MPI Seminar: The Neuroscience of Engaging Meetings
On Wednesday, May 9, 2012, the Chicago Area Chapter of MPI will host a seminar entitled “The Neuroscience of Engaging Meetings.” The seminar, presented by Richard and Emily Axelrod of The Axelrod Group, will teach you “how to confidently apply a set of neuroscience-based design principles to create meetings where no one checks their Smartphone.” Readers of this blog and my newsletter will recognize this as a favorite topic of… Read More »
GSA: What Went Wrong
Because of my job and experience in the field of event planning, I have been getting a lot of people asking me questions about the recent GSA scandal. The details of this now infamous conference are everywhere. The conference itself cost over $800,000. There were six scouting missions to Las Vegas that cost over $130,000. In one especially cringeworthy moment, there’s video of U.S. General Services Administration regional commissioner Jeff… Read More »
Rulon Gardner Never Stops Pushing
Throughout my career in event planning, I have had many interesting experiences that I never could have predicted. One especially memorable one was working with Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner. Gardner’s win over Russian Aleksandr Karelin at the Sydney Olympics was nothing short of epic. Karelin was the considered to be the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time and was undefeated and un-scored upon in 13 years of competition. The… Read More »
Right Brain Tips for Your Trade Show Booth
On our Esprit blog and newsletter, we have spent a lot of time talking about how to make all the different facets of your meeting appealing to the right side of people’s brains. Paying attention making your room set up, stage, lighting, colors, and every other aspect to a conference visually appealing can have a huge impact on your event’s overall success. But what if you aren’t planning a large… Read More »
Revisiting Green in 2012
About five years ago, event planners noticed that customers were becoming interested in taking steps to make their conferences more environmentally friendly. There are and were many opportunities at conferences and meetings to take steps to save energy and be less wasteful, but it’s also a great chance to showcase to your audience that you are aware of the issues facing our planet and that your company is environmentally and… Read More »
The Hotel Bar
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to produce great meetings at many fantastic hotels across the country. I am always amazed how the power of these events can create such a positive impact over the few days that people are together. The speakers typically do a good job delivering the content and information, and the leaders are successful in making people feel good about being part of the… Read More »
One More Thing
When people remember Steve Jobs, I think most of us to go a singular image: a tall, lanky man, wearing wire glasses, a black turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers, all alone on simple stage with a large solitary screen behind him. We’ve talked a lot in my newsletter and blog about what techniques you can use to create drama and excitement and draw your audience in. There’s color, lighting, music, and… Read More »
Using Color in Your Presentation
In my newsletter, we have been focusing the past few months about how your presentation can be successful by appealing to both the left and right sides of the brain. Appealing to the right side of the brain is an especially fascinating prospect because its focus is more creative, intuitive, and emotional. Add some color to your presentation, which can only help your audience remember you — and what you… Read More »
Don’t Get Complacent
In 2011, golfer Luke Donald won four tournaments and held the number one ranking to up to just two weeks ago when Rory McIlroy edged past him. Luke was the first golfer ever to win both the USPGA and European PGA tour money titles. So what did he do during the off-season? At the Northern Trust Tournament in February the announcers said he replaced 10-12 clubs that helped make him… Read More »
Are You Creating Buzz?
I recently returned from Miami where an entire event that our team planned and produced which went extremely well. All of the attendees were very pleased at the end of the conference and when I got back to Chicago, I received positive feedback from our clients which is always great to hear and very appreciated. Reading over my e-mail, I noticed a word. One noted “My thanks for all the… Read More »
