Next Generation Event

Your Event Should Be a Catalyst

If everyone had @DaVinciDeb's view on events, we'd be in pretty good shape.

Hotel Incentives Are an Opportunity to Enhance Attendee Experience

Conference planners who have been around the block know that when hotels are doing well, they take everything they can, and when things slow down, prices start to fall. According to iGroupNews, hotels facing the crunch of this economy will be providing incentives, rather than dropping room rates.

Smart planners will seize on the incentives that make the conference experience better for attendees (and not just the ones that help planners trim costs), like free internet access, free parking, and waived resort fees for attendees.

Your attendees don't care that you got the meeting room for free or lowered the food and beverage minimum (unless, of course, you take the saved money and use it to enhance the event). And "Now with lower F&B minimums!" doesn't make for the best brochure copy. Instead, try using the incentives to make your event stand out from the rest.

You Wish You Did Conferences Like These Guys

And maybe you do, but you should still take a look at their blog. Like so many organizations, 360Conferences offers specialized tech conferences to developers. But unlike so many organizations, they do it really, really well.

How?

By putting customers first.

By focusing on content.

By building community (both in their conferences and beyond) into their model.

And to think--they just started out as attendees who wanted to build a conference they would like to attend.

Consider Sending Out an Attendee List in Advance

Great tip from Sue Pelletier today, highlighting a post from Association Executive Management that talked about sending the attendees a list of attendees in advance as a means of ensuring attendance.

Those of us who have planned an event (especially a free one) know that those who say they're coming don't always come. And I am ashamed to admit I've been on the attendee side of that as well. But if your colleagues know you RSVP'd, you probably wouldn't want to let them down.

Of course, there is an even bigger benefit for savvy attendees to know who will be there--we all know that preparing who you need to talk to about what makes meetings more effective.

Resources for Running Effective Meetings

Image by clagnut

If you're an event planner, you know how to plan events. When you're planning an event, you leave no detail undefined. When you execute the event, you follow clearly-defined schedules and guidelines. But do you sometimes neglect those standards when running small meetings within the office?

I've thought about this before (mostly while my mind wandered in meetings that were poorly planned and executed), but was reminded of it during my read of Guy Kawasaki's Reality Check. In this 461-page book, Guy seems to cover just about every topic you might dream up, including five tips for running a good meeting (also available at his blog):

(1) Start on time even if everyone isn’t there because they will be next time; (2) Invite the fewest people possible to the meeting; (3) Set an agenda for exactly what’s going to happen at the meeting; (4) End on time so that everyone focuses on the pertinent issues; (5) Send an email to all participants that confirms decisions reviews action items.

You can find more tips on running effective meetings at 43 Folders and Mind Tools. If you have other meeting resources you rely on, please take a moment to share them in the comments.

Lessons Learned from the Obama Campaign

I'm sitting here at Denver International Airport (using its free WiFi, by the way) a bit bleary-eyed after a long U.S. Election Day. I'm headed to Baltimore to run a conference and I'm thinking about what effect, if any, this election has on the events, meetings, and conferences industry.

A suffering economy, an energy crisis (despite recently low oil prices), and a comedy of errors (otherwise known as the airline industry), all tell us there will be an effect, but I am quite certain the differences of opinion about what the effect will be are as divided as the differences of opinion on the candidates, so I'll sidestep the political punditry and talk instead about some lessons we can take from Barack Obama's candidacy.

It's not about you. It's about them. Obama framed this as an election about the people. His supporters therefore took ownership of the campaign.

What if your attendees took ownership of your events? What if they believed in your event so much that you received emails and calls from them throughout the year about ways to improve it? And what if they actually believed that you cared enough to listen?

Word-of-mouth is like gold. Those supporters who took ownership also talked about Obama. They put in countless hours (formally as volunteers and informally) talking to everyone who would listen about Obama and why they support him. Their enthusiasm proved contagious.

Are your attendees talking about you? If not, you're doing something wrong and you're missing out on a huge chunk of powerful (and free) marketing potential. Find out what makes them tick and get them talking.

Don't settle for the status quo. Wherever you stand on the results yesterday, you cannot deny that history was made. In fact, this entire election season has been historic. We saw our first serious female candidate in Hillary Clinton, our first Republican Vice Presidential candidate in Sarah Palin, and, now, our first black President in Barack Obama. None of this would have been possible if these individuals had not been willing to buck convention, as hard as that fight can sometimes be.

I've been thinking a lot about bucking convention in the events industry lately. I think complacency is comfortable. It's easy to blame falling attendance on the economy. I don't deny that slashed budgets are an obstacle, but a faltering economy does not reduce the desire to connect with others. In fact, I would argue that the urge to network is bolstered by the weak economy. Connections are a security blanket for the uneasy. Maybe their companies won't cover all expenses, but could you get prospective attendees to reach into their own pockets to participate? Could your event be that good? Or can it be unique enough to convince a company to expand its budget? I think it can, but you have to be bold and take risks. The payoff might just be worth it.

What do you think? Any other lessons I'm missing?

Follow-Up on Donating Leftover Food

After I posted for Blog Action Day and recommended giving your leftover food away, green meeting expert Nancy Wilson happened to post more information on the law, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, that makes this donation possible.

So next time you're told "it can't be done," you'll know better.

Some Tips for Cruising Through the Economic Downturn

Image by swamibu

Are you feeling the crunch of the current economic climate? If not, you're either very lucky or you're not paying attention. Most businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and many are quick to cut corners they should leave intact.

Last week, I listened to a recent episode of Startup Nation, which included an interview with Scott Aughtman, author of How Your Business Can Survive and Prosper in a Recession.

I thought much of the advice Aughtman gave was also great advice for organizations in the events industry.

I captured a snapshot below, but if you want to hear more you should take a listen.

1. You're sitting on an "acre of diamonds" and those diamonds are your customers. Don't go looking elsewhere if you don't have to.

2. Stopping marketing to save money is like stopping your wristwatch to save time. (this was my favorite)

3. Focus on what your customers need and you won't go wrong.

4. Cultivate your relationship with your clients during this rough patch by giving them information and tools that will help them.

5. Consider joint ventures with other companies you respect.

6. Give away free samples and trials. If your product is worthwhile, they'll remember you when things pick up.

10 Ways to Build Poverty Awareness in Your Events - Blog Action Day

Image by jamesfischer

Back in June, I interviewed Tamara Kennedy-Hill, the Executive Director of the Green Meeting Industry Council, and something she said has stuck with me:

“Profit is good—but it’s also about the environment and your impact on the community. Have you left the community you were in better off or worse off?”

When I decided to do a post for Blog Action Day, this idea of leaving a place better off really jumped out. As event planners, we often breeze in and out of luxurious venues without thinking about the social problems, like poverty, that surround the high-rise hotels we occupy.

So I started a list of things we can do to leave cities just a little better off. Some of the actions are small and some are big, but I think they all remind us to think a little more about the community that we make our home for the duration of the event.

1. Donate uneaten food to a nearby shelter. Note: There is an urban legend in the events industry that this is illegal due to food safety concerns. I can't account for all locations, but I have yet to see proof of this (and we just did it at an event in Denver). You can always ask your venue in advance if it allows this.

2. Build a service opportunity into the event, like a group project at a shelter. If you've ever volunteered as a group, you'll know this is also a great networking opportunity for attendees.

3. Organize a golf tournament to raise money for a local cause. If they're going to be golfing anyway, make it meaningful.

4. Offer a daily attendee fitness class (yoga, boot camp, hike, run, etc.) for an extra fee and put a portion of the fee toward a local cause. Why run on an old treadmill in the hotel basement when you can work it out with fellow attendees and help the city out?

5. Work with a local playhouse or entertainment group to organize a fun night out with a portion of the ticket price to go to a local cause. If everyone is going out on the town, anyway, right?

6. Host a reception and make the "price of entry" an old suit or other professional clothing to donate to a local group that provides people with the clothes they need to start a career. Bonus: Your attendees will have a little extra space in their suitcases to take home all those event materials.

7. Auction or raffle off a dinner with the event's VIP or keynote presenter with proceeds directed to a local cause. A little extra time with the big name on the agenda is worth a lot.

8. Organize the donation of industry-specific goods. Does your group design software? Offer it to local non-profits or to inner-city schools.

9. If the topic is right, coordinate to have the keynote presenter speak to a local, under-privileged school while he or she is in town. The right keynote might even see the benefit of doing this at no extra charge to you.

10. Offer a number of free tickets to a local organization that works to find people better employment opportunities. Register local, low-income people who are trying to build a career in the industry your event targets.

If none of these ideas will fit in with the character of your event, you can always simply commit to give a percentage of each conference registration.

What do you think? I know there are many more great ideas out there.

What Not to Do in a Poor Meetings Economy

Earlier this morning, I noted a study about the sad state of the events economy. Then I came across this list from Unique Venues of what NOT to do when the meetings industry goes from a seller's market to a buyer's market.

Included on the list?

Don't offer deep discounts. Don't become invisible. Don't overlook the local and regional martket.

Click here to see the full list at Unique Venues. And make sure to add to the list in the comments. I added "Don't cut corners at the expense of attendee experience." Experience is our greatest asset in live events.