Not long ago, I designed and facilitated an online workshop that was marred by technical difficulties. The workshop was several hours long, and some (but not all) of the participants reported that my video feed froze at times. Luckily, my […]
Event professionals: let’s talk about COVID, duty of care, and the meeting industry. We’ve known since mid-2019 that COVID-19 spreads by airborne aerosol transmission. (This makes me wonder why the GBAC STAR™ Facility Accreditation, with its emphasis on disinfection and […]
It’s time to stop networking at meetings. No, I’m not saying we should only listen to lectures at meetings. Rather, I’m going to explain why using the term “networking” for all occasions when attendees get to talk with one another […]
A rare opportunity! Hosted by CSAE Manitoba, this free one-hour online Participate Lab will introduce you to the design of participation-rich events through the direct experience of participatory meeting techniques and formats. All are welcome to attend this event at no […]
My work at a pre-con is different from that of a typical meeting planner since I focus on the meeting’s design and facilitation. I’ve been convening meetings for decades, though, so I know a fair amount about meeting planning. As I prepared […]
“Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” —Miles Franklin, Childhood At Brindabella: My First Ten Years, 1954 Miles Franklin, the Australian writer and feminist best known for her novel My Brilliant Career, wrote […]
“It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well.” Listening to Taylor Swift’s lament in her beautiful and evocative “All Too Well: The Short Film” I feel my own grief well up. My last in-person engagement was […]
I do not have a magnetic personality. I would never have been cast as the lead in the classic ad series “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen“. Yes, I’m a recovering academic, so I love to talk. But that doesn’t […]
How can we provide new experiences at meetings? Not new F&B, decor, or glitz. Something deeper. Here’s a story… A memorial service Last month, I staffed an online memorial service for E, a friend who died tragically, at age 42, of […]
At a Marlboro Music Festival rehearsal last week, I heard the words entrance and layer used in a single sentence. And it made me think about meeting design. The rehearsal On August 8, my wife and I attended a rehearsal of […]