The real secret to making your event work isn’t the food, the venue, or the schedule—it’s who controls your guests’ attention.

Here is a simple formula - leveraging basic influence principles and psychology - that will ensure your guests meet new people and have interesting, memorable conversations throughout your event.

The current crop of popular networking ideas are often counterproductive because they only force people outside of their comfort zones.

Like a rubber band, people immediately go back to their previous beliefs and behavior when we take the force away.

Bad news: most people are shut down, disengaged, and going through the motions.

Good news: That's our natural state as humans.

Best news: We have the power to ignite engagement when we choose to.

Online experts spend a lot of time talking about generating engagement at events. They're very concerned about introverts, extroverts, infrahumanization, and why people don't engage with people outside their immediate network. These planners create all sorts of systems, rules, and creative games to get people to connect.

The truth is that none of that matters.

Are you looking for ways to keep people engaged at your event? Would you be happy to keep them "at" your event?

In previous emails, I've mentioned that meaning and relevance are the two critical pillars of "audience engagement." But those are nothing compared to the grandaddy of all audience engagement pillars...

Don't Click This Link.

Have you ever had a great idea shot down by your club manager or a committee chairman?

 It's a terrible feeling.  You're disappointed, irritated, frustrated, and you don't get what you wanted.

Let's make that not happen anymore.

If crowds are the key to engaging your guests and starting conversations, how do you build crowds?

Almost all of my clients list one thing as the main identifier of success at their events, and they all ask me to make sure one thing happens during their events.

Why? Because if this one thing doesn't happen, the networking, rapport building, relationship building, and camaraderie they want to create simply doesn't happen.

Everyone has a huge fear in the back of their mind when they're hiring entertainment for their event: what if this person says something that offends my customer, executive, company or audience?

When you think about it, once the damage is done, it's done. No money-back-guarantee will make the embarrassment and anger go away.

Everyone has a huge fear in the back of their mind when they're hiring entertainment for their event: what if this person says something that offends my customer, executive, company or audience?

When you think about it, once the damage is done, it's done. No money-back-guarantee will make the embarrassment and anger go away.

Anyone who gets on stage and captures, controls, and directs attention (i.e., entertains) will tell you that there's no such thing as an attention span.

Anyone who gets on stage and captures, controls, and directs attention (i.e., entertains) will tell you that there's no such thing as an attention span.

Hosting a smooth golf tournament, awards ceremonies, presentations, excellent hotels, and delicious food and beverage are table-stakes. What you plan  beyond that, however, is what builds the identity, starts the conversations, creates the stories, and positions your company as truly different.  

Hosting a smooth golf tournament, awards ceremonies, presentations, excellent hotels, and delicious food and beverage are table-stakes. What you plan  beyond that, however, is what builds the identity, starts the conversations, creates the stories, and positions your company as truly different.  

Hosting a smooth golf tournament, awards ceremonies, presentations, excellent hotels, and delicious food and beverage are table-stakes. What you plan  beyond that, however, is what builds the identity, starts the conversations, creates the stories, and positions your company as truly different.  

“But our event is different…”

Of course it is. Every event has its own unique venue, audience, and objectives.

“Can I tell you what we typically do for clients who are trying to achieve (that objective") under those circumstances?”

Is your entertainment really entertaining?

After twenty years, I’ve discovered that anyone can “do” their act, but only great performers know how to make their act “entertaining.”

Here are the three criteria that guarantee success at your next corporate event.

Just as the Parthenon in Greece has many strong stone pillars supporting its roof, great businesses have multiple methods for generating conversations with new, repeat, expansion, reactivation, and referral clients.

Great events utilize the same principle…