Conferences that Work

MARCH 13, 2017

How do we get people to participate at meetings? We know that participants — people who are active learners — learn more, retain more, and retain more accurately than passive attendees. Seth Godin describes a desirable meeting mindset: What would happen… if we chose to: …Sit in the front row.

Attendee 80

Attendee Education Booking Meeting Design 80

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. Keep ’em moving!

Meeting Design 61

Meeting Design Meeting Speakers Conference 61

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.

Online 150

Online Conference Platform Attendee 150

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. Answering it gives every person present, in turn, an opportunity to share what they would like the ensuing meeting to be about. Those who offer it are usually first-time attendees.

Conference 62

Conference Attendee Meeting Design Booking 62

Conferences that Work

APRIL 1, 2019

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.

Booking 97

Booking Conference Meeting Design Speakers 97

Conferences that Work

MARCH 14, 2022

Personal meetings like these, whether brief or extended, between good friends or strangers, are fundamental. Someone to tell it to at conferences. Conferences, whether in-person or online, are also potential arenas for conversations. But some conferences offer better opportunities than others. No related posts.

Meeting Design 65

Meeting Design Conference Online Audience 65

Conferences that Work

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

” I think it’s reasonable to concentrate on fairness to participants : the majority of those involved with the meeting. In his influential 1971 book A Theory of Justice , John suggested that “the fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have.”.

Meeting 129

Meeting Conference Speakers Booking 129

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 24, 2020

Here are five meeting design books I especially recommend. In an outrageous display of chutzpah , I wrote three of these books. [If Into the Heart of Meetings: Basic Principles of Meeting Design ( ebook or paperback ). Intentional Event Design ( ebook or paperback ).

Meeting Design 114

Meeting Design Booking Meeting Publishing 114

The MICE Blog

MARCH 11, 2021

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.’ A common example is booking websites. The gamification strategies on these websites endeavour to make us book as soon as possible. Why use gamification?

Contracts 130

Contracts Contracts Virtual Events Online 130

Conferences that Work

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

For a full explanation of why active learning modalities are superior, see Chapter 4 of my book The Power of Participation.). Let’s look at these three conclusions in the context of meeting design. Most meeting presenters still lecture. Attendees learn more when presenters use active learning modalities.

Publishing 85

Publishing Speakers Education Booking 85

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.

Education 74

Education Meeting Sponsors Speakers 74

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. The conference has run continually for the last 27 years.) This is something new.

Publishing 58

Publishing Consulting Manufacturing Conference 58

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.)

Logistics 58

Logistics Conference Trade Show Attendee 58

Conferences that Work

JUNE 13, 2016

As I’ve explained elsewhere , good covenants publicly clarify the freedoms that attendees have at an event, like the freedoms to speak one’s mind , ask questions , and share feelings. When such freedoms are agreed to individually and as a group at the start of a meeting, ambiguity about meeting behavior dissipates.

Meeting 63

Meeting Conference Online Education 63

Conferences that Work

MARCH 29, 2021

Every successful meeting involves thinking about, planning for and executing countless details. You can create the most original, beautiful event in the world, but if there’s no coffee available on the first morning , attendees are going to complain and remember. People have written books about how to do this.

Meeting 121

Meeting Communications Communications Logistics 121

Conferences that Work

AUGUST 29, 2016

The first time I met him—at the premier EventCamp in 2010 —he immediately purchased my just-published book, sight unseen. Whenever I’ve had the pleasure of meeting David (not often enough!) 2 — Elementary Meetings. 3 — Conferences That Work. Instead, let’s broaden our conceptions of what meeting design is.

Logistics 54

Logistics Event Design Conference Design Conference 54

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.

Audience 68

Audience Social Media B2C Networking 68

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. I also moderated the #eventprofs Twitter chats for several years, and until recently, ran the weekly #Eventprofs Happy Hour Hangout for meeting professionals.

Booking 50

Booking Conference Education Meeting Design 50

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.

Platform 62

Platform Meeting Online Production 62

Conferences that Work

DECEMBER 12, 2016

significantly increase owner and attendee satisfaction and participation at your sessions and events. I’ve been convening, designing, and facilitating conferences for over 35 years, concentrating on participant-driven and participation-rich event facilitation and design since 1992. I’m excited! Earn 16.00

Registration 25

Registration Conference Education Venue 25

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! Sounds crazy, yes, but stay with me!

Meeting 164

Meeting Online Conference Booking 164

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. If there’s a mantra for this year, it might just be “book now!”

Trends 167

Trends Meeting Planner Venue 167

Motivation Excellence

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Incentive travel is an important subset of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. Unveiling monthly rankings promotes friendly competitiveness while memorably debuting the new location is always a highlight at the annual meeting. What is Incentive Travel?

Incentives 130

Incentives Travel Travel Social Media 130

Conferences that Work

APRIL 5, 2021

Only about 10% of adult learning involves formal classroom or meeting presentation formats. Unfortunately, traditional conferences are poor places for this kind of learning to occur, since they’re filled with broadcast-style lectures, during which no interpersonal interaction takes place. The last condition is important.

Meeting 129

Meeting Conference Booking Attendee 129

Conferences that Work

JANUARY 24, 2022

But I see meetings where hallway learning trumps a majority of, if not all, conference sessions as failures of design, rather than a fact of life. Similarly, your design layout will affect the likelihood and value of hallway learning conversations. Give your attendees plenty of breaks. Conclusion.

Conference 144

Conference Attendee Meeting Benefits 144