Day 1: New Rules = New Roles

Innovation expert, author of the #1 book Exploiting Chaos, and the founder of TrendHunter.com, Jeremy Gutsche knows how to unlock cool. Jeremy will show you the secret to viral trends and how to methodically generate creative ideas. You'll learn how to follow the lead of iconic companies founded during periods of economic recession, and you’ll learn what it takes to become the catalyst for dramatic change that leads to new market needs. With a background in management consulting and web 2.0, Jeremy brings a rare perspective on innovation within a business context.

Pre-Conference Open Conversation with Jeremy Gutsche

Click here for the recorded session

 Let Jeremy Gutsche know what is important to you as a meetings and events professional and help him co-create his keynote speech for MeetDifferent 2010. 

Monica Harrington

Day 2: Opportunity in Disguise

When: Monday February 21, 2010 9-10 a.m
Where: Universal Ballroom, Expo Center, Level 2

Monica Harrington is a business strategist and innovation communications specialist for people, companies, and organizations that want to make a positive contribution to global society. Monica, who has been Chief Marketing Officer for two successful technology startups and has served as media advisor to Bill and Melinda Gates, takes a hard look at lessons learned while on the bleeding edge of technology, including an inside look at one of the biggest industry failures of all time, Microsoft Bob.  Learn how to take apporpriate risks, move on from failure and seize opportunities in ways that will not only help you survive, but thrive. 

Pre-Conference Open Conversation with Monica Harrington
Click here for the recorded session

Let Monica Harrington know what is important to you as a meetings and events professional and help her co-create her keynote speech for MeetDifferent 2010.

MPI Extra by Monica Harrington – Opportunity in Disguise – 10 Tips
Thanks to everyone from MPI and more than a thousand meeting professionals for welcoming me to Cancun.   It was wonderful to meet so many of you and to exchange ideas about today’s challenges and opportunities.  As a follow-up to Monday’s Meet Different general session, here are 10 tips for surviving and thriving on innovation’s bleeding edge.

First, for companies:

1. Recognize that the pace of change in business is accelerating – which means every business in every industry must embrace change.
   
   People in the tech industry “grew up” with the idea that the pace of change was accelerating.  (We call this “Moore’s Law.”) Today, because of globalization and advances in technology – including social media, everyone in every industry is caught up in an accelerating current of change.
2. Know that standing still is not an option:  Companies will innovate or die.
   
   Executives everywhere are obsessed with innovation.  Glance at any recent issue of McKinsey Quarterly (the bible for many C-Suite execs), and you’ll see that a huge number of articles are directly related to the innovation challenge.  
   
   (Related to this, if you want to communicate in a language that C-Suite executives understand, you’ve got to understand the business pressures they face.  Know what business and industry publications --online or print -- are important to them and read up.)
3. In order to innovate, a company needs to take risks.
   
   If a company is completely risk averse, its future is in doubt.  Consider that when you’re thinking about where you want to spend the next 10 years.
        
4. With risk-taking comes failure.  Which means companies need to accept and learn from failure….and increasingly those failures will play out on a public stage.
   
   In a less transparent era, failures could be hidden away.  Today failures are likely to be very public, and that means companies need to get better not just at accepting and learning from failure, but also communicating about failure and moving on appropriately in a way that earns trust from stakeholders, including customers and employees.
5. Companies that foster a culture of innovation – and smart risk taking - will be tomorrow’s market leaders.
   
   Company meetings are a great way to help build culture.  Forward-thinking companies that recognize the many facets of innovation – including failure and lessons learned– at company meetings will go a long way toward helping employees become smart risk-takers. 

In terms of what this means for you specifically:

1. Understand your company’s risk tolerance.
2. Within the “tolerance zone,” don’t be afraid to take (calculated) risks.  (Among the smart, calculated risks meeting planners might consider is approaching leadership with a well-thought-out strategy for how they can advance the business by connecting people through carefully tuned meetings and events. As it happens, the CEO of Code for America, an innovative nonprofit I support, comes from the world of meetings and events - and she connects people better than anyone I know.)
3. Think like a pilot to mitigate risks– become a contingency expert.
4. Do a post-mortem for every key project - know what you could have done better, and make sure others know you know too.
5. Know that a failure is only a failure long-term if you don’t learn from it.

Marty Neumeier

Day 3: Viva la Business Revolution

When: Tuesday February 22, 2010 9-10 a.m
Where: Universal Ballroom, Expo Center, Level 2

Marty Neumeier’s mission is to incite business revolution by unleashing the power of design thinking. His best-selling “whiteboard” books include The Brand Gap, Zag, and The Designful Company. He’ll show you that wherever “they” go, you need to go elsewhere. His deceptively simple ideas prove design and differentiation’s powerful roles in the most successful business, and they’ll be yours for the taking. And the doing.

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