Pre-Event Training: Ensure Your Staff “Gets It” Before the Event

There’s a lot that goes into staging an event—but don’t miss the low-hanging fruit. Your staff can make or break an experience for attendees, so they need the right training.

More thoughts on that in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Training Concerns

Sure, you may be mentally ready for the big event, but what about your employees? If you’re looking for a quick refresher on getting your staff ready for the conference, take a gander at Attendware CEO Drew D’Agostino’s tips on MeetingsNet  (opens in a new tab). Among them: Don’t be afraid to role-play beforehand, even regarding the things that seem basic. “You know how to handle these ‘simple’ situations instinctively, but don’t assume that your volunteers or local staff share your hard-learned skills,” he writes. “Role-playing, where you take on the persona of different types of guests, gives you an opportunity to show your volunteers how to properly attend to all of them.”

Check out more staff-training advice on MeetingsNet  (opens in a new tab).

AMS Analysis

Everyone in the association space has an opinion on their association management system (AMS), and considering it’s such a huge investment for many groups, it’s good to have well-considered feedback before you jump in with both feet. That’s why Teri Carden’s Review My AMS project  (opens in a new tab) might be worth keeping an eye on. Carden, formerly of the Association for Retail Environments and the Florida Society of Association Executives, knows a thing or two about the community. “Selecting an AMS is one of the most important investments an association has to make,” she explains on SocialFish  (opens in a new tab). “And as humans, we highly value the opinions of our family, friends, and peers. With these two things in mind, Review My AMS has been born.” The site is now accepting submissions—which, by the way, can be anonymous but are “monitored for legitimacy.”

Click to learn more about Review My AMS  (opens in a new tab).

Delete, Delete, Delete

Sometimes, the best strategy to boost your own productivity is to get rid of all the stuff you don’t need—whether they’re out-of-date emails, notifications that suck up all your time, or things you can hand off to others. Lifehacker writer Adam Dachis breaks down  (opens in a new tab) a few ideas to help improve your productivity through attrition. Not that it’s easy. “It’s always easier to accumulate things,” he writes. “It’s much harder to let go. Taking things away always seems like a loss when, in reality, we’re gaining something much more valuable: our time and our freedom.”

Read more of Adam’s tips over this way  (opens in a new tab).

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