@segar.com
I design & facilitate conferences that ➠ what folks want/need 🔸 Author of 3 meeting design books 🔸 ❤️ 2 🎤🕺🏻🧘♂️ 🔸 Recovering academic 🔸 @ASegar@mastodon.social 🔸 Marlboro, VT, USA; Work globally 🔸 Everything about me: conferencesthatwork.com
Nothing says Gulf War Three is going well more than *checks notes* ordering a mandatory evacuation of Americans from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/w...
Trump *is* doing debt cancellation.
It's just not your student or medical debts.
In his second term alone, Trump has already canceled $1.5 billion of criminal debt — payments fraudsters owe the federal government and victims.
They don't mind debt cancellation—for themselves.
Jenny O’Connell-Nowain was put under house arrest and her husband, Benjamin, lost his job after they protested at board of supervisors meetings
Millionaires stopped paying into Social Security for the rest of 2026 today.
Billionaires stopped paying in on January 1st.
You're going to pay in for 298 more days.
This makes zero sense. The wealthy should pay in all year like the rest of us.
Scrap the cap.
A cartoon of two people in business suits walking towards each other in front of a conference venue displaying a banner "The Association Conference". The woman on the left is smiling and carrying a briefcase labeled "Revenue Opportunities". The man on the right is nervously clutching a folder labeled "Community Mission".
I'm seeing evidence that for-profits are muscling in on association events. Is my experience an anomaly—or the start of a long-term trend?
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/as...
#associations #events #eventprofs
A two column table contrasting the differences between pre-determined attendee status and real-time attendee status at events. Pre-determined attendee status —Assigned before the event. —Based on role and hierarchy. —Publicly communicated by the event program. —Controlled by organizers or a program committee. —Implies passive participation from “lower-status” attendees. —Reinforces pre-determined hierarchical divisions. Real-time attendee status —Changes dynamically during the event. —Based on participant contributions and engagement. —Event design minimizes assumptions about status. —Fluid and can change throughout the meeting. —Empowers attendees to influence discussions. —Reflects a more inclusive and participatory environment.
At traditional meetings, attendee status is static. You can improve your meetings by making attendee status a real-time construct.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#EventDesign #status #eventprofs #assnchat
A photograph of Anca Trifan interviewing Adrian Segar about participant-driven and participation-rich meeting design.
Anca Trifan interviews me, with a focus on my work and thinking about participant-driven and participation-rich meetings and event design.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/in...
#AskMeAnything #AncaTrifan #interview #MeetingDesign #EventDesign #eventprofs
Stooa is a free fishbowl tool for managing online discussions. Here's an initial Stooa review, including features & potential enhancements.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#facilitation #free #tool #Stooa #fishbowl #OnlineDiscussions #review #eventprofs #assnchat
dinner seating - a study: 2014 photograph of a formal dinner. Huge round tables with 16 formally dressed men at each. The tables are crowded together. Image attribution: The Guardian
Dinner seating — a study. Huge round tables, crowded together, all men, and you can't reach the wine. What else do you notice?
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#meetings #EventDesign #DinnerSeating #mistakes #NoWomen #eventprofs
maximize social connection: a photograph of edACCESS 2014 participants during a break
When we maximize social connection around relevant content we also maximize the event's value to participants
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#meetings #EventDesign #social #connection #ConnectionAroundContent #eventprofs
love how we killed the old, frail anti-nuke ayatollah just to have him replaced with his young, healthy son who wants nukes and who just had his father, mother, wife, and child murdered on the same day by his mortal enemy. surely this will bring peace to the region
trashing brand social media: a battered roadsign with a billboard that says "GET FOLLOWERS HERE CHEAP! FACE BOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM ALL SM!"
Trying to build followers by following and then unfollowing those who don't follow you back? You're trashing your brand on social media.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/so...
#SocialMedia #followers #DriveByFollowing #FollowBack #marketing #TrashingBrand
An example of an effective activation: A Facebook post for a LEGO™ in-mall collaborative building event.
From brand spectacle to co-creation: how to design event activations with agency and meaningful involvement that generate lasting value.
#newpost #EventActivations #EventDesign #ExperientialMarketing
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
The ability to unlearn is crucial to allow change. Here are two examples of unlearning from the Apple ecosystem: one successful, and one not.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/le...
#FacilitatingChange #learning #unlearning #Apple #culture
Image of a massive printed program full of many conference session topics
Most meeting planners think that conference session topics must be preplanned. Instead, build a program that reflects actual wants and needs.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/un...
#meetings #EventDesign #predetermined #MeetingProgram #unconference #PeerConference #eventprofs #assnchat
Screenshot from a Zenus YouTube video "Zenus AI: Ethical facial analysis at IMEX" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU2MPjacpjI showing an attendee's sentiment analysis and badge information
Event owners are using facial analysis to capture analytic data on attendees. Here's why the meeting industry should ditch this technology.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#FacialRecognition #privacy #FacialAnalysis #events #eventprofs
Out of the mouths of babes…our five-year-old grandson's thoughts on participation
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/pa...
#participation #music #MarlboroMusic
our drive to make sense
In our natural desire to predict the future, we must always stay mindful of the danger of our drive to make sense.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/fa...
#facilitation #danger #chaos #SenseMaking #DecisionMaking #PrematureConvergence #RetrospectiveCoherence
Kanban and Getting Things Done: A screenshot of a Trello project showing Doing, Writing, Done, Brattleboro, and Boston lists
Effectively planning and managing a complicated life can be made easier and less stressful if you adopt approaches like Kanban and Getting Things Done.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/li...
#StayingOrganized #LifeLessons #GTD #Kanban
working with others for change and action: a graphic containing 11 icons that represent speakers, speaking, collaboration, and unity
How can we successfully work with others for change and action? Here are three criteria for making working together easier and more productive.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/fa...
#activism #FacilitatingChange #collaboration #WorkingWellWithOthers #criteria
A cutaway illustration of a conference in progress. The visible top layer shows a polished conference: stage, lights, audience, and projection screen. Beneath it, are labeled structural supports: Venue Invoice Rental Ree: $10,000. A-V Invoice Equipment: $8,500. Catering: Cost $12,000. Presenters: Expected: Free.
Why conferences still expect presenters to work for free—and why compensating presenters is a labor and cultural issue, not a budget problem.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#CallForProposals #RequestForProposals #UnpaidLabor #SpeakerCompensation
Author J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of Middle Earth and ‘The Hobbit’, smoking a pipe (photo credit: public domain)
A reminiscence: Watching J. R. R. Tolkien summoning Henry.
#Tolkien #Memoir #Oxford #Merton #post
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/wr...
At BizBash Live DC, David Adler and I discuss the best formats for live experiences in front of an invited crowd of meeting professionals.
At BizBash Live DC, David Adler and I discuss the best formats for live experiences in front of an invited crowd of meeting professionals.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/in...
#meetings #EventDesign #AnnotatedVideo #interview #BestMeetingFormats #BizBash #crowdsourcing #eventprofs
black and white photograph of a close-up of two men staring at the camera. Photo attribution: Flickr user Craig Sunter
Meetings are more important than you think. Why? Because meetings are central to our being and our understanding of ourselves.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#meetings #EventDesign #SelfDefinition #InterpersonalNeurobiology #eventprofs
micro conference market: Photograph of a Lego model of a conference hall full of attendees listening to speakers on a stage. Photo attribution: Mini Dreamforce 2010
Today, the most successful conferences are micro conferences. So produce for and market to a micro conference market.
www.conferencesthatwork.com/index.php/ev...
#meetings #EventDesign #events #SmallMeetings #MicroConference #marketing #eventprofs
For those who have forgotten the past 40 years:
Tax cuts for the rich
...don’t trickle down
Boosting military spending
...doesn’t bring peace
Slashing regulations
...doesn’t create jobs
Folks, we’ve seen this all before.
Had to doublecheck the date on this
Like a lot of things rich guys believe and fund, the AI consciousness thing is in part driven by a desire to abscond from the responsibility of what they've made. It also explains why so many of them think we're in a simulation. Doesn't matter if everybody died if we're all just 1s and 0s baby!
The Massachusetts Department of Correction has been fighting me for months, trying to withhold data about its collaboration with ICE.
Yesterday, I won that fight, and obtained records showing that the state has transferred more than 2,000 people into ICE custody since 2009.
A quick thread:
I’m sorry, doing this in a baseball cap sold by your campaign store is deliberately disrespecting the dead.
