Maximizing the Value Attendees Get From Your Event

by Don Peppers

As a business author and professional speaker “living mouth to hand” (as Winston Churchill once described the speaking circuit), over the last 20 years I’ve made presentations in 63 different countries. Which means I have personally had a ring-side, up-close view of literally hundreds of conventions, conferences, and single-company events–big and small, some with trade shows and some without, some open-enrollment and some single-company, both exciting and boring, entertaining and academic.

What I’ve observed is that events are great places to meet interesting people and broaden your own perspective. In fact, without a doubt in my mind, this is the single most valuable benefit attendees get–a broadened perspective and access to new connections. Because when it comes to generating innovative ideas, there really is no substitute for person-to-person interaction.

Economist Leonard Read once used an ordinary wooden pencil to make a fundamental argument about the nature of…