What do you do if you have strong strategic thinking skills and want to excel in the conference industry?

In the conference world, knowing your audience and effectively showcasing the value of your event is essential for success. Attendees invest their valuable resources in attending your conference, so it's crucial to ensure they get the most out of it. This means delivering maximum value while executing an effective strategic plan to achieve your goals. A key aspect of success is clearly communicating the benefits of attending your conference. It's important not to hold back in sharing the objectives of the event; being transparent builds trust and encourages engagement. Ultimately, success in the conference industry depends on three main factors: understanding your audience, emphasizing value, and conveying your conference's unique story.

If you have strong strategic thinking skills and want to excel in the conference industry, consider focusing on event planning and management to strategically improve event outcomes, or delve into marketing and networking to enhance event visibility and attendee engagement. Additionally, you can leverage your skills in vendor and speaker management to ensure the selection of impactful contributors, enhancing the overall quality and appeal of the conferences.

Many conferences still rely on outdated technology due to the challenges and perceived risks of implementing new software. Often, organizers might not fully understand the benefits these innovations can bring. Therefore, there is a significant opportunity in educating and advocating for advanced technological solutions within the industry. By demonstrating how new technologies can streamline operations, enhance attendee experience, and provide better data insights, you can help conference organizers see the value and potentially transform the landscape of event management.

LinkedIn provides a great platform to engage with your audience before, during, and after an event. It allows for easy sharing of event details, updates, and content, facilitating ongoing conversations and networking opportunities that can significantly enhance the event experience and extend its impact.

With the many moving parts, changes, and unforeseen possibilities in event planning, bringing in strategic partners can be highly beneficial. These partners can provide additional resources, expertise, and alternative perspectives that help anticipate and manage potential challenges, ensuring a more resilient and successful event.

For me, picking the speakers is a strategic choice. The speakers should reflect the general aims of the conference. There needs to be a balance between familiar topics and topics that are a little different. There also needs to be diversity in the speakers – experienced and new speakers, international and local, speakers from a mix of cultures and viewpoints, etc. It should also be evident that speakers have put together something unique just for the conference. The conference should be a unique experience rather than a circuit for the same speakers and topics.