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Cures for the Common Conference

Call it a formula. Call it a pattern. Whatever you call it, the format for most annual conferences boils down to a predicable sameness, said Jeff Hurt of Velvet Chainsaw (velvetchainsaw.com), a consulting firm that helps improve annual meetings, conferences and education.

Because Hurt is in charge of adult learning, conference experience design and association governance for the firm, he attends many annual conferences and meetings. He can quickly tick off problems he sees. Here are four of the most common:

• We all think the conferences we plan are distinctive and different from everyone else’s. Instead, “Most conference experiences are the same,” said Hurt.
• Why are we all comfortable with the status quo when it comes to conferences? “We are hardwired for routine,” said Hurt.
• We plan the meeting first, and then we think about the audience. It should be the other way around.
• We keep the model, our typical annual conference, because we love it more than the mission.

So how can a meeting planner create an event that isn’t ho-hum and humdrum, that inspires attendees and makes them mark their calendars with dates for next year’s conference? Here are some of Hurt’s ideas. The good news about this approach, he said, is “it allows conference organizers to see themselves as designers and artists. Their event is a blank canvas, and they can paint and draw a rich experience for their target customers.”

Study your audience. Design a conference that fits a need, Hurt said. “Step back and ask ‘Who is our paying attendee?’ and ‘What is keeping them up at night?’” Then, design experiences for that audience.