the best meetings we need to maximize the social learning that takes place. Humans’ true superpower.
At a traditional meeting, however, perceived status roles rarely change significantly during the event. This leads to a number of problems, which I described in my first meetingdesign book: Conferences That Work. At many events, only high status people talk. The first agreement…. …is No related posts.
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.
I love my meetingdesign clients, but there is one mistake I see them making over and over again. Clients invariably ask me to help design their meeting after they’ve chosen a venue! Read the full article at Conferences That Work. Face The Fear—Then Change Your ConferenceDesign!
Although I have good reasons to champion meetingdesigns where the participants get to choose what they want and need to discuss and learn rather than a program committee , there is invariably a place for some predetermined presentations at conferences. Read the full article at Conferences That Work.
By “practitioners” I mean the folks who do what the meeting is about; e.g., doctors at a medical event or scientists at a conservation conference. Often, vendors meet with practitioners at a tradeshow, and sponsors (who are usually vendors too) get opportunities to address practitioners.
Improving Conferences That Work I designed and facilitated my first peer conference in 1992. Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love took four years to write. I’m still proud of how well Conferences That Work lays out the fundamental reasons for the importance and value of peer conferences.
For over thirty years I’ve been making clients’ conferences significantly better, for about the cost of a conference coffee break. I make conferences better by dramatically increasing attendee satisfaction. I’d argue that hiring me is the most effective and cost-effective way to improve any event.
Events and media consultant Julius Solaris shared at the Unforgettable Experience Design Summit that he was initially very enthusiastic about unconference format events. He thought conferences would eventually adopt unconference models. The solution to this is to design your unconference before choosing the venue.
Religious meetings are a small, fascinating subset of the meeting industry. I learned about them when I presented at The Religious Conference Management Association annual conference in 2014, and I’ve written about what meetingdesigners can learn from religious services.
A freewheeling Ask Me Anything about meetingdesign that delivers optimal learning, connection, engagement, and action outcomes? I hope you’ll take advantage of this standing invitation for event and hospitality teachers. Learn more about me here. You won’t get a canned presentation. No related posts.
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