Friday Buzz: How Do You View Conference Attendees?
A flashy conference may not be meeting your members’ expectations if they approach conferences as explorers and not tourists. Also: Last holiday season, donors gave more than $1 billion via PayPal.
Do you think of your meeting attendees as tourists or explorers?
That’s the question a recent Velvet Chainsaw post is asking event professionals, and the answer could change the way you think about planning your next meeting.
“When conferences view their customers as tourists, they plan and offer slick-professionally-produced OMG wow moments, marquee speakers and headline performers,” writes Jeff Hurt. “They showcase the next shiny tech tool, trendy gimmicky formats and soundbite cookie-cutter solutions to copy.”
In contrast, “when conferences view their customers as explorers, they plan and offer rich, multimodal, multidimensional immersive experiences that foster curiosity,” says Hurt. Explorer conference attendees “expect experiences that lead to cognitive shifts that help them think and act differently back on their job.”
If your attendees are explorers, your meetings should go above and beyond to provide them with transformational experiences—not just a great show.
PayPal Donations on the Rise
More than 330,000 charities received donations via @PayPal this past holiday season, totaling more than $1.16 billion, up 19 percent over 2016 – https://t.co/bFDkP0GUkr
— NonProfit Times (@NonProfitTimes) January 16, 2018
As digital donations continue to increase through a variety of platforms, don’t count out PayPal as a major player in the space.
During the 2017 holiday season, donations via PayPal increased 19.4 percent compared to 2016, reports The NonProfit Times. Users gave more than $1.1 billion via the payment processor.
It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that mobile payments are taking up a bigger slice of the pie. In fact, they’re up 14 percent compared to 2016.
Other Links of Note
Keeping information secure should be a top priority for any organization. CMSWire shares four infosec trends that will drive the marketplace in 2018.
Want a great way to get the conversation started at your next meeting? Idea Architects offers up dozens of conversation catalysts.
Help your email connect with your members by following these six content creation rules from the Movable Ink blog.
(skynesher/E+/Getty Images Plus)
Raegan Johnson is a contributor to Associations Now. MORE
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