Donald Cooper is respected by clients in over 40 industries as both a “thought leader” and a passionate visionary in the areas of marketing, service and business excellence.
Drawing from his real life experience as a world-class manufacturer, award-winning retailer and business speaker, he has helped thousands of businesses throughout the world to add more real value to their customers’ lives…and more dollars to their bottom lines.
Donald has some great tips and how to run the best meeting…
I’ve spoken at over 1500 business conferences in the past 20 years and it always amazes me how often arranging the golf tournament gets more attention than determining the bottom-line outcomes required and selecting the best presenters to deliver those outcomes. It’s sort of like how many humans pay more attention to who their pets will mate with than to picking their own life partner.
To deliver lasting bottom-line value conference planners must first be absolutely clear about the real ‘purpose’ of the event. And, for the record, “Because we’ve always had one.” is not a ‘purpose’. For every meeting and event, visualize, document and commit to specific and extraordinary outcomes for your attendees and for your organization. If you can’t think of any, save your money!
As we search for ‘purpose’, a good place to start would be by understanding why business people attend meetings and conferences. Experience tells me that business people are looking for five things.
1) First, to learn…new ideas, new techniques, or new ways of applying what they already know that will give them a competitive advantage, improve their bottom line, or improve their skills.
2) To network…to create leads or contacts and to feel connected, or reconnected, in this increasingly disconnected world.
3) To re-energize…to laugh, to believe and to be uplifted and inspired in this demanding and stressful world.
4) To celebrate their accomplishments, to recommit to their continued success…and to have fun!
5) To be heard and to contribute.
So, if this is what our ‘customers’ really want, these would be the five most important ‘purposes’ for any business meeting or conference.
Why is ongoing learning so important? Back in the 1970’s the sum total of knowledge on this planet was doubling about every seven years. The people who study such things for a living tell us that now knowledge is likely doubling about every 11 hours. This means that when we go to bed and sleep for 11 hours, when we wake up, we’re only half as smart as we were when we went to bed! So, for now…and for the rest of our lives, “We are what we continue to learn!”
So, first and foremost, people want cutting edge ideas delivered in a straightforward, uplifting and entertaining manner. They want to learn…and they want to have fun doing it!
Then, to be balanced, energized and ‘whole’ in this demanding and stressful world, people also need to laugh, to be uplifted and inspired.
Finally, they want all of that delivered at a conference venue that WOW’s them and honors them. The location of a conference matters. Choose it wisely.
To book Donald Cooper for your next event please contact prospeakers.com.
Looks like a good lineup of speakers and I like the local & small business focus. Will any of this be broadcast online or recorded for later viewing.
Comment by Business Author — February 12, 2010 @ 8:52 am