Thursday, January 6, 2011

Be more creative

An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
 - Edwin Land

One of the tasks I challenged my team with this year was to think outside of the standard event or tradeshow mold and bring some really vibrant creativity to the experience. We managed to do some interesting things. Found some new vendors who brought us fun toys to use at our events. But I think we're still missing the mark.

The interesting thing about this article about How to be More Creative is that a lot of the things they mention are what we go through. The issue that we go through them with anger and frustration. We build amazing, creative things. Then an executive knocks them down or builds them up into things we can't afford and we are force to rebuild things multiple times. This article taught me that this process we resist is actually amazing for the creativity we are seeking.

Due to this hair-tearing-out process we've experienced this year, we have created some really amazing attendee experiences this year.

So it's not about "not being afraid to fail," it's about not being afraid to destroy a perfectly fine event to build an even more amazing one.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

What's the latest in meeting formats for 2011?

Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity - not a threat.
 - Steve Jobs

I read this article a while back from Elite Meetings on "What's Next for Meeting Formats" and have a few thoughts of my own for 2011.

While the Unconference format has been around for many years, I see it gaining strength this year. Birds of a feather learning from each other with a keynote or panel to kick off and close the day is a great way to extend the concept of user-generated content.

Hybrid meetings that extend the face-to-face to the audiences who can't be there will get more sophisticated. Take Event Camp Twin Cities as a great example. Not only was the onsite conference heralded as a great success, many online participants were able to have productive inclusion and conversations due a dedicated event manager and facilitator for the online participants.

Continuity between general sessions, breakout sessions, expo experiences, and evening events will really get beefed up in 2011. Event organizers are beginning to truly understand how integrated marketing concepts can make the attendee experience more immersive and reinforce key messages.

Social media will part of the experience, not just a promotional tool.  VMWorld 2010 was a great example of how attendees used social media to share their learnings and experiences with their friends and colleagues, making those of us who weren't there in person enjoy the experience as if we were there, too.

Low quality, almost user-generated, video clips of keynotes and breakouts will be able to extend the event experience to those who could not attend. Word of Mouth Supergenius and BlogWell do this phenomenally well and have allowed me to enjoy great learnings despite my inability to be there in person. In addition to video, these conferences - much like TED - share rich content in short bursts; usually in under 20 minutes. Gone are the days of the 1.5-hour keynote. Welcome the moments of short brilliance, followed by opportunities to discuss the concepts with your peers.

That's what I see on the horizon for this year. What do you think events and meetings will evolve into in 2011?