The Creation Generation - The brave new world of conferences
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If you've spent one dollar too many on conferences that are long on information but short on back-at-the-office ROI, change is on the way. David Giannetto explains how the new conferences don't merely "educate"...they help attendees create.
If a business need exists, however obscure it may be, there is probably a conference that addresses it. But will it really get the job done? If you're like most businesspeople, you probably view conferences with a skeptical eye. Sure, they claim to be great opportunities to learn more about industry changes and gain valuable insights on how to get ahead. But if you've ever performed your own post-conference review, you've probably found that those are empty promises. What you are guaranteed is a couple of days out of the office, hundreds of dollars spent on travel, hotels, and registration fees—and the discovery that, back in the real world, you have no idea how to implement what you learned.
Well, the conference gods have finally gotten the message that the wasteful old ways don't fit the lean & mean ethos of the 21st century. A new style of conference has arisen from more-bang-for-the-buck attendee demands, and it's guaranteed to help you make business-improving changes—just in time for the economic slow down.
Byron Mignanelli, managing director and cofounder of the Global Strategic Management Institute, says, "CEOs and managers are less willing to spend money on conferences that provide them with little ROI. And rightfully so. Now there is a new style of conference that gives all attendees their money's worth—and then some."
This new style of conference is the result of the long relationship Mignanelli has had with David F. Giannetto, who, as the director of Cohn Consulting Group's Enterprise Performance Management Practice, is one of the most experienced practitioners and thought leaders in the Enterprise and Business Performance Management arena.
As a speaker at many traditional conferences, Giannetto—who is also coauthor along with Anthony Zecca of The Performance Power Grid: The Proven Method to Create and Sustain Superior Organizational Performance—didn't feel he was able to truly help attendees significantly improve the performance of their organizations. Knowing Mignanelli's experience putting together traditional-style conferences and the power of his new media firm, GSMI, Giannetto knew he would be the perfect person to help him bring his idea of a new style of conference to fruition.
"Time after time I would leave after presenting at a conference feeling like the attendees didn't have any way of implementing the things I was teaching them," says Giannetto. "So many conferences simply give attendees multiple perspectives and sales pitches without teaching them how to take what they've learned and apply it in a practical sense when they get back to the office. I presented those concerns to Byron, along with my idea for this new conference format, and it took just that one conversation for him to say, 'Let's do it.'"
These "next generation" conferences set themselves apart from their forebears by helping participants take the theory they learn during the event and apply it in a practical sense to their own organizations. In other words, participants get a "running start" that makes the time and money spent at the conference well worth it. Rather than just drawing you a map to future success, conference leaders actually get in the car with you and coach you as you drive the first leg of your journey.
Mignanelli will be kicking off the first of the Create Conference Series events in Orlando, Florida, June 2-4, 2008, with the Sustaining Superior Performance Summit, hosted by Giannetto. The event is designed with content for everyone from CEOs to financial analysts to managing directors and more, helping them improve the performance of their own organizations. Depending on their area of expertise, attendees can take part in tracks that focus on modern management theory and methodology, process, and technology.
"Rather than provide a little information and multiple perspectives on a wide variety of business topics, which can often confuse attendees, the new conferences provide in-depth information on one topic—how to create sustainable superior performance within your own organization," says Giannetto. "The conference topic is broken down into three different tracks that provide attendees with the answers, tools, and techniques that do more than just educate them. Attendees actually start creating change for their organizations at the conference so they can hit the ground running when they get back to the office."
"Not only does this new style of conference represent the next generation in educating and training managers, owners, and employees, it also represents a new and improved way of making changes in your business," adds Giannetto. "The Create Conference Series is set up so that they provide superior value to attendees by truly helping them connect the dots in a complicated, cash-strapped business world. We're setting a new standard for business conferences, and any company that joins in is sure to start down the road to transformation and unprecedented financial success."
For more information, go to performancepowergrid.com.
