Disqus - Latest Comments for JeffHurt

Re: 13 Things We Need to Keep at Events

JeffHurt — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 09:13:50 -0000

Julius:

I apologize for the poor choice of my words and insulting you. So forgive me. That was not my intent.

Clearly my words elevated your emotions in a negative way. As I often say, the message received is the message sent. I own my mistake. I sent the wrong message. I could have done better.

At the same time, I believe people can disagree without being disagreeable. I hope you'll agree.

Re: 13 Things We Need to Keep at Events

JeffHurt — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 09:36:46 -0000

I like this post better than the one of 14 things we don't need at events anymore. I struggled with that post as your research you sited in your comments was on technology for engagement at events, not on getting rid of those things. Shows your bias towards your sponsored technology vendors and what people say they want instead of what is effective. I want candy too, all the time, but that doesn't make it healthy for me. Just sayin...

Love the focus on event experience, hybrid events, innovation and creativity.

Keep challenging our thinking. And keep stirring the pot of status quo and blanket acceptance.

Re: 5 Digital Skills Needed For Every Event Planning Résumé

JeffHurt — Wed, 20 May 2015 09:51:28 -0000

I'd add two more: How to do effective content marketing and how to engage remote audiences during live streaming from the face to face conference.

Re: Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni: Explore Lots of Ideas and Get Feedback, Systematically

JeffHurt — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 09:13:04 -0000

I have three other questions that I add to your list to improve:

1) What to keep?
2) What to tweak for next time?
3) What to stop doing?

Re: Event Planning: Why the Learning Experience Matters

JeffHurt — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 13:37:08 -0000

Samantha:

Great article that highlights how some associations are applying good learning principles to their education opportunities at conferences.

Here's an additional fact to add to the mix:

Education Professional Nick van Dam reviewed more than 355 studies on learning, education and knowledge retention. He discovered that the most important factor in knowledge retention is the quality of the learning design, rather than the delivery method. These studies all pointed to the need for more intentional learning design and less focus on delivery of information.

So what is learning design anyway? It is what the attendee is going to do besides listening. It is the discussion, activity or exercise that they participate in that results in learning. So we have to shift from just education sessions that about just transmitting information and start asking, "What will the attendee do during this session?"

Re: The Social Strategist: Include Social Media In Your Speaker Agreements - Jenise Fryatt Bio | Cvent Events

JeffHurt — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 21:00:52 -0000

Great advice Jenise!

One word of caution to organizations that require speakers to use social media to promote their event in their speaker contracts. The speakers have to disclose their relationship with the client in the endorsement. If the speaker does a YouTube video about his/her presentation, the speaker must disclose that they are getting paid to speak and promote through social medial. This can be done as easy as a hashtag like #paid, #adv, #spon.

The 2012 FTC guidelines are very specific, and both the social media promoter--in this case the speaker, and the company that hired the speaker can be fined for not disclosing.

Best practice is that the conference host should require the speaker to sign an agreement that includes suggested language about disclosure, If the organization contracting the speaker to present and promote through social media does not ask for disclosure, the speaker had better bring it up or face possible fines from FTC.

For more info: http://business.ftc.gov/doc...

Re: Which Association Should I Join?

JeffHurt — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:16:27 -0000

Which is my favorite association from this list? I'd have to say PCMA. The average PCMA member has 15 years experience in the industry. It's a quality group of folks for sure.

Re: The 10 Biggest Lies in Events Marketing

JeffHurt — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 12:15:16 -0000

Love this post Julius...and not just because you mentioned me. (Yes, you're right, the use of interactive as you propose would make me sick to the stomach!)

I'd like to ban #9, "Attend to become an expert." Rarely can attending an event make you an expert.

Thanks for writing this post.

Re: Which Association Should I Join?

JeffHurt — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:15:15 -0000

Julius:

That's a loaded question for sure! I am going to highlight that you're asking about trade associations and not just nonprofits. Trade associations exist to help move an industry forward through advertising, advocacy, collaboration, education, lobbying, marketing, publishing and more.

First, I ask you...do you want to be on the events or meetings/conferences side of the industry. These two segments have not merged into one industry...yet. There are some people who play in both segments but most don't.

Second, as a vendor/supplier, expect your fee to be about double that of the practitioner. As a supplier, there is less likely hood that you will be accepted to speak and your fees to attend many events will also be higher than traditional members.

Third, who is your ideal client and target market? Then look at the demographics of each organization to make that decision.

Fourth, since you want a trade association with a great presence in Europe, that will automatically knock out some of the orgs you have listed.

It really comes down to events or meetings; a membership of novices or advanced; cutting edge or traditional; strong European presence or not.

I have my biases for sure. I see MPI as an organization in flux. ISES is events only. PCMA is for conference and convention managers. I am unfamiliar with ICCA.

Best wishes as you make your decisions!

Re: Why #eventprofs Should Start Using Eventifier Now

JeffHurt — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:48:15 -0000

Interesting. So it's an event social media aggregator dashboard. In your opinion, how is it different from Twubs Conference Tool http://twubs.com/p/conferen...

Re: Mizz Information: Are Conference Apps Ready for Prime Time?

JeffHurt — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:38:57 -0000

Maggie:

What I often find disheartening about industry trade associations like ASAE, PCMA and MPI, is that they don't showcase or use the best conference tools available. They often use tools that have been sponsored or those provided by businesses that have "paid to play." It seems that "what's in the best interest of the attendee" is often eclipsed by which company will pay or donate more. That's unfortunate. If ASAE went after what was best for the attendee, it would be an entirely different game.

There are more than 50+ conference mobile app providers today and three or four rise to the top as having the most market-share. Those companies also provide the best attendee experience as they've been around for more than three years now and keep making major innovations. Those companies also provide apps for all mobile devices including Blackberries and they all sync with different devices as Dave says.

We'll never know why ASAE staff makes the decisions they do when it comes to technology tools that attendees use. They are not that transparent. And your mobile app concerns are not new complaints. People voiced very similar concerns last year as well as the year before.

Sigh...

Re: How To Use Flickr Images for Your Event Website

JeffHurt — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:52:47 -0000

Keith:

Here's a simplified way to search & use Flickr quickly. I use compfight.com which searches Flicr. I go to the home page, put in the key word, hit enter and it pulls up any license, commercial, creative commons photos. I then click on the creative commons link in the left hand column which automatically refreshes the page for images I can use. I then click on the image I want to use. Then I click on the share button followed by the grab the HTML/BB code which gives me the code to copy for my post. I can change the size of the photo with the dropdown box. I then put the code into my blog post and the photo is automatically linked back to the original. Also if you scroll over the photo in my blog post, it gives you the name of the image as well as the owner of the image. I skip the downloading and uploading steps completely. Then I don't have to list the owner's name either under the image.

Re: Guest Posting Is On

JeffHurt — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:26:03 -0000

Will be an interesting move to watch.

If I continue to get great content, I'll continue to support. That being said, I've been disappointed with the quality of many guests posts on other meeting blogs. They quality, value and relevancy has decreased in some of them so I stopped reading them. They are like stale, old melba toast. I want to hear strong opinions from thought leaders and innovators. If that's captured in guest posts, great. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing that in other sites.

Quality has been sacrificed for reach IMO.

Re: Be the Sponge by @Planetplanitbiz

JeffHurt — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:23:44 -0000

Paul:

I so agree that as meeting professionals we can never stop learning.

Here's an interesting thing about sponges. If we just take in information and do nothing with that information, we become stale. Our sponge becomes full and actually begins to stink. We have to continually squeeze out everything we've heard or learned and apply it in order for our sponges to become fresh again.

Re: Association Membership – A Millennial’s Perspective

JeffHurt — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:41 -0000

Well said Lauren!

I really like your concluding sentences: Let’s embrace the Millennial value of community and embrace one of its many definitions; “A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”

All I can say is Amen, Amen, Amen!

Thanks for continuing the discussion.

Re: What’s wrong with this room set? by @KristiCasey

JeffHurt — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:15:55 -0000

Kristi:

I know this room!

And I know that there was actually an entirely different challenge that occurred here that you and the readers probably don't realize. It's a frequent one that I experience. It's when you have a 3rd party planner using a venue that has donated space and agreed to a specific room set in their sponsorship agreement with the hosting organization. The planner's hands are tied as he/she didn't negotiate the original venue contract and any changes will cost the hosting organization dollars of which there are none budgeted.

This is a common problem with some organizations when they put sponsorships above audience experience and don't involve the planner in the sponsorship agreement...just sayin....

Re: The Untimely Death of PowerPoint

JeffHurt — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:49:28 -0000

Liz:

It's not PPT that kills presentations. It's the abuse of it.

I personally am not a fan of Prezi. I've had participants who said it made them feel seasick due to all the motion. And, the same mistakes people made with PPT are being made with Prezi.

Here's a brain fact: if 50%-80% of your brain's processing power is devoted to visuals, shouldn't you put more emphasis on creating good visuals with your presentation. Storytelling yes but that's not enough. Storytelling with great visuals is the best route to go. I've actually been bored to death with people who just tell stories and they don't take it one step further.

The fact remains, visuals trump listening with our brains. We'd be better off not talking and just showing our stories through visuals then talking...especially if the goal is for people to remember or learn what we are saying.

Re: 10 Ways To Find New Speakers For Your Events

JeffHurt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:22:49 -0000

Gianfranco:

I'm with you that we need to get out of our peer circles and comfort zones to find new faces to present to their audiences.

Two items I would like to add to your post.

First, I firmly believe that meeting professionals should not search for speakers until they've identified the content that they want covered. Adult learning 101 says that adults are problem-centric, not content-centric. So identify content that helps attendees solve their problems. Then look for speakers that align with those slots.

I don't believe people come to events because of speakers. I believe that it's education opportunities that cause people come to the event. The research by ASAE, PCMA and MPI says that education and networking are the top two reasons people attend events...not speakers. I don't think speakers and education interchangeable.

Second, we should be very careful of falling into the illusion that a big name speaker causes people to register for an event (paid or free). From the research we did this past fall of meeting professionals (international), 80% of them said that a marquee name speaker did not cause someone to register for the event. Once people were registered, it did help fill seats onsite at the event but it didn't increase registrations in any way.

Re: Blackbird Pie – Embed Tweets in Meeting and Event Blogs

JeffHurt — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:00:06 -0000

Just installed my Blackbird Pie. No more taking pictures. Wahoo!

Re: Conference Hound-Up December 19, 2011: The World is Slightly Less Crazy Today, @JeffHurt, @IMEX__Group

JeffHurt — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:38:00 -0000

Thanks for the shout out Matt! Have a great remainder to your week. And I have this gut feeling, you're already a rock star!!

Re: How Evernote Made Me a Better Blogger

JeffHurt — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:52:41 -0000

PS why no share buttons here so I can share via my iPad?

Re: How Evernote Made Me a Better Blogger

JeffHurt — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:51:55 -0000

Ok i am sold!

Re: We Like Empire Avenue

JeffHurt — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:21:47 -0000

Looking good! Now for the secret.

Re: Your Conference Does NOT Need More Social Media

JeffHurt — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:00:49 -0000

Amen Julius! It's time to start aligning social media with the core business strategies so that the outcomes bring real ROI.

Thanks for the video Gianfranco!

Re: Where are the advanced conferences?

JeffHurt — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:30:37 -0000

As a conference organizer, I agree with you that there are limited advanced conferences. That being said, I think more people want advanced content done with good adult learning techniques in mind. That means less information transfer from the sage on the stage and more facilitated interactions from the guide on the side. I think the challenge with many social media conferences is that they are planned by volunteers that do not have expertise in conference design or good adult learning techniques.

Here's a suggestion: the social media conference organizers should partner with adult learning specialists to create advanced experiences. Just sayin...