“What gets measured, gets managed,” is a phrase coined by management guru Peter Drucker. For annual conferences, this is best accomplished by identifying and adopting a combination of leading and lagging performance measures.

Here’s a simple project-management tool that can help streamline internal communications — and clarify accountability — for annual meetings. 

In his book Customer Centricity, Wharton’s Peter Fader writes that “in the world of customer centricity, there are good customers — and then there is pretty much everybody else.” He recommends focusing on and investing in retaining the former, while not ignoring the latter.

A number of associations have found a lag between their annual convention attendance, which has recovered since the pandemic, and exhibit space sales, which have not. If your sponsorship menu and prospectus look similar to 2019, a refresh can help you seize this growth opportunity. 

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), the business-to-business exhibition industry is still in recovery mode, which has been challenging on many fronts for event organizers.

For many annual meetings, the Great Resignation has resulted in erosion of loyal, regular attendees and an increase in first-timers whose experience can be improved with guidance on the best course for them to follow during your program. 

Key vendors who service the events industry lost a great deal of experienced talent during the pandemic and they haven’t fully restaffed. Here’s how event organizers can ensure they are still getting the service they require.

Before the pandemic, one could argue that jobs with life-and-death consequences were surely more stressful than planning an annual conference. But things have changed.

As event professionals hope for a full return to in-person events amid continued uncertainties, having speakers agree to contingency plans is a wise move.

It’s time to bring back panels — but not in the same tired format. Here are three ideas to mix things up. 

It’s going to take some time to build conference attendance and corporate travel budgets back to 2019 levels. As we progress through the recovery, conference organizers — now more than ever — must help potential attendees justify their in-person participation in the event.

Planning large conferences has gotten even more complicated. The pandemic and the subsequent Great Resignation have greatly reduced the number of skilled workers in hospitality and related industries. Here are seven areas to take into consideration.