It’s that time when people around the world start looking ahead to next year and start making their new year’s resolutions.
With so many companies investing in users group conferences, training meetings, member conventions, product trades shows, and other annual or monthly events, this is the perfect time to dive in and see what the people who have made waves in our industry are saying.
We looked at what the most influential #eventprofs have been saying in 2015 to come up with a list of 17 event planning resolutions for 2016.
Okay, let’s jump in and find out what some of the top #eventprofs are saying about meeting planning, technology, and life in general!
1. Bring People Together
Quoted from 2 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Need Events.
Many small businesses are already getting great exposure through social media and other networking channels, but there is still a LOT of power in face-to-face events. Bringing together people at an event is an important way to expand your brand exposure… There is NOTHING like making a face-to-face connection with one of your fans… If they attend an event and make great connections, feel inspired, are impressed by your work – they will come back again and again.
2. Nurture Your Speakers
Quoted from Dear Event Planner, I Hate You. Sincerely, Your Speaker..
Speakers are the core of your meeting or conference experience. You should nurture them, spoil them and request action when appropriate. Your duty as a professional event planner is to carefully select who will perform at your event and to fully support their content. Your attendees perceive how much you believe in the speakers and will react accordingly.
3. Invest In Yourself
Quoted from Are You an Event Planner or a “Programmer of Human Interaction?”
I attend events not just to network and meet people, but also to invest in myself and build my own intellectual capital away from the constant pressures of being the C.E.O. of my company.
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4. Be Open to Technology
Quoted from Connect Meetings Intelligence INSIDER SERIES
Excel doesn’t cut it anymore. I think it is awesome that our event planners are looking at mainstream platforms to help them be more productive.
5. Think About Attendees
Quoted from The Future Conference Is About Increasing Attendees’ ROI
The future conference is not about the environment, the furniture, the venue, the audio visual or the technology. The future conference is about increasing the paying attendee’s ROI. The future conference is about helping the attendee transfer and apply their conference learning to their job.
6. Know You Are Great
Quoted from Cool Tools for Meeting Planners
Meeting Planners are awesome. We are a select group of people that might be based in Chicago, traveling to the Bahamas, and connecting with someone in Hong Kong – All on the same day. It is a wonder that we even know where we are, never mind what time it is half way across the globe.
7. Find Your Key Points
Quoted from Understanding Meeting Design
Successful conferences find key points and ensure that they are repeated by most of the speakers. Now obviously this CAN BE BORING unless you have the right speakers; they are well briefed and you use some meeting design to deliver those messages in different formats. But the essence is that, you guessed it, repetition of key themes is important.
8. Stay Connected
Quoted from The Advantages of Supporting Connection During Meeting Sessions
The need for connection with others is becoming increasingly important as we move to a world where people’s knowledge and expertise are a function of the networks – both face-to-face and online – they possess rather than the contents of their heads. If in our work lives we are spending more time learning socially than being trained in the classroom, our meetings must provide the same relative opportunities.
9. Follow Your Vision
Quoted from Does Technology Promote of Inhibit Good Conference Communication?
In the meeting room, presentation software such as PowerPoint can assist in conveying complex thoughts and can increase retention. Some people are visual learners and the phrase – a picture is worth a thousand words – rings very true. Studies show that sight is the most used human sense.
10. Analyze Your Exhibitors
Quoted from 6 Signs Your Conference May Be In Jeopardy
Think of exhibitors as investors in your event. If less than 65 percent of your exhibitors are willing to reinvest in your event year over year, you may be in trouble. That indicates that you are no longer attracting the people they most want to see, their main reason to invest in your event.
11. Create An Experience
Quoted from Why Experiences Are a Bigger Part of Us THan Material Goods
Most people assume that when spending their money, a physical object will last longer, and will therefore make us happier for a longer time than a one-off experience like skydiving, or a holiday… One of the reasons why exhibitions and trade shows have battled through the recession and have come out on the other side in a better light, is because it’s all about creating that experience.
12. Encourage Networking
Quoted from The Event Tech Podcast
80% of the reason people go to events is to network, to meet up with their colleauges, their friends, and their potential customers.
13. Evolve Your Metrics
Quoted from What Will We Call Face-to-Face Meetings Next?
To continue using one-dimensional metrics – net square feet, number of exhibitors and/or number of attendees – to characterize and measure the growth of the meetings industry ignores the new multidimensional reality and underestimates the potential of the digital audience. New metrics, such as impressions, number of virtual attendees or the size of social networks can vastly improve the value, perception and opportunity of live events.
14. Talk Face to Face
Quoted from Why Businesses Need to Invest in Professional Education
There’s always going to be a show or event that conflicts with industry education. Then again, there’s an awful lot of education available year-round. While online is nice, we are in the people to people business. Learning in person is a whole different animal. We all know that synergies in person are not the same as online. It’s the same with education.
15. Stay Passionate
Quoted from Why I Love the Trade Show Industry
I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that I am an extremely fortunate person to work in the trade show industry and to wake up every day excited to do my job. The No. 1 reason I love the trade show industry, by far, is the people. This industry has such amazing people working in it, many of whom I am lucky enough to call good friends.
16. Don’t Be Mechanical
Quoted from Conferences Are Hotels, Not Airports
How do you want your conference to be remembered – friendly, welcoming and inclusive or a mechanical, faceless series of processes, all in the name of ‘efficiency’?
17. Embrace Technology
Quoted from Conference Speaker to Address Internet Services at Meetings
It’s a lot easier for millennials to adapt to technology because they’ve grown up with it. But boomers and some Generation Xers have trouble adapting. There’s a struggle to learn it… It’s always moving forward. If you think you know it, you’re showing that you’re pretty clueless about it. Know that things change every day.
Keep On Planning!
For more from event industry influencers, check out beatcreative’s article, First Tweet from the Top 30 #eventprofs or BizBash’s 25 Event Pros to Follow on Twitter.
If we missed one of your favorite event industry influencer, please leave a comment below and share a quote from them! Happy New Year!