Big Ideas Blog

JAN

2013

What Decision-Makers Don’t Want You To Know About Proposals

Tags : best, better, build, business, clients, close, communications, corporate, customers, develop, goals, higher, improve, marketing, meetings, money, more, practices, rates, ratio, results, revenue, sales, secrets, selling, strategic, strategy, success, tips, write

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Proposals are the manure you throw on business to make it grow. They can make or break a deal. A winning proposal is far more than ideas and budgets – it’s strategic content design. Here’s how to write better proposals. Austin Powers had to face Dr. Evil. You have to face a proposal committee. There are things...

JAN

2013

Seven Looney Ways To Make Your Events Predictably Unpredictable

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : agendas, attendance, attendee, audience, boring, communications, conference, content, corporate, different, engage, events, experiences, improve, marketing, meeting, meetings, planning, presentations, results, session, sessions, speakers, speeches, surprises, value, workshops

Comments : 1

The problem with predictable events is there’s no surprise. No matter how hard you try it’s “déjà vu all over again. Here are some unexpected ways to make your events unpredictable. My favorite cartoons begin with the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote and fake Latin terms like accelerati incredibilus and...

JAN

2013

Build Attendance & Engagement With Better Event Invitations

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : attendance, attendee, audience, best, better, build, business, communications, conference, corporate, engagement, events, evites, higher, improve, invitations, invites, marketing, meetings, objectives, practices, registration, results, strategic, strategy, write

Comments : 1

If people don’t attend your event, you’re dead. Audience activation begins with the very first invitation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a conference for 5,000 people or a corporate meeting for 50 – the invitation isn’t about information. It’s about marketing. It’s designed to attract attention, build interest and trigger...

JAN

2013

Strategic Planning For People Who Don’t Like To Plan

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : best, better, career, clients, communications, customers, events, goals, improve, investment, long-term, marketing, measure, measurement, meetings, metrics, objectives, plan, planning, results, return, revenue, short-term, strategic, strategy, success, value

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Sometime around the turn of the century strategic planning got kicked to the curb. Many organizations felt it was faster to shoot from the hip. Maybe it was the belief that planning can only be done by the highest executives in the mists of Mount Olympus. Mere mortals simply don’t do strategic planning. Or maybe people...

DEC

2012

Does This Meeting Make My Butt Look Big?

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : agendas, audience, best, better, breakout, communications, conference, content, corporate, dangerous, events, experience, hazard, hazardous, health, improve, large, long, meeting, presentations, risks, sessions, speakers, speeches, workshop

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Any person who sits through six hours of a conference, meeting or workshop should be declared legally dead and their estate probated. Is there anyone who is championing the cause of marathon meetings? Can we agree that we need to design better meeting agendas? We already know that long meetings can become boring, but...

DEC

2012

Measuring Your Golden Eggs

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : audience, best, better, communications, corporate, customers, engage, engagement, events, experiences, improve, investment, marketing, measure, measurement, meetings, metrics, results, retention, return, revenue, ROE, ROI, ROV, satisfaction, value

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Results are a “big dang deal” – we all live and die by them. Oh how we love those golden eggs that start with R … ROI, ROE, ROR… add your metric here. But I’ve been wondering if we are making things too complicated. Are there easy ways to increase value in business? People are people, and they view things much simpler....

DEC

2012

The Real Housewives of Content

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : audience, best, better, communications, content, customers, engage, engagement, events, experience, experiences, improve, leadership, marketing, media, meetings, presentations, questions, reputation, results, satisfaction, social

Comments : 1

It’s outrageous, unbelievable and incredibly bad TV, but I can’t stop watching it. There is something hypnotic about “The Real Housewives” that hooks you. My family was planning an intervention until I explained that I was doing research – seriously. “The Real Housewives” is a model for modern marketing and...

NOV

2012

Ask The Big Bold Questions

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : asking, attendance, attendee, audience, best, better, communications, customers, engage, engagement, events, executives, experience, experiences, improve, leadership, marketing, meetings, questions, results, ROI, satisfaction

Comments : 1

Ask questions … ask the big bold questions. It’s one sure-fire question to improve all your content. The first thing you usually decide is what you want to say. It seems logical but it’s actually one of the last things you do. What you want to say is important, but what the audience wants and needs to hear...

NOV

2012

Why People Attend Your Events

Posted By : Andy Johnston

Tags : asking, attendance, attendee, audience, best, better, communications, content, customers, director, engage, engagement, events, executives, experience, experiences, improve, leadership, manager, marketing, meetings, presentations, questions, results, retention, ROE, ROI, satisfaction, speeches, videos

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I recently attended a major conference for a large hospitality company. I’ve been involved in the production of this annual event since the early 1990s and watched it grow and evolve each year. This year about 6000 people attended and I couldn’t help looking at the throngs of attendees and wonder, “Why are you here?”...

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What Decision-Makers Don’t Want You To Know About Proposals

Seven Looney Ways To Make Your Events Predictably Unpredictable

Build Attendance & Engagement With Better Event Invitations

Strategic Planning For People Who Don’t Like To Plan

Does This Meeting Make My Butt Look Big?

Measuring Your Golden Eggs

The Real Housewives of Content

Ask The Big Bold Questions

Why People Attend Your Events

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