Thursday Buzz: Where Is Your Ken Bone?

It’s time to start setting up your events as places where the next Ken Bone can be welcomed.

At the last presidential debate, which was set up in a town-hall format with audience input, viewers were captivated by  (opens in a new tab) an average voter—Ken Bone—who had a strong question.

His likability was due to his approachability—he was wearing a simple red sweater, sporting a mustache, and presenting himself as an everyday American while he read his well-praised question off a piece of paper.

https://twitter.com/adamconover/status/785306706645430273

Bone’s popularity has been stratospheric, and it may be time for associations to replicate that success somehow, in order to highlight their work. Julius Solaris, editor of the Event Manager Blog, talked about how  (opens in a new tab) events can welcome Ken Bones of their own.

“Ken Bone is the protagonist of a funny meme we all loved. He is also a bit more than that,” Solaris said.

The key is to welcome audience participation and not focus entirely on the event’s speaker. Allowing social media and openness can make an event all the more accepting of audience personalities.

“He represents the silent attendee that won’t stay silent anymore. He is the embodiment of that ‘common sense’ too often we forget about when designing our event or selecting speakers.”

Infographic of the Day

Volunteers can be a huge help, but you need to effectively manage them.

Jeffrey McCann and Sandra Thomson shared Assurex Global’s neat infographic  (opens in a new tab) and white paper  (opens in a new tab) at the VolunteerMatch blog, which shows how to conduct  (opens in a new tab) volunteer work within an organization. The idea is to seamlessly welcome volunteers, integrate them, and retain them for future opportunities. Check out the VolunteerMatch website to see the full infographic  (opens in a new tab).

Other Handy Links

Taking care of customer experiences is a year-round priority. So it’s time to treat it as such, Tiffany Scherer argues at CMSWire, referencing a couple of ways to boost expectations  (opens in a new tab).

Putting history into GIFs: The U.S. National Archives is getting with the times by launching a new collection of free historical GIFs. Now it’s time to geek out with some selected choices at The Verge  (opens in a new tab).

Ever have case-study envy? IMPACTS’ Colleen Dilenschneider takes a look at two, while offering a reality check on case-study envy, over at her Know Your Own Bone blog  (opens in a new tab).

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