Beware of “experiential” events that are just razzle-dazzle.
“Experiential” has become a buzzword to use to describe hip events. Instead of listening to speakers, you’re going to have — wait for it — experiences! Sounds so much better, doesn’t it?
The problem is that most events touted as experiential simply add irrelevant novelty to a familiar event process.
We are biased against creativity. Though most people say they admire creativity, research indicates we actually prefer inside-the-box thinking.
“In an article for Slate, Jessica Olien debunks the myth that originality and inventiveness are valued in US society: “This is the thing about creativity that is rarely acknowledged: Most people don’t actually like it.” She cites academic studies indicating that people are biased against creative minds. They crave the success of the result, but shun the process that produces it.” —Sarah Kendzior, The View From Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America
Truly creative event design We are biased against truly creative event design. Watering down creativity biases stakeholders against the value and promise of truly creative event design, which:
Starts with the key questions “who’s it for?” and “what’s it for?”
Moves to “what should happen?“; and finally
Takes a hard look at the process changes needed to develop a more effective event.
I’ve experienced plenty of bias against comprehensive event design since I began developing participant-driven and participation-rich meetings in 1992. Despite over 25 years’ evidence that such designs improve meetings for all stakeholders, most traditional event owners shy away from exploring change that is creatively significant. Even potential clients who are experiencing some combination of falling attendance, evaluations, or profits have a hard time facing changing what happens at their events.
Can we overcome bias against truly creative event design? Though millions of meetings take place every year, thousands of meeting organizers know how to create truly creative conference designs. The steady rise in popularity of participant-driven and participation-rich designs like Conferences That Work continues.
We can do better than novelty at our meetings. The first step is to acknowledge our bias against creativity, and how we distract stakeholders with novelty instead. The second is to incorporate truly creative design into our events and experience the resulting benefits.
Long ago, consultant Tom Gilb coined the term “mythodology” to describe erroneous but commonly held beliefs about how something should be done. Here are nine mythodologies about conferences.
Mythodology: We know what our attendees want to learn about
Can we do better than novelty at our meetings? Yes we can!
Sure, novelty has its place in meetings. The latest cocktail. The hot new band. The color of the year. But novelty doesn’t have lasting impact. The first time, it’s an enjoyable transient experience. The next time it’s old.
Better however is a whole different kettle of fish. Better lasts. Better has long-term value.
So don’t fob off your meeting attendees event after event with an ever-changing stream of “new” or “different”. Go for better. You can reuse better over and over again—and your attendees will appreciate it every single time!
Better means fundamental improvements in your meetings that continue to pay off once you’ve successfully incorporated them. This blog is full of ways to permanently improve your meetings, for both meeting owners and participants. And the vast majority don’t require spending significant chunks of your budget on expensive novelties.
Makes sense, right? So why do we rarely shoot for better? Apple’s Jony Ive explains:
“‘Different’ and ‘new’ is relatively easy. Doing something that’s genuinely better is very hard.” —Sir Jony Ive, Apple Senior Vice President of Design, quoted in Business Week in 2009