Bright Idea: Not just what, but where

Hoping to draw more attendees to face-to-face meetings, several associations, including ASAE, recently launched a new campaign to encourage more people to travel for conferences and events.

With the help of The Experience Institute, the campaign is based around a recent report, Decision to Attend Study. The institute this week announced Maximizing Attendance, an effort to provide research to the meetings industry and encourage best practices within the sector.

The Decision to Study report highlights the importance of choosing an event destination. One of the factors in choosing whether to attend an event is often where it’s located. Think about it. Would you rather attend an event, even if the education promised is top-notch, in nowhere, Kansas, or New York City?

Also included in the report is a brainstorming checklist and a personality profile template.

“It’s critical for learning, meetings and communication teams to work together and develop new content, experiences and engagement strategies so members are motivated to attend and return to your events,” said ASAE President and CEO John Graham.

The Experience Institute comprises consultants to help organizations reshape learning by providing experiences, not just talking heads and people in seats. The mission is to place students – or attendees – in the driver’s seat, taking into consideration their preferences, which often include location.

“The vision is to maximize attendance by identifying the nuances of each group in order to match attendees to their preferred environment—an environment where they will thrive, talk about it and decide to return,” said Experience Institute Founder Mickey Schaefer.