Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 26, 2016

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. Well, it’s not.

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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. The massive disruption of in-person events since March 2020 has shaken our industry to the core. We have also seen the emergence of new forms of online events, supported by solid business models.

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Meeting Meeting Design Online Sponsors 132

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 25, 2019

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 event design is about how a conference works. Photo attribution: Flickr user viejozapato.

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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. They stand to sing and pray.

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Conferences that Work

JULY 2, 2018

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. hoping that in the process the event’s purpose and desired outcomes will become clearer.

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Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

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. ” —Excerpts from the Winter 2024 Freeman Syndicated Survey of Event Attendees.

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Conferences that Work

APRIL 25, 2022

Hosted by CSAE Manitoba , this free one-hour online Participate Lab will introduce you to the design of participation-rich events through the direct experience of participatory meeting techniques and formats. All are welcome to attend this event at no charge (both CSAE members and non-members). Where & When.

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

? ? Here’s a standing invitation for event and hospitality teachers. I will meet online with your class for free. As an experienced facilitator and designer of participant-driven and participation-rich meetings, I love to share what I’ve learned during my four decades in the meeting industry.

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Conferences that Work

MAY 20, 2024

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 ran them in my spare time for thirteen years before writing my first book. Feedback like this is a gift that helps me improve my craft. industry education ).

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Consulting Social Media Publishing Conference 80

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Presentation versus interaction at meetings. But our meeting designs, 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. No related posts.

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Conferences that Work

JUNE 28, 2021

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. 2:30 A brief history of meetings; why lecture formats are still so popular; how panels fit into the larger context of meetings.

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Panel Meeting Design Conference Audience 124

Conferences that Work

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Well, here’s an alternative historical perspective from a completely different source, a 1926 article about the New York Club of Printing House Craftsmen, uncovered by Jeff Jarvis and described as “ …a lovely evocation on the value of sharing in our field, which we used to call printing. ” “Stop. No related posts.

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Consulting Meeting Design Benefits Training 145

Conferences that Work

JUNE 14, 2021

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 meeting designers have known this for a long time.

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Meeting Remote Meeting Design Conference 126

Conferences that Work

JUNE 12, 2023

We are actors, impresarios, meeting designers, diplomats, teachers, musicians, creative directors, facilitators, management experts, sports team owners, fundraisers, journalists, experiential marketers, retreat leaders, event producers, philanthropists, coaches, and dealmakers!

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Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

Events and media consultant Julius Solaris shared at the Unforgettable Experience Design Summit that he was initially very enthusiastic about unconference format events. But Julius didn’t see them catch on and now focuses on other aspects of the meeting industry. Why aren’t unconferences more popular?

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Conferences that Work

OCTOBER 11, 2021

All meeting design needs to recognize this reality. So there’s a disconnect between what’s best for meeting participants, due to their fundamental psychological makeup, and the dictates of their institutional bosses and the organizations that organize the events. Yes, humanity’s problem is a meeting problem.

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Conferences that Work

MARCH 14, 2022

Traditional events relegate conversations to the hallways, to breaks and socials. 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. No conversations occur during lectures.

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Meeting Design Conference Online Audience 65

Conferences that Work

JUNE 7, 2021

Why am I writing about social learning on a blog that’s (mainly) about meeting design? Which means, to create the best meetings we need to maximize the social learning that takes place. So, how can I incorporate the power of social learning into my events? What are you waiting for?

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Booking Conference Meeting Design Online 113

Conferences that Work

MARCH 15, 2021

Recently, I’ve been appearing as a guest at college event planning and hospitality courses to talk about meeting design. (I Rather than lecture for an hour, I’ve been using an Ask Me Anything (aka AMA ) meeting format. A one-sentence distillation: learning is a process not an event.).

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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. I think participants are more likely to be specific at repeated events because they have experienced the flowering of discussion and sessions based on what is shared during The Three Questions.

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Conferences that Work

APRIL 11, 2022

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.

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Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2019

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.” Read the full article at Conferences That Work The post Q&A with Adrian Segar on Crowdsourcing appeared first on Conferences That Work.

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Booking Conference Meeting Design Speakers 97

Conferences that Work

JUNE 3, 2019

At the time, I had no idea that what I instinctively put together for a gathering of people who barely knew each other would lead to: a global design and facilitation consulting practice; over 500 posts on this blog, which has now become, to the best of my knowledge, the most-visited website on meeting design and facilitation; three books (almost!)

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Conferences that Work

AUGUST 26, 2019

Here’s a teaser: the introduction to my new book Event Crowdsourcing: Creating Meetings People Actually Want and Need. The social and cultural differences that shaped our frequent meetings fascinated me. Heated discussions about how we should proceed and whose names should go on our journal articles flared and sputtered.

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Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Status and power at meetings. 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. At many events, only high status people talk.

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Conferences that Work

MAY 24, 2021

New research about online meetings. Can we conclude that turning off video increases collective intelligence during online meetings? Because the vast majority of online meetings provide a significantly different environment than the CMU researchers used. Do you think online meetings are reducing our collective intelligence?

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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. Zoom has rapidly become the dominant platform for online meetings.

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Conferences that Work

AUGUST 24, 2020

Here are five meeting design books I especially recommend. Into the Heart of Meetings: Basic Principles of Meeting Design ( ebook or paperback ). Into the Heart of Meetings: Basic Principles of Meeting Design ( ebook or paperback ). Intentional Event Design ( ebook or paperback ).

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Meeting Design Booking Meeting Publishing 114

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. Here’s why they do it, and why it’s a mistake.

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Venue Meeting Conference Design Meeting Design 84

Conferences that Work

MARCH 21, 2022

Earlier this month, the folks at Gatherly kindly invited me to host an event of my choosing for their clients and potential users. This coming June will mark my 30th year of designing and facilitating participant-driven and participation-rich meetings. Designing an online workshop in Gatherly. I’ve shared the why?

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Conferences that Work

JANUARY 25, 2021

Unless your constituency is bound to your event via a requirement to earn CEUs, members can withhold their attendance or avoid sessions at will. — Note that I’m not suggesting meeting professionals give up any attempt to control what happens at their events. Why are they event owners? The myth of control.

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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. I miss hanging out with the folks I got to know at these events. That’s the way to improve meetings!

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Conferences that Work

MARCH 13, 2017

They are also far more likely to make valuable connections with their peers during the event. Seth Godin describes a desirable meeting mindset: What would happen… if we chose to: …Sit in the front row. Ask a hard question every time we go to a meeting…. Read the full article at Conferences That Work.

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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. Read the full article at Conferences That Work. The Chinese government runs a massive online censorship program.

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Meeting Conference Online Education 63

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 78

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. Read the full article at Conferences That Work Related posts: Participate!

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Conference Conference Design Meeting Design Education 64

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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