Inspiration Hub

Inbox zero is something people love to talk about, but it remains elusive for many of us. That need not be the case any longer.

Audrey Thomas, founder of Organized Audrey, recently shared tips in an FICP webinar on how to achieve inbox cleanliness and how to maintain it. With proper use of the calendar, task feature and rule creation, you’ll be an expert at Outlook in no time.

One of the signature traits of event planners is their ability to negotiate. While common, everyday setbacks might put most people into a tailspin, event planners have a knack for handling mini-crises easily. That’s because they’ve faced similar situations on the job, and have come out on top – all through their power of negotiation.

It seems like Instagram has been the talk of the social media world lately. But is it really a good fit for your organization? Or, is it like Snapchat in the sense that it might be a “nice to have,” but only if 1) a majority of your members are using it, and 2) you have the resources (staff, content, etc.) to make it work? Well, let us start by saying when it comes to social media success, you get out what you put in. Regardless of platform, you have to put in some time and thought to see results. And while every organization and industry is different, overall, Instagram is worth putting some time and thought into. 

Attendees are hungry. It’s your job to feed them before they get hangry. A new Eventbrite and OnePoll survey shows that food matters more to attendees than almost anything when they’re deciding which events to attend. In fact, 74% of Americans are sure to show up to an event if they know the food served will be good, no matter what kind of event it is.

As anyone who’s ever sent a professional email knows all too well, figuring out what to say and how to say it is hard work. There’s a fine line between being assertive and being passive aggressive and finding that line can be a tricky feat. There’s nothing more tempting than throwing a “per my last email” when the person you’re corresponding with clearly ignored your last message or a “moving forward” when someone on your team screws something up,” but all those phrases do is ignite annoyance on the receiving end. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to dive into the topic of machine learning and events. We are currently witnessing one of the biggest technological revolutions of all time. Right now, in real time, terms like AI and machine learning are being thrown everywhere. And while it may seem like we’re far from all the crazy, futuristic-like concepts we see in the movies, we’re not. Technologies like this will start making a huge impact in industries throughout the world. And of course, the event industry is among them.

You’ve heard the saying, “What you say is not as important as how you say it.” Well, what you say is certainly important, but when it comes to marketing - and particularly, marketing to young professionals - how you say things is key.  

“The conference costs what?” That may be the first sentence a potential attendee hears from her boss when asking to attend a conference, training or networking event. So, despite all the hard work you’ve put in securing that famous keynote speaker, the terrific educational breakouts and the great networking opportunities, whether or not the attendee can actually attend may simply come down to dollars and cents.

At the annual Exhibition & Convention Executives Forum, Sam Lippman, president of Lippman Connects and producer of the event, has a tradition of starting off the conference with a five-minute summary of the top-level takeaways from the annual ECEF Pulse Survey. This year’s event on May 28 at the JW Marriott Washington, D.C., was no exception, and Lippman’s quick delivery of the survey results—five business trends for convention executives—was a fitting blast-off to the fast-paced educational day.

Just like people, teams have personalities. While the nature of teams has shifted since our tribal hunter-gatherer days, teams are still one of our most crucial social structures. This is true in most organizations, and particularly the case in high-stress event planning groups. How we introduce hopefulness into our teams can be the difference between joyful collaboration and frustrating second-guessing.

It’s entirely normal—and almost expected—to feel lost in the beginning stages of your job. You’re trying not to forget details, dealing with clients, all the while trying to maintain sight of the big picture. And aside from some internet articles, there isn’t a real guidebook. Enter: mentors. Mentors in your field can be underrated. But they hold information and wisdom that will help guide you through your job—and even far into your career. So, how do you find one, and how do you present yourself as the perfect mentee?

Meetings are necessary. We have to have them to move business forward, make decisions, plan projects and communicate with cross-functional teams. They are an intrinsic business component.

But what is not a given is an effective meeting. We all want them, want to be in them and want to host them. But often, we are faced with meetings that are either poorly managed, unnecessary or a huge time suck. How much time do you spend in meetings? I’ll bet it’s more than you think.

Since our work culture is mostly team-based, it’s about time we reflected it in our conference design. Teams that learn together actually implement together! The fact that it’s also a smart attendee acquisition strategy is the cherry on top.

We're all quite familiar with the Q&A portion of a meeting session: The final few minutes where the audience has its chance to drill down a bit with the presenter. But one participant asking a question to a presenter is the smallest form of interaction imaginable. What about all the other participants? They are simply listening. This means that, at best, three to five percent of the audience becomes actively engaged in that session. With a format called conversations & input (C&I), though, event organizers can radically improve audience activation and interaction, and deepen learning by orders of magnitude.

Digital images displayed on digital displays open up a new world of changeable and moving images. When it comes to selecting digital displays, exhibitors are faced with a staggering choice of options – from small tablets to mid-sized TV screens and multi-panel digital walls. If there is video input, virtually any display screen can be adapted for use at an exhibit. But to help you pick the optimum hardware for your budget, venue, and expected audience, we’ve broken down the features, benefits, and strategies to mitigate risks of each type of display. In this article I will cover, Tablets, Kiosks, and TVs. In part 2 of this article, computer monitors, projectors and video walls will be discussed.

There’s no question that health and wellness has become a priority for people as they seek out ways to live fuller lives. But are they truly adopting wellness as a lifestyle, or just another fad? Insights from the Eventbrite platform, which powers millions of events a year, argue in favor of the former. From extended yoga retreats to essential oil conventions, Eventbrite saw a 44% growth in health and wellness events between 2017 and 2018, with no signs of it slowing anytime soon.

The latest artificial intelligence innovation from Google could make translating your conference speakers cheaper, more accurate, and more personal. Nicknamed Translatotron, the new AI-powered system is in the testing phase but so far appears to be able to provide simultaneous translation using a close approximation of the speaker’s voice, retaining the intonation and emphasis. Check out the Translatotron blog post here for audio examples and an explanation of how the program works. 

If Bill Gates dropped a dollar, would he pick it up? You may have heard some version of this question before. Following a 2011 experiment by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Internet was ablaze with the finding that Gates would have to stumble across $45,000 in order for it to be worth his time to bend down and pick it up.

What can you, as an event professional, do to help the 40.3 million people around the world who are victims in the multibillion-dollar human trafficking trade? It turns out the answer is: a lot. During a panel discussion of the many faces of trafficking, attendees at The Smart Woman Summit at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas learned that they could make a real difference by doing something as simple as taking a picture of their hotel room.

You don’t want to be the meeting planner in charge when your CEO, who’s vegan, gets served carrots for dinner at the awards banquet. And that cringe-worthy scenario will be the least of your worries if an attendee with an egg allergy is mistakenly served a salad dressed with a vinaigrette made with eggs.

As more than 5,100 meeting and incentive buyers plus 3,500 exhibitors from at least 100 countries gather in Germany this week for the IMEX Frankfurt show, the event's organizers delivered a half-day educational track on gaining gender balance and driving female empowerment during "EduMonday," a multi-track program that took place before the exhibit floor opened for business on May 21 and 22.