Why Event Planners Should Consider Height

Part 3 of a 5-part series on event design

When planners assign rooms at an event, room length and width get all the attention.

But a room's third dimension should be given equal consideration.

According to neuroscience research, high ceilings promote creative and abstract thinking.

Low ceilings promote detail- and task-oriented thinking.

High ceilings also lure attendees to linger in a room.

Low ceilings do just the opposite.

Thanks to Ron Graham of Freeman for providing this event-design tip.

NOTE: I wrote this post in 2013, not imagining that two years later I'd be employed by Freeman. Wonders never cease. 

Why Event Planners Should Cut Choices

Part 2 of a 5-part series on event design

Choices have power over us.

Too many can cause us to crumble.

If you're offering attendees too wide an assortment—dozens of hotels, seminars, menu items, networking activities or after-parties—you're doing them a disservice.

It hardly matters attendees always say they want unlimited options.

According to neuroscience research, vast selection inhibits decisionmaking.

Cutting choices to three or four eliminates attendees' anxiety and helps them decide.

Thanks to Ron Graham of Freeman for providing this event-design tip.

NOTE: I wrote this post in 2013, not imagining that two years later I'd be employed by Freeman. Wonders never cease. 

Why Event Planners Should Be Nature-Lovers

Part 1 of a 5-part series on event design

The trade show decorator Freeman hopes to apply a decade's worth of discoveries in the field of neuroscience to event design. Freeman's Ron Graham shared with me some of the firm's background research.

"We can never have enough of nature," Thoreau wrote in Walden.

According to neuroscience research, environments rich in nature images reduce stress and improve concentration.

By incorporating imagery evocative of nature into events, planners can promote learning.


NOTE: I wrote this post in 2013, not imagining that two years later I'd be employed by Freeman. Wonders never cease. 

Too Much Information. Not.

E-com exec Hiroshi Mikitani says you can't get too much info.

“If anything, to be successful, one must embrace all kinds of information, all the time.”

Mikitani cites a passage from the 16th-century Book of Five Rings, by samurai-author Miyamoto Musashi.

Observing a carpenter at work, Musashi sees ways for readers to sharpen their skills:

The carpenter will make it a habit of maintaining his tools sharp so they will cut well. Using these sharp tools masterfully, he can make miniature shrines, writing shelves, tables, paper lanterns, chopping boards and pot-lids. These are the specialties of the carpenter. Things are similar for the soldier. You ought to think deeply about this.

"Answers and ideas are often hidden within completely unrelated things," Mikitani says. 

To spot them, you must approach the world with curiosity.

"There is nothing in the world unrelated to your life. That fire hose of information that douses you constantly is a blessing, not a curse."

The point? 

Stay open for inspiration.

Blogging is Easy. Just Open a Vein.

Two in three B2B marketers say producing sufficient content is their biggest challenge, according to a new study by the Content Marketing Institute.

But blogging's easy, if you think like a journalist.

Lack of content never fazed famed journalist Kurt Loder, who once said, "News is anything that's interesting, that relates to what's happening in the world, what's happening in areas of the culture that would be of interest to your audience."

News in your industry is anything that's trending around your products and services. 

That means industry-focused content is all around you—in mainstream newspapers, television shows, trade magazines, scholarly journals and nichey newsletters—just waiting for your unique spin.

If anything's a challenge, it's the latter effort. 

Spin demands a little sweat.

As another famed journalist, Red Smith, once said, "Writing is easy. You just sit down at the typewriter and open a vein."