As you know, conferences are the bread and butter of event planners. You plan so many conferences of a similar nature each year that it can be easy to get stale. But, just because conferences have a heavy business-focus, doesn’t mean they need to be (or should be) lifeless! Even on a small budget, there are simple ways to get the most out of conference staging ideas.

Highlights of the IMEX Policy Forum 2018 — formerly known as the Politicians Forum — held May 15 in Frankfurt, Germany, have recently been published in a special report. The program for this year’s Policy Forum was comprised of four parts: a discussion group of national-level government representatives addressing policy issues relevant to the events industry; a discussion workshop for local and regional government representatives to explore the evolution of cities vis a vis the business events industry; an open forum featuring a panel of industry leaders who addressed current concerns, initiatives, and issues raised by government representatives; and an opening presentation by Gloria Guevara Manzo, president and CEO of the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC).

Stress is something we all experience at some point. It comes with having a job that demands attention and requires focusing on the tiniest of details. It’s easy to get lost in your own head and view the big picture as an enormous picture. Some people brag about their stress—they talk about what they have to accomplish, how little sleep they’re getting and so on.

Resorts along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast are delighted with last week’s news from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reporting a 60 percent chance of a below-normal hurricane season in 2018. That’s a big change from May when the forecast only had a 25 percent chance for a quiet season, but nobody is out of the woods yet. NOAA’s August 9 update still predicts four to seven hurricanes before the season ends in November. 

Have you ever noticed that when you’re working against a tough deadline, planning a big event, or tackling a challenging assignment, your brain sometimes shuts down out of sheer overwhelm? It’s not your imagination—it’s fear rearing its risk-averse head. Here’s what you need to know to turn off the fear and get back to work.

The event is planned, speakers are lined up and vendors are all confirmed — but how do you make sure that the right people attend and the world hears about it? Twitter is an optimal channel to promote your events on because people look to Twitter for live news, updates, and engaging content. If you follow the right strategy, your event can reach millions of people who are interested in what’s going on.

eSports may not be new—did you know that the first game was released in 1960? But this exciting form of entertainment is emerging as a big business in the gaming world. Robert Rippee, director of the new Hospitality Innovation Lab at University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ International Gaming Institute, spoke with Smart Meetings in a webinar about the opportunities this trend brings for planners. Read on to learn about the history of gaming and its connection to the meetings industry.

We need to rethink the idea of failure. It is time to stop viewing it as something negative. Successful failure is when we use it as fuel to improve ourselves, our businesses and our events. Failure helps us take that (at times) much needed step back to rethink, regroup and refocus. After which, we start up again and discipline ourselves to take one step at a time moving forward from the experience.

Think about the last social media post you liked or commented on from a brand or event you follow. What compelled you to engage with that post? Was it because of an intriguing picture? A clever joke? Or was there some emotional hook that convinced you to take action?

To surprise and delight attendees is the backbone of event marketing. That means delivering the personalized experiences your guests expect. Attendees want you to be able to tell them which sessions they’ll be most interested in, which booths they’d like to visit, and which keynotes they can’t miss.      

Fine-tuning your brand on social media is all about writing compelling copy that taps into your followers’ emotions. Here are five brand personalities that events like yours embody on social media. Find the one that most aligns with your event’s brand voice, and discover the emotions your team can inspire.

With a growing desire to increase impact, exposure and strengthen the legacy, what does it take to create a showstopper conference?

When you’re growing your event, you’re going to need more marketing. You have to reach a bigger audience — and connect with them — to be successful. And with only a few teammates to help you out — or none at all — how do you do it?

It has long been understood that most business or professional conferences and trade shows have been about the 3 C’s: content, commerce, and community. These three legs of the stool for big, national events made sense. First, we aggregate an array of education and programming known as content. Next, we host a football-field-sized trade show with booths and let attendees/“shoppers” wander, looking for the right company that has what they’re looking for. And last, we’ve seen it as our job to bring a community of like-minded people together in the hope that the right people would find each other and build or renew a professional relationship.

When the sun rises on event day, you’ll already have been up since 4 am. But that doesn’t mean you didn’t get out of bed with a rush of adrenaline and excitement. This is the moment you’ve been planning for — and now it’s time to see how all your hard work will pay off.

Many association marketers have told us they wish they had a tool like Photoshop so they can put together stunning newsletters and promotional images, and quickly make simple edits to graphics. But unfortunately, a Photoshop license is an expense that most associations will forego - especially if it’s not a tool that someone will use frequently.

Hotel and venue contracts for international meetings are often shorter than for those in the United States, and “may often look more like a banquet event order than a legal contract,” says Terri Woodin, CMP, vice president of marketing and global meeting services, Meeting Sites Resources. However, just because a contract is short and easy to read, it is not necessarily a cause for celebration. According to the international meetings expert, planners still need to protect their organizations and attendees. During a recent MeetingsNet webinar, Woodin laid out her must-haves for international contracts.

Your attendees aren’t just noticing your event’s main attractions. They’re also observing how sustainable and eco-friendly your event is. And if your trash cans are overflowing with water bottles, for example, it could leave a bad impression on your green-leaning guests.

Hey, my name is Julius and I am the editor of EventMB, the number one website for event professionals. This channel is all about helping you to make your events awesome. Whether you are starting out, or a seasoned eventprof, you’ll find plenty of tips, advice and tactics to be successful in events.

Business event strategists have a whole lot of people to thank when an event goes smoothly — vendors, technicians, venue managers, hotel staff, volunteers, etc. Once the dust has settled and everyone is back to their regular routines, planners might send a quick email (or go old school with snail mail) to express gratitude to the team that made the event a success.

Delegate attendance: One of the main topics in the highly competitive world of associations where uncertainty continues to grow. Very often due to lack of expertise or resources, associations struggle to find the right ways to reach their target groups, and to develop a strategy that will allow them to maximise their delegate attendance for their conferences. So, how can it be made sure that potential attendees know about the conference and its value? And how can associations ensure the impact of their conference is effectively communicated to prompt the attendance numbers to go up?

A good run can often be interrupted by an unsightly confetti trail of litter. The constant disruption of stunning views with human debris signals a larger problem of ecosystem ruination. Luckily, fitness fanatics in Scandinavia contrived a solution to help do their part. They’ve invented “plogging,” or picking up trash while jogging. The phrase is a mash-up of jogging and the Swedish phrase “plocka upp,” which means pick up.

You have a great event and the story to spin it. You also have a dream list of media whose attention you’d love to grab. Now it’s time to connect the dots. The most tried and tested way to get the attention of the media is a press release. Journalists and publications get countless press releases, so you have to make yours stand out.

We’ve all had that one disastrous event where hardly anyone turned up. It’s an excruciating experience, especially if you have stakeholders to answer to. But there’s no reason you should give up.