Timing Is Everything When It Comes to Event Planning — Meetings Innovation Report

The Future of Meetings & Events

“Better late than never?” Never utter such blasphemy to a meeting or events planner. At a time when so many things can be ordered or delivered on demand, or at the very last minute, more and more planners are finding that this type of behavior is finding its way into how event attendees are thinking about meetings and events. Instead of signing up months in advance, some attendees are waiting until the very last milliseconds to register for an event. And while it’s always great to have a healthy attendance record, the headaches caused by last-minute registrations can be pretty terrible for event organizers.

That’s what writer Jaimie Seaton looked into for us this week, as well as the available solutions planners have to handle — and in some cases, prevent — those last-minute registrations. Read the full story here and read more timely stories below.

— Deanna Ting

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Social Quote of the Week

“the rise of the festival grifter is fascinating to me” https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2017/09/13/ambitious-rhode-island-music-fest-ends-chaos/8haudXCj8N05mbm0G63mtI/story.html

— @max_read on Twitter

Next Generation Meetings UX

Meeting Planners Are Experimenting With New Tactics to Avoid Last-Minute Registrations: Event overload is causing attendees to register later than ever, and early-bird discounts are so yesterday. It’s time for planners to get innovative. Read more at Skift

What Makes a Great Chatbot? Laser Focus on Customers: Chatbots are all the rage right now but they’re virtually useless unless enterprises nail the customer experience. Here’s how to ensure your chatbot initiative pays off. Read more at CIO from IDG

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy for Virtual Reality: “Seventy-one percent of consumers think a brand that uses virtual reality is forward-thinking.” Read more at HubSpot

Tech That Will Interest Event Planners from the Apple Launch: “Apple is taking further steps in carving the future of technology with the launch of three new iPhones. From facial recognition to augmented reality, here are some of the key features and what they could mean for event professionals.” Read more at Event Manager Blog

Events That Lead by Example

How Refinery29 Grew 29Rooms From a Staff Party Into a Profitable, Ticketed Event: Refinery sold over 60 percent of the 18,000 tickets in the first week and sold out the rest in less than a month. And while most attendees were local, the event drew people from 45 states and 13 countries. Read more at Digiday

How Does C2 Montreal Keep Reinventing Itself? One way: C2 Montreal, one of the most transformative of business events, starts its planning every year with a blank canvas. Read more at PCMA Convene

In the News

Houston After Harvey: Visit Houston’s Mike Waterman on how the destination weathered Hurricane Harvey — and how it’s moving forward. Read more at PCMA Convene

South Korea Is Having Trouble Selling Tickets for the Next Olympics in 2018: With five months to go before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics open, the Games are barely an afterthought for most South Koreans. Local ticket sales are slow amid the biggest political scandal in years and a torrent of North Korean weapons tests. Read more at Skift

Skift Global Forum 2017

These Are the 550 Companies Attending Skift Global Forum 2017: If your company is not attending Skift Global Forum, it will be missing out on the largest gathering of travel executives, ever. Check out the list, and join us September 26–27 if you can. Read more at Skift

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The Skift Meetings Innovation Report is curated by Skift Hospitality Editor Deanna Ting [dt@skift.com] and SkiftX Editor Greg Oates [go@skift.com]. The newsletter is emailed every Wednesday.

Subscribe to the Skift Meetings Innovation Report