Is your meeting stuck in a time warp? Are you doing the same thing you did 5 or 10 years ago? Are you avoiding change because you don't want to go out of your comfort zone? 

Many meeting planners know the event process so well they rarely want to change it. Embracing change doesn't mean losing ground with your company, client or attendees. It means you are willing to look hard at your event and do what is absolutely necessary to make your meeting robust and exciting. 

So, how do you do this?

First, you need to be somewhat courageous. Look at other successful events and find out why they are sold-out, buzzed about or have positive impact on attendees. Be willing to gain insight from others so you can set your event apart. You don't have to implement everything other meeting organizations do, but this is a good start to the process. 

Second, you need to embrace an attitude of change. Just because you have always run things a certain way does not mean it is the right way to do things today. 

Third, you need to look at the event life cycle. Sometimes, meetings and events just need to die out and go away. This is very hard for people in the event meeting services industry to accept; but it is a reality. Every meeting has a purpose and sometimes, the purpose was met several months or years ago. 

Here are the 3 specific steps to push you past a plateau:

1. Know your attendees.

   What do they want and need? What information are they interested in learning more about? What interactive technology tool rentals will help them meet their needs? Listen to their suggestions and implement them. 
    

2. Understand your event's purpose. 

   What is the main purpose of your meeting? Does it fit within your organization's mission? Is the purpose still relevant to your attendees, especially as you may be attracting cross-generational individuals? 
    

3. Understand past successes and failures. 

   If you hold an annual conference, which one was the best and why? Which one was the worst and why? Putting together a list of your successes and failures can help you capitalize on your successes and minimize your failures.

   A convenient way to keep a pulse on your attendee's view of the meeting is through a polling method with Audience Response System rental units. In addition, if you rent iPads for the meeting, you can ask attendees to give you feedback via direct messaging on Twitter or by sending you an email. Respond quickly to attendees when they have a question, comment or issue about the conference and you will start to understand what is great and not-so-great about your meeting. 

AV Event Solutions wants to know, what are you doing to push past your meeting plateaus?