I recently sat down with Amy Ledoux, CAE, CMP, senior vice president, meetings, expositions and special events for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), to discuss their successful Experience Design Project (XDP). Three years after the launch, the conference continues to evolve, maximizing learning and engagement. From audience-driven registration fees to simultaneous general session deliveries from the same stage, XDP breaks all tradition.
The Meeting Professional: For our readers who don’t know the history of XDP, can you explain the need for reinvention?
Amy Ledoux: In 2016, we retired our Springtime conference after 40 years. Although it was groundbreaking for its time, we realized both planner and business partner needs had changed. There was also more competition for their time and investment, with many appointment shows in the marketplace. We didn’t want the declining attendance at Springtime to hurt the ASAE brand, possibly positioning us as less innovative in the meetings space.
TMP: It takes a lot of courage to reinvent a legacy show. How did you approach it?
AL: We knew we needed the help of an outside consultant to help us through the design discussion, and we partnered with 360 Live Media. Leveraging an outsider helped people be OK with feeling uncomfortable, with trying something new. We had various volunteers use a “red teaming” exercise where they pretended they were the competitor to Springtime and identified key conference elements that stood out, and what ASAE could do differently if we were to compete effectively. We attended several other shows, and also enlisted feedback from both association planner professionals and the business partner community for design elements.
TMP: What were some of the larger outcomes of the research?
AL: Springtime was a single day, and we learned people wanted a multi-day format to make it worth the investment. Both planners and partners wanted an immersive learning environment, and partners wanted to be content contributors and a resource for learning, not just exhibitors and selling.
TMP: We know that today’s live events need to be participatory and customized; what are some of XDP’s features that align with these principles?
AL: To help us customize content to what’s relevant for participants, they choose their path. When people register they identify the problem they are trying to solve from a list of six R’s created by 360 Live Media.
· Reach (do they need larger audiences at their events?)
· Revenue (how can they increase event revenue?)
· Retention (keeping members or customers)
· Relevance (do they need to reinvent a legacy practice or event?)
· ROI (are they measuring the right things, or correctly?)
· Reputation (managing their brand)
TMP: After they identify a relevant problem, how does this play out during XDP?
AL: On day one in The Lab, we use a hub-and-spoke format. There is a main stage presenter—the zone captain—and then facilitators guide the table discussions. We put people with the same issue together at tables and they stay with those groups. We intentionally don’t categorize participants by planner or supplier, and we group together people with similar job levels from different organizations. Attendees rotate zones throughout the day to discuss different big topics. They can even switch headphone channels and listen to different zone captains/speakers in the same ballroom. On day two we take topics that the audience crowdsourced and focus content on those ideas. Instead of a traditional program guide, we introduced a playbook with exercises for people to immediately reinforce their learning. We also provide “Ideas to Steal” in the playbook so planners can implement the concepts in their conferences.
TMP: How does XDP demonstrate other experiential elements audiences want, like being immersive and authentic?
AL: We’ve intentionally created nontraditional learning environments to build more engagement, like holding sessions outdoors in tents, in restaurants, in corridors, even on a Ferris wheel! Steelcase Event Experiences also helped us set rooms with attention to tactile, sensory elements like color and texture.
TMP: How are your partners receiving value for their investment in this unique format?
AL: For the business exchange, we don’t require association professionals to meet with partners, but we do suggest partners they may be interested in based on how they completed their registration profile. Both planners and business partners are very happy with the approach and outcome. Instead of a traditional trade show, a festival-type atmosphere was created, offering educational content, appointments and activities like bicycle-powered blenders and puppy cuddling. We give the sponsors a lot of freedom in creating the experiences—we just create a platform for engagement and they take it from there.
TMP: What’s next for XDP?
AL: We didn’t want people that attended the launch year to lose their excitement for the novelty, so we’re continuing to evolve the conference. XDP is all about taking risk. We identified that the majority of our members only budget to attend one meeting a year and we wanted to eliminate the barrier to attend. With our 2019 XDP, we started the “Pay as You Want” option and the average participant paid more than our early bird rate and less than our retail rate. The goal was to increase attendance, and it worked: We saw a 43 percent increase from 2018 to 2019. In addition to increased attendance, we are planning to measure if our participants go back and use any of these design elements in conferences they produce. Our ultimate goal with XDP is equipping our association professionals that are involved with the planning and execution of meetings to design better experiences for their members.
MPI Partners with ASAE
MPI has launched a strategic partnership with ASAE, beginning with collaboration on the 2020 XDP conference, May 19-20 in Washington, D.C. Learn more.
Level Up Your Experience Design
Visit the MPI blog to hear more about how Amy Ledoux encouraged XDP adoption internally and the mistakes she learned from during the early phases.
You can also join our online Experiential Marketers and Designers Community. And if you’re not an MPI member, learn more about joining and the value of belonging to this community.
If you’re ready to take the next step in experience design, enroll in one of our upcoming Event Design Certificate courses today.
Each month during 2020, Annette Gregg, CMM MBA, senior vice president of experience for MPI, will interview MPI members to highlight some of the best examples of event experience design (or user-centered design) across the globe. Look for the reports in every issue of The Meeting Professional.
