The Road Ahead: What’s In Store for the Events Industry in 2021 & Beyond | Part I: The Vaccine Cometh
Overview In late March of 2020, I wrote an article giving my take on how the events industry would look in the coming 12-18 months. While some readers felt it was overly pessimistic, most [...]
When & How Will The Events Industry Get Out of This? 3 Phases to Look For
When this is finally over, we will all look back and say, in the immortal words of George W. Bush (whispered to Hillary Clinton at the Trump inauguration) “Well, that was some weird sh*t.” But [...]
The Hidden Data in Your Slides: Using Micro-Content Analytics to Drive Meeting Value
"I see people at our conferences stand up and take pictures of slides with their phones. I want to know which slides they are. For all of our sessions." I was sitting with a new client, [...]
A Roadmap for Third Parties Following Marriott’s Commission Cut
As the meetings industry begins to climb out of the rubble of the earthquake caused by Marriott’s abrupt decision to give commissions a 30% haircut, it’s an opportunity for all sides, particularly third parties, to [...]
From Order Taker to Trusted Advisor: Making Your In-House Team More Valuable
You lead an in-house team of meeting planners and you’ve just been given staggering news: your company’s CFO has announced they are spinning off the event department in 90 days. In three months, your event [...]
Selling Your Event Business: Positioning Your Firm for Maximum Value
It seems like every other week I get a call from someone looking to either buy or sell an event business. The mergers and acquisitions market for companies in this space has steadily heated up [...]
Landing the $1 Million Event
At some point in your tenure, if you run an event planning company or agency, you’ll aspire to land the really big project, the mega event, the million dollar event. OK, it doesn’t have to [...]
Winning New Business By Playing Hard-to-Get
You’re having a night out with friends and pass by two nightclubs. The first one has a guy out in front handing out 2-for-1 drink coupons to every passer by, trying to waive you into [...]
Giving Away Your Ideas to Win New Business
A few people are going to steal your ideas. Not a lot, and certainly not as many as people might think, but a few will. Yet whatever that number is, it pales in comparison to the number of people who will hire you, recommend you, and rave about you as a result of the ideas you shared freely.
The Fallacy of Win-Win Negotiations
In the past ten years or so, any article, seminar or blog post on negotiations seems to focus on "kinder, gentler, negotiations". It's all "win-win" negotiations now, and nobody gets the better of anybody. Planner [...]