It doesn’t matter if you’re a speaker, meeting planner, vendor, or anything else associated with a conference, things happen and the events can get cancelled. But they will come back! Use the coronavirus as an example and a training ground. At some point conferences will come back. Once the scare is over or a cure …
Read more “Things to Do If Your Conference Gets Cancelled- Booklet Edition”
If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that things function better when there’s a back up plan. Before the back up plan is needed. I’m not judging here either. I have back up plans out the wazoo. I design back up plans. Even so, the speed and breadth of the COVID-19 mess …
Read more “What do you do when conferences halt? (Best Practices for Conferences no. 165)”
Less than 3 months after the initial outbreak of the Coronavirus, conferences and events were already being cancelled. Even so, many major events are still moving forward. This made me wonder how many of you have a policy in place for cancelling your conference if it has to happen. It can be for any reason …
This is a question that I’ve come across many times over my own speaking career…how many times do you use the same speaker and trainers? For the sake of this conversation, let’s ignore keynote speakers. Few conferences will use the same one year after year. That’d get boring. At best, keynoters will only return to …
I recently attended and assisted with a conference that was for men only. At least that’s what the website said when I came across it. As a matter of fact, one of the words in the name of the conference was “Brotherhood”. As attendees started arriving, it looked just like I expected. Since it was …
Read more “How do you feel about gender specific conferences? (Best Practices no. 12)”
Back to round two of the interview with Rikki Adams, a guy who works fulltime with conventions and the celebs at them. This time Rikki has some advice for vendors- Make a check sheet of things you need and ask for it before you reserve your spot. Don’t forget, things like electrical outlets, WiFi, and …
Read more “Best Practices for Conferences no.34- Advice from a Celebrity Handler for Vendors”
Last time I talked about using celebs to boost attendance at conferences, so this week I thought I’d talk with a guy who works WITH the celebs. Just don’t call him an Agent (you’ll see why later). Here’s Rikki at a convention with actor Brian O’Halloran from Clerks. I met Rikki Adams a few years …
Read more “Best Practices no. 124- Advice from a Guy Who Works with Conference Celebs”
Here’s a short tip I learned from my friend Kent Julian over at Live It Forward. He said- Be the easiest speaker around to work with. It makes sense as a speaker. If I’m the easiest speaker in the world to work with, conferences are more likely to bring me back, have me do more, …
The most recent best practices newsletter covered the point-of-view of a conference organizer. This time I’d like to give you the POV of a vendor. This interview will cover all bases from best practices as a vendor to how conference organizers can create an all star experience for their vendors. Hector Miray is the founder …
Read more “Conference Best Practices- Possibly the Best Vendor You’ll Ever Meet”
I wish I had come up with this myself, but I cannot claim credit for it. The team over at the Social Media Marketing World came up with a great resource to send to potential attendees. It is just a sample letter and instructions that folks can pass on to their employers asking permission to …
Read more “How to Convince Employers to Send People to Your Conferences”