Conference Content
« Previous EntriesOur Most Demanding Audience
Sunday, January 31st, 2010Meeting professionals, meet your future audience.
Last week, amid the hype and humour that greeted the release of the Apple iPad, some of the most pithy assessments of tablet technology came from a group of keen observers who will probably begin attending conferences in the next 10 to 15 years.
By the time they start arriving in [...]
Social Media Metaphors and the Death of Print
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010Editor’s Note: This guest post is excerpted from the “oblogatory blig” produced by Vancouver writer Lynne Melcombe, a former associate and longtime friend of our firm. It flags some of the unexpected twists that knowledge producers—including meeting professionals—can expect to run into on the road to new media and “free” content.
According to Gillian Shaw, writing [...]
A Meeting Worth Holding
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009At a time when conferences are cancelling, participants are staying home in large numbers, and the flavour of the month is to replace live meetings with webcasts and virtual events, there are two sure criteria that still make it essential for groups to gather in person:
• A clear, immediate purpose that is best served by [...]
And Then, I Joined the Circus
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009For all the planning and deliberate effort behind a successful conference, sometimes it’s the random moments that bring home the importance of what happens onsite.
I’m in Toronto this week, working with a team of local writers at a two-day meeting on refugee health. This morning’s opening session highlighted the profound health and social challenges facing [...]
The Right Tool for the Job
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009A debate has been raging over the past few days in one of my LinkedIn groups. Proponents on both sides have advanced arguments and theories, knowledgeable and otherwise, on the topic at hand. Swords have been brandished, fists shaken.
It should come as no surprise that this dispute revolves around grammar—to provoke the fiercest debates on [...]
Sign the Stem Cell Charter NOW (and pass the word)
Saturday, November 14th, 2009Several years ago we began covering conference sessions that showcased the incredible promise of stem cells to cure a large cluster of debilitating or deadly diseases.
Ever since, I’ve kept an eye out for opportunities to learn more about a research area that has become needlessly controversial, and has yet to receive the critical mass of [...]
The New Normal: 16 Meeting Takeaways and a Couple of Predictions
Sunday, October 11th, 2009This guest post is excerpted from Midcourse Corrections, the meetings blog produced by Jeff Hurt, director of education and events with the Dallas-based National Association of Dental Plans. It appeared shortly after Jeff returned from his association’s 2009 annual meeting in September. Reprinted with Jeff’s permission.
In 15+ years of planning conferences and events, this was [...]
The Conference Publishers Turns 25
Monday, October 5th, 2009I still remember exactly how things unfolded on October 5, 1984, the day The Conference Publishers was born.
I had been in my job for 3½ months, after reluctantly leaving Canada’s Parliamentary Press Gallery and a career in freelance journalism. I had joined a small policy consulting firm as its publications director, hoping to spend all [...]
A Dynamic Dozen: The Making of a “Killer App”
Sunday, September 27th, 2009Everywhere you turn these days, meeting professionals are searching for the “killer app” that will make social media and virtual technologies more an opportunity and less a threat for face-to-face events.
The language of hybrid meetings, virtually unknown a year ago, is quickly gaining currency. MPI experimented with a Virtual Access Pass at its 2009 World [...]
Revisions, Please
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009A few weeks back, a client emailed me a fairly long list of major revisions to a report I’d sent her. It took me by surprise—I’d reviewed that document myself, tinkered with it and polished it, and I thought the finished product was pretty darn good. What was she doing, sending it back?
Our company stands [...]