What’s going on in the event world: February Recap

TL;DR: Hilary’s got a new book, the meetings industry makes an impact, celebrity and influencer marketing keeps hitting new heights, must-read tips to for any panel facilitator.

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Madame President To Madame Keynote

Hillary Clinton has been fairly quiet since losing the US election on November 8 but her future has started to become a bit clearer in recent weeks. She will publish a book of personal essays this fall and of course, return to the speaking circuit! Pretty sure Goldman Sachs probably will be off her list of clients though. Click here for the full article.

Meetings Matter.

It may not feel like it when we are organizing a small breakout session for 20 people or a keynote for 200, but our industry is as relevant as ever. And we have some economic power. Recent statistics peg the size of the Canadian meetings industry at 29 billion dollars yearly. That’s at least 7 times bigger than the value of every Canadian NHL team combined. Check out the full article Read the full article here.

ICYMI

Canadian health and fitness icons Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod lent their brand to the recent launch of a huge new Netflix series, Santa Clarita Diet. To date, it has several million views. Check out their hilarious ad for the new show by clicking here.

WTF?

Selena Gomez gets paid $550,000 USD for a cross-platform social media post. Makes spending $7,500 on a great keynote speaker look pretty good!

Panel Facilitation Done Right

Audiences often find panels a bit dull, surface level, never diving deep into the important material, and not actionable enough. This is where a great facilitator comes in. If you don’t have budget for a pro with the sharpened skills to maximize the value of a panel, here are a couple tips you can share with panel facilitators to help them bring more value to the audience:

1) Prepare – this is obvious, but often overlooked. Get to know the panelists, their experience, respective organizations and build questions that will challenge them and draw out the best material

2) Involve everyone early – use quick questions off the top to get each panelist involved in the first few minutes

3) Just Ask – ask for clarity if an answer is murky, ask for elaboration when possible and ask for contrary opinions from across the panel

4) Don’t have everyone give final thoughts – they’re usually a repeat of material that was just shared

*If you would like more on this, please email us to share our full 20 tips on how to facilitate a panel like a pro.