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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Meeting Meeting Design Online Sponsors 147

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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Meeting Online Conference Booking 169

Endless Events

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

Care to join us for some stimulating conversation about multi-hub meetings? Everyone who works in the event industry knows the power of meetings. And who says we have to stop at single-hub meetings? An entrepreneur since he was only 18 years old, Maarten has over 35 years of experience in meeting design.

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Meeting Speakers Regulations Meeting Design 176

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

Why not make your entire conference a braindate? I like the braindate approach , but it doesn’t have to be something that’s grafted onto a conference. Because good event design is about how a conference works. So there’s no need to add a braindate process to a well-designed meeting.

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Conference Trends Event Design Meeting Design 122

Conferences that Work

JULY 19, 2021

Ever since my first encounter with the hybrid hub and spoke meeting topology at Event Camp Twin Cities in 2011, I’ve been a big fan of the format. Yesterday [see below], I realized that hub and spoke is a great format for purely online meetings too. What’s a hub and spoke meeting? But first…. A terminology reminder.

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

What is the mix of presentation versus interaction at your meetings? Traditional meetings focus heavily on presentation. Presentation versus interaction at meetings. But our meeting designs, in large part, haven’t changed to reflect this shift in cultural awareness. What should it be? The written word.

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Meeting Publishing Booking Meeting Design 126

Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2024

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! Here it is—enjoy!

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Conference Meeting Booking Audience 98

Conferences that Work

JUNE 14, 2021

Why are our meetings still full of lectures? 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. It’s just the opposite. No related posts.

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Conferences that Work

OCTOBER 11, 2021

I think it’s also a meeting problem: “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” And so it goes with meetings. It’s why businesses sponsor meetings. All meeting design needs to recognize this reality.

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Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

What are the fairest rules to use when running meetings? ” I think it’s reasonable to concentrate on fairness to participants : the majority of those involved with the meeting. All meetings have rules, whether overt or covert, conscious or unconscious, that influence how they proceed. Status and power at meetings.

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Meeting Conference Speakers Booking 143

Social Tables

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Meetings don’t look how they used to. 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? Here are five meeting industry trends that are changing the game.

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Trends Meeting Trade Show Events 157

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. Breaks aren’t communal activities.

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Meeting Design Meeting Speakers Conference 66

Social Tables

OCTOBER 6, 2018

Change is imminent — and in the meetings industry, it’s upon us. 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.

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Meeting Trade Show Events Social Media 158

Conferences that Work

JANUARY 25, 2021

How can we design the optimum balance between control versus freedom at meetings? Note that I’m not suggesting meeting professionals give up any attempt to control what happens at their events. Creating events that truly meet participants’ wants and needs. You’ve been kidding yourself all these years.

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Meeting Logistics Conference Online 138

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. Design in flexibility. Give them power.

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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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Audience Meeting Manufacturing Meeting Design 98

Conferences that Work

APRIL 11, 2022

Over the years I’ve designed and facilitated hundreds of meetings. One of the most common issues I address that is rarely acknowledged openly is the tension between the wants and needs of suppliers and practitioners at meetings. But what happens when both suppliers and practitioners at meetings attend sessions ?

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Meeting Vendor Sponsors Attendee 118

Endless Events

JUNE 21, 2019

Both on Event Tech Podcast and #EventIcons , we shared a lot of good stuff from this fantastic conference. To kick things off, Melissa begins by giving us some interesting facts: “With meeting planners, it’s predominantly… there are a lot more women than men in the industry. “We’re all in this together.

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Conferences that Work

MAY 11, 2020

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.

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Online Conference Platform Publishing 158

Conferences that Work

JUNE 3, 2019

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.

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Conference Consulting Meeting Design Website 75

Conferences that Work

JULY 2, 2018

Recently, a client asked for help designing a new conference. The needs assessment trap Conference design clients who “know what they want” have already decided on their “ why? It’s an honor to work on a classic Conferences That. Conferences That Work goes to Japan!

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Meeting Design Logistics Conference Design Consulting 76

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. But when we are fully engaged in a meeting, we are just there , immersed in and responding to what is happening. The rehearsal.

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Rehearsal Meeting Design Conference Planner 139

Conferences that Work

MAY 24, 2021

Are online meetings reducing our collective intelligence [CI] ? New research about online meetings. Translation: in the experimental setup used , the researchers found that online meeting participants were: better able to avoid interrupting each other; and. ” Artificial online meetings. I don’t think so.

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Online Meeting Conference Consulting 118

Conferences that Work

JUNE 12, 2017

I love my meeting design 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 Conference Design!

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Venue Meeting Conference Design Meeting Design 88

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 16, 2019

If you had told me forty years ago, a freshly minted high-energy particle physics postdoc, that I’d go on to have four additional careers (owner of a solar manufacturing business, computer science professor, independent IT consultant, and meeting designer/facilitator) I wouldn’t have believed you. The solar energy company.

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Consulting Manufacturing Meeting Design Publishing 145

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

Traditional conferences focus on a hodgepodge of pre-determined sessions punctuated with socials, surrounded by short welcomes and closings. Such conference designs treat openings and closings as perfunctory traditions, perhaps pumped up with a keynote or two, rather than key components of the conference design.

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Conference Conference Design Meeting Design Education 71

Endless Events

JUNE 15, 2018

Embracing the Weirdness of Meetings. The word “meeting” carries a connotation of being serious, and mostly boring to be honest. Meetings may cover the simplest of topics, but mixing things up to break the mold can go a long way. Meetings may cover the simplest of topics, but mixing things up to break the mold can go a long way.

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Registration Events Sponsors Event Marketing 258

Conferences that Work

MARCH 29, 2021

The essential characteristics of meeting professionals. If there is a heaven on earth in the event industry, there are four essential characteristics of successful meeting professionals you’ll meet there. Every successful meeting involves thinking about, planning for and executing countless details. Details matter.

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Meeting Communications Communications Logistics 97

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

. ‘And the men [sic*] who had the same or similar problems to meet in the actual running of their employers’ businesses found that an exchange of views and ideas benefitted them without hurting their employers.'” Whether you’re a community of practice, a consultant, or a meeting designer, this simple aphorism applies!

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Consulting Meeting Design Benefits Training 147

Conferences that Work

JULY 31, 2017

Although I have good reasons to champion meeting designs 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.

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Meeting Conference Booking Meeting Design 88

Social Tables

DECEMBER 27, 2018

Meetings are growing and evolving rapidly, and each is an experiment in applying new methods to find a perfect formula. Industry Performance Trends Attendee Experience Trends Meeting Destination Trends Event Technology Trends Meeting Design Trends. Demand continues to outpace supply of meetings-eligible hotels.

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Trends Meeting Planner Venue 167

Travel Daily Media

JULY 5, 2023

The post IHG Hotels & Resorts launch ‘Meet How You Meet,’ across SE Asia, Korea, Australasia and Japan appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily. Housed in one convenient location, planners can search per location to unlock the exclusive offers and perks.

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Conferences that Work

JUNE 28, 2021

Here’s my Powerful Panels interview with good friend and meeting panel doyen Kristin Arnold. 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. 0:00 Introduction.

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The MICE Blog

JULY 27, 2022

I want to re-share this article that I wrote back in 2019 and was initially published on VDVO website , because the principles of event design remain the same, the human is in the centre of every experience that we want to design for our events and technology technology should enhance this experience, and not replace it.

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

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

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Conference Proposal Meeting Design Publishing 62

Conferences that Work

JULY 24, 2017

So you’re holding a conference. Read the full article at Conferences That Work. The Solution Room—a powerful conference session There’s been a lot of interest in The Solution Room, a session that I co-facilitated last July at Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress in Orlando, Florida.

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Conference Education Booking Audience 72

Conferences that Work

APRIL 9, 2018

Over the last five years I’ve heard increasing concern from the meeting professionals community about the deterioration of the quality of our national industry conferences. I’ll illustrate with the area where I have most experience: providing education at these meetings.

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