The National Conference Center Blog

A futuristic idea by Steelcase – the Node chair

Beginning this year, we’ve released a quarterly white paper in a series we’ve named Meeting Discoveries. The spring white paper as many of you may have read was The Science of Food for Thought: Enhancing Meetings Through Food and explored research by Andrea Sullivan, an organizational psychologist with a passion for the study of the brain including brain food and field studies by Executive Chef Craig Mason of The National Conference Center. Our summer white paper Understanding Generational Differences: The Key to Attracting, Motivating and Retaining Your Workforce with generational evangelists Ann Fishman and Jeffrey Vargas, conference director of education and engagement Jeff Hurt and human resources manager Ildiko Agoston focused on classrooms and learning strategies to appeal to each generation. By CEOs and trainers understanding generational differences they’re better able to satisfy their employees and as a result, obtain more business with happier customers.

This week we’re rolling out the red carpet for our fall white paper, The Future of The Meetings Industry: Why Certain Conference Innovators Are Winning. The interviews feature conference innovators – Adrian Segar, a peer conference designer by trade and author of Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love, Tom Condon, an interior designer for Steelcase and Dr. Lennie Scott-Webber Director of Education Environments for Steelcase.

1. A strong emphasis of space & design in the future of conferences – the common theme that resonated with each conference innovator was helping people connect with each other. We’ll answer – Why does space and design play such a large role in collaboration and learning? Discover the cool and modern designs for environments by Steelcase.
2. Traditional conferences will disappear - With lower satisfaction ratings and the ability to google or YouTube, attendees travel to a conference to network and learn material that’s of interest to them. Adrian Segar’s book will help you learn how to transition from traditional conferences – the white paper is a small peek into the concept of his book on peer conferences.
3. Abundance of space becomes important – Condon recommends a venue with space that can be anamorphic, in order to create “a palette of places.” Learn more about “a palette of places” in the white paper and how these “out of the box” concepts will make up the future of conferences.
4. Similar to Yelp, planners like businesses are listening – These three innovators rely on the feedback of conference evaluations to create a meeting that satisfies all. Meetings are steering away from the material transferred from planners to attendees in order to keep the conference material relevant and exciting.
5. No fear for conference centers or planners – Readers and planners may be pleasantly surprised to discover that social media isn’t driving face-to-face events away, but in fact creating a need for one-on-one interaction.  Find out why people are attending for connections made.

What points in the white paper could you most relate to? Are the three trends surprising or educating you on new concepts? See the full white paper: The Future of The Meetings Industry: Why Certain Conference Innovators Are Winning.