🚀 Overview: Add Valuable Engagement to Your Events!

Looking to take your events to the next level and create experiences that attendees can’t stop talking about? Want to learn proven, powerful techniques to build greater engagement, foster deeper networking, and leave a valuable lasting impact year after year? If so, this hands-on workshop is for you!

This isn’t another boring lecture. It’s a full-day, interactive experience designed specifically for event professionals like you who want to craft more engaging, productive, and profitable conferences.

Whether you’re responsible for annual meetings, large-scale conferences, or organizational gatherings, the Engagement Strategies for Conference Organizers workshop will give you real tools, strategies, and insights to transform your events—and make your life easier in the process.

📋 Quick Details

Unlocking Event Potential: Engagement Strategies for Conference Organizers
When: February 4, 2025
Where: Downtown Washington, DC
What You Get: A full day of hands-on learning, breakfast, lunch, snacks, a $400 Conference Improvement Kit, real progress and actionable improvements to your own event, and valuable follow-up sessions
Who Should Attend: Experienced event pros like conference directors and meeting planners

🎯 Why Attend This Training Workshop?

Transform Your Events

• Learn strategies to double attendee engagement and improve networking opportunities.
• Design events that build community, boost attendee retention, and deliver exceptional value.

Hands-On Learning

This isn’t a passive workshop. You’ll actively work on your own event plans alongside peers and leave with a legitimately improved plan that's ready to implement, be it for a few sessions or a full event agenda.

Immediate ROI

• Walk out with actionable tactics you can use at your next conference. 
• Whether it’s better roundtable discussions, more impactful networking, or a stronger overall agenda, you’ll see results right away.

Exclusive Tools and Support

• Learn to use the Conference Improvement Kit and take home your own set (a $400 value)
• Included, one-on-one consultation with Lee Gimpel after the event. Plus, a bonus follow-up online group session.

📁 What's included?

• Full-day workshop with interactive, practical exercises.
• Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and beverages (because nobody does their best thinking hungry).
• Training booklet.
• Your own Conference Improvement Kit ($400 value).
• Work on your own event with peer support and feedback; make valuable changes.
• Post-event support, including a bonus follow-up online session, and a free one-on-one event design consultation with Lee Gimpel.
  
  

Participants in Better Meetings' previous trainings have come from the private sector, nonprofits, associations, and government. A few of the organizations who have enrolled their staff include the following:

⭐ Meet Your Trainer

⚖️ What Sets This Training Apart?

• Interactive & Hands-On: Work on your event during the workshop. Leave with concrete improvements to your agenda.
• Learn From the Best: Led by Lee Gimpel, founder of Better Meetings and an expert on conference engagement strategies.
• Tailored For You: This workshop is all about your event, your challenges, and your goals.
• A Supportive Community: Collaborate with peers from diverse industries, share insights, and build your professional network.

📚 What You'll Learn

By the end of this workshop, you’ll be better equipped to:

• Increase attendee engagement and satisfaction.
• Design better networking opportunities that people actually enjoy.
• Improve the quality of workshops, presentations, and panel discussions.
• Create a more seamless, human-centered event experience.
• Decrease stress and inefficiency in event planning.

✅ Who should attend?

This workshop is tailored for experienced professionals who:

• Are responsible for large meetings or conferences with 100–10,000 attendees.
• Want to move beyond logistics to focus on engagement, networking, and community-building.
• Are looking for practical, proven ways to make their events more profitable and impactful.

Typical attendee titles include: Conference Director, VP of Meetings and Events, Chief Experience Officer, Executive Director, Director of Membership and Engagement, Senior Director of Meetings, Conventions Manager, Event Director, Director of Meetings and Sponsorship, Director of Advancement & Events, Vice President Event Management, Director of Education and Training, Vice President of Membership and Meetings, Senior Meeting Planner, VP of Communications and Events, Director and Learning & Events, Conference Manager, Managing Director of Conferences, Sponsorships Manager, Convention Planner, Director of Outreach & Engagement

📅 Training Date and Bonus Follow-up Sessions

You'll participate in a full day of active learning, but it's only part of the offering:

1. Full-day training on February 4, 2025 from 8:30a - 5:00p ET: In-person in the Washington, DC area.
2. Follow-up: Your registration also includes an additional (but optional) group session, offered online after the in-person training. This allows us to debrief, share your experiences, ask follow-up questions, and fine-tune your techniques after applying them in the field. This extra session also allows you to reconnect with your training peers and demonstrates some of the extended event community-building the training covers.
   
3. One-on-one consultation: Each participant also can take advantage of a free one-on-one event design consultation with Lee Gimpel approximately 1-3 weeks after the training, scheduled individually.
   
   

📌 Location

This training will be in downtown Washington, DC, about 6 blocks from the White House. The venue address is: 1150 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20036

✉️ Contact | Can't make these dates?

Interested, but this training isn't convenient for you? We offer these public trainings occasionally; here are options to stay informed about future offerings like this:

• Fill out the "I'm interested" form here: https://forms.gle/wax2uA2rxRwTaDvL9 
• Send an email with specific questions.

📝 Agenda and Topics

Topics and order may change. We'll take breaks about every 60-80 minutes.

Arrival & Check-In – Hands-on demos to help bring people into the space and engage with others in new and improved ways. Light breakfast is served as well.

Welcome & Networking – An easy and dynamic set of networking rounds to jumpstart connections and explore what makes a great event.

The Typical Conference Experience – Analyze what’s broken in traditional events and why engagement often fails; uses a novel small-group format to foster engagement in larger events.

Opposite Visioning – Connecting dysfunctional conference elements to real-life practices and shifting toward better engagement.

"Five Whys" Exercise – Live demo and partner activity to uncover the deeper purpose behind events and how this drives planning decisions.

Prescriptions for Event Improvement – A set of universal, easy to use tactical fixes, from seating and name tags to Q&A design and networking.

Working Lunch & Conversation Café – Guided discussions on engagement math, effective roundtables, and event experience design.

Case Study Demonstration – Live consulting session to explore how to fix a sample event with a focus on practical changes to make, be it far in advance or even last-minute.

Signboard Networking – Participants create topic-based signs to find and connect with peers.

Mock Agenda Fixing – Small groups workshop an event agenda using the Conference Improvement Kit.

Round-Robin Consulting – Fast-paced peer consulting to troubleshoot individual event challenges.

Reflection & Insights – Key takeaways on the changes that create major impact. Participants should have actionable ideas to measurably improve their own events.

Feedback on Feedback – How we evaluate an event and get effective, actionable feedback.

Final Circle & Closing – Participants share their biggest takeaways, followed by a look at how events end – and how they can endure beyond the time in the room.

💬 FAQs

Will the training be relevant for the work I do?
This training is geared for people who produce or manage large meetings and conferences. It is meant for senior-level professionals who can implement changes with their events. We'll be focusing on meetings of 100-10,000 people; however, the learnings and techniques will be applicable to smaller and larger meetings too. Most attendees will be actively running an event or a series of events, but this training is also valuable for people who help shape events such as executive directors, membership directors, and learning and engagement directors. The focus will be on events like annual conferences and summits rather than events like weddings. If you have questions about the fit, contact us.

What if my event is a month away? What if it's two years away?
Ideally, you'll attend this training at the early stages of planning your event; to be honest, having a blank slate is great. The earlier you can make changes to your event—venue, F&B, agenda, speakers, entertainment, exhibitors, etc.—the better because so much of what we cover is holistic. It's obviously much easier to add engagement, connectivity, and networking to an event before the die is cast and the agenda is published, speakers are invited, etc. That said, there are lots of levers we can pull and changes we can make that can have a significant impact even at the last-minute. So the more time before your event, the better, but even a few weeks or days before will still result in real tweaks or A-ha moments that will improve the event. (Of course, we all know that you'll be buried in work in the days before an event and won't be at a training then!) For recurring annual events, you can certainly look at an upcoming event this year while still carrying the techniques forward to future versions of that event in successive years.

What should I bring?
First, plan to come with an actual event that you do in mind! Ideally, you will have an agenda from a past or current event or a concept for a future event you're planning. A lot of the value from this training will be actually applying it to your own event right then and there rather than talking in generalities; you'll make real, measurable progress on your event during the training. 

You'll also want to bring a notebook and a pen. (Banish the image of a static training where you sit at a table all day with a laptop.) You may also wish to bring a bag for your stuff because we'll be moving seats and changing groups.

What should I wear?
There's no set dress code, but this training will be fun and relaxed, not a stuffy suit-and-tie affair. Generally: business casual. If you want to wear jeans and sneakers, that's fine. And, as you well know, it's always good to bring an extra layer when attending trainings or conferences.

What if I don't know anyone else who's attending?
No worries! That will be the case for many of the participants in this public event. So much of the workshop content is about exactly this—making people feel welcome, connected, and included—and we'll be actively practicing what we preach so you can see and feel it. You'll definitely meet lots of new people, some of whom may very well become great friends and colleagues. That said, you can also certainly bring a friend or coworker. If you're a conference director, for example, feel free to bring your executive director or membership director.

Will there be food and drinks?
Yes, we'll provide breakfast and lunch as well as snacks and drinks.

How many people will be in the training group?
We anticipate it to be a few dozen, but probably not more than 40.

I'm coming in from out of town. Can I connect with others in the same position?
Great—we're excited to have you in DC! We'll make an online discussion space available to the group before the event. Here you can ask about carpooling, sharing lodging, etc.

What about hotels?
There are obviously lots of hotels near the venue (1150 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20036) by the White House in downtown DC, as well as in the surrounding areas such as Arlington, VA. Try this quick search on Booking.com as a place to get started. There is not a specific room block reserved for this training. The Farragut North (Red line) and Farragut West (Orange, Silver, and Blue lines) Metro Stations are also nearby in case you want to take the Metro into the area. The Quincy Hotel is around the corner.

What about Covid?
Participants should understand the risks inherent with in-person gatherings today. This training will be in-person only. Unless public health advice changes or the venue mandates certain precautions, masks are not required, but you may choose to wear one.  If you are positive for Covid or have symptoms before or during the sessions, we ask that you not attend. In this case, we will refund your registration fee (minus ticketing transaction fees). Should health concerns in the DC area prohibit the training, we will consult with registrants about offering the instruction online or at a future date.

Are there any plans for the evening?
Previously, participants have gone out to get food and drinks after the training, but there are no required activities, per se.

Can my organization do an internal training just for our own staff at a separate date?
Yes, there are a number of options here, but an internal training can be customized to an organization's specific needs and also tends to be a team-building activity because of the degree of interaction. Internal trainings tend to be for a minimum of around 10 people. For more information, contact us.

If I can't attend this posted event, can I attend a future training?
If you're interested in attending a future training on group facilitation or meeting skills, fill out the "I'm interested" form here. Or you can contact us.

There are three pricing options below. We also have a limited number of discounted scholarship tickets, based on need; contact us to inquire about this option. It is our hope that these tiers and scholarships are a fair way to allow for an exciting and diverse mix of attendees.

• You're registering for a full day of hands-on professional training.
• We will provide meals, snacks and drinks.
• We also provide a training booklet and other materials.
• You can transfer a ticket, but let us know if that's the case.
• Tickets will be refunded risk-free until 10 days prior to the start of the event. However, refunds may incur some nonrefundable fees charged by the ticketing platform or credit card processor. For legitimate instances where sickness prevents attendance, we will refund tickets or credit them for a future training as well.

If you have a large team that plans to register or if you can't pay with a credit card (such as check or invoice), please contact us.

We do not add ticketing fees; prices are as listed.
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