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Being There: Mr. Spock, Pro Football, & the Value of Live Events
Posted by Howard Givner, on May 17th, 2013
Written in Strategy
If you were Mr. Spock, the logic-driven Vulcan with the pointy ears on Star Trek, you’d probably make some very logical conclusions about our society based on your observations. Any on many of them, you’d be dead wrong. Pro football games, like the meetings and events industry, provides a perfect example. Watching an NFL game in person, even if you…
Are You Producing Yesterday’s Event?
Posted by Howard Givner, on May 9th, 2013
Written in Event Management, Strategy
1998 Called. They Want Their Event Back. You’re in charge of the annual (insert your event here). It’s long since become a staple of your organization’s calendar, the event around which everyone plans their schedule. It takes up several months of your time, and the time of numerous other staffers, vendors and consultants. It’s taken on a life of its…
The Wrong End of TED
Posted by Howard Givner, on April 15th, 2013
Written in Education, Strategy
Editor’s Note: This is from a guest post I did for the Cvent Blog earlier this month. “We’re going to do something different for our meeting this year. It’s going to be like TED. Everyone will have 18 minutes to speak, and that’s it! No more long presentations. It’s going to be great!” So says many a meeting planner these…
Landing The Million Dollar Event
Posted by Howard Givner, on April 6th, 2013
Written in Busines, Maverick Series Interviews
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 be a million dollars; it can be $100,000, $250,000, etc. The number is variable; the key element is that the event is bigger in scope…
The Debrief from Hell
Posted by Howard Givner, on March 29th, 2013
Written in Busines, Event Management
Tips For Having A Successful Post-Event Debriefing You’re sitting across the table from your client, pleasantly chatting about the event you produced for them two weeks ago. You’ve got lots of ideas on how to make it even better next year, and are even thinking about whether you should raise your fee next time, when your lead client contact drops…
When Content Is Everywhere, Curation Is King
Posted by Howard Givner, on March 21st, 2013
Written in Education, Strategy
Twenty years ago, if you wanted to see an expert speaker in your field give a presentation, you had to go to an industry conference. Likewise, if you wanted to read about new ideas you had to subscribe to a trade magazine. There were really no other options, except possibly a competing trade magazine or conference. By and large these…
Giving Free Advice to Win New Business
Posted by Howard Givner, on March 14th, 2013
Written in Busines, Strategy
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. When you’re…
The Hollywood Staffing Model
Posted by Howard Givner, on February 2nd, 2013
Written in Busines, Event Management
When they make a movie in Hollywood (or anywhere, really), nobody who works on the film is a permanent employee. Everyone is brought in, often as independent contractors, for a fixed amount of time until the movie is finished. Then they all go their own ways. The beauty of this model is that executive producers can pull together a customized…
The Rise of Event Planner 3.0
Posted by Howard Givner, on January 26th, 2013
Written in Strategy
Most event planners go through their careers reacting to assignments given to them by their bosses or clients. Someone says, “We’re doing an event. Here are the details. Go work your magic.” And to be fair many planners do in fact work some impressive magic in planning out these events. Let’s call that mentality Event Planner 1.0, which represents the…
ELI is looking for an Intern!
Posted by carolynray, on January 20th, 2013
Written in Announcements, Jobs, News
The Event Leadership Institute is looking for a rock-star intern to help us drive our mission of providing best in class education and training for the event industry. This is a phenomenal opportunity to work at the epicenter of thought leadership within the event industry, liaise with top subject-matter expert instructors and Maverick Series interviewees, and build connections with top…
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