Creating Unforgettable Conferences: The Key Traits of a Successful Host
Get ready to discover the ultimate secrets of hosting an unforgettable conference! In this episode, we will take a deep dive into the key characteristics of a kick-ass conference host that will set your event apart from the rest. We'll explore the importance of purpose, curiosity, and vulnerability, as well as the power of a strong work ethic.
But that's not all! We'll also discuss the value of having a clear vision for your event, being goal-oriented, and committing to serving the community. Whether you're a seasoned conference host or just starting out, these insights will help you take your event to the next level.
We'll also talk about the importance of treating event organization like a business and emphasize the need for trust in conference hosting. With our insider knowledge from the event industry, you'll be able to learn from our experiences and apply our tips and tricks to your own event.
So, are you ready to create a conference that your attendees will never forget? Join us as we explore these topics and share our insights to help you become the best conference host you can be!
Timestamps and Highlights
0:01:28 - Have clear purpose
0:10:57 - Strong Work Ethic Needed
0:16:03 - The Importance of Trust
0:25:34 - Ask more questions
Have clear purpose
Purpose always comes down to one of the most foundational elements. If a business owner, community organizer, what have you, comes to us and wants to organize an event. The first thing we're gonna do is ask why? And if you don't have that sense of why, then you have a lot of work to do to get there. So having that clear vision for who is this for? Why are we doing this? What is the need? How committed are you to the community? These are all things that are gonna help set that foundation for building the strategy on top of it. Part of that is also being goal oriented. You know, knowing how you're gonna measure your success or what success looks like for this particular audience. So having that clear vision is really key.
Strong Work Ethic Needed
“This is a little more brass tacks and logistics. But when it comes to actually putting the thing together, Even if you were to bring in a team like ourselves, you have to do the work and you have to know where to put your time and resources. You have to know that it does take work. I think that a lot of people either forget or are ignorant of the fact that organizing a first time conference in particular is like launching a new product or starting a new business. And so that takes time and energy resources, whether that's developing an identity for it, putting together a marketing strategy, all of these things take time, take skill, take energy. And so having that work ethic, being willing to roll up your sleeves and say, yeah, I'm in it, I'm committed, and to be willing to invest in what truly matters.”
The Importance of Trust
“Because for me, it's frustrating. If we work with someone and I feel like they don't trust me to do the thing that they paid me to do. It's so hard because you paid me to help you, please let me help you, please let me do the thing. But at the end of the day, they have this internal struggle within themselves and they second guess, they question. And that makes the process more difficult for everyone in the end. it slows the process down because if that person is indecisive. They're not sure where to go, and we make a suggestion. But they still don't go one way or the other. But then we have vendors that are waiting for us. That makes the process just awkward all around if there is a lack of trust.
And I think the trust carries into the purpose characteristics. So you don't trust your own vision. If you're constantly second guessing yourself, if you don't trust the goals you're trying to hit, if you don't trust your own commitment to community, that's going to affect everything else along with me. I say you have to trust in yourself and your own purpose.”
Ask more questions
“I would say that one is to ask more questions. Learn to ask questions and listen to the answers. So let's start from the beginning. When you're looking at your purpose if you don't have a clear vision, that is the opportunity for some deep work on. see what that is. Think about it. bring on an existential crisis, but that is reason number one why you should take a step back and think about, what is influencing me in this direction? Why am I committed to this community? Start asking the internal wisdom, journaling and whiteboarding and Team conversations and things like that are all really, really helpful. Yeah.
My favorite question is why. Just keep asking why. If I think this is the answer, why do I think that? Oh, I wonder why. Just keep going until you can't go anymore, and that'll take you through a lot of routes.”
Transcript
This transcript was automatically generated by Podium.page using AI and has been edited for clarity.
0:00:09
N: Hi, everyone, and welcome to a Kickass Conferences Talk Show. I'm Nessa Jimenez, the Operations Manager for Kickass Conferences.
I: And I'm Isaac Watson, executive producer.
N: And this is a show where we sit down to talk about everything events. Now, today, our topic is the key characteristics of a kick ass conference host. And now I wanna clarify, what is a kick ass conference host?
0:00:33
I: So we are producers. So we handle the strategy, the execution, all the logistics, things like that. A host is really going to be our client who we work with. So the host is somebody who brings their audience together. They may also be the on stage MC or we may bring in a different person to actually do the MC ing from stage. But when we say a kick ass event host or conference host, that's who we're talking about. It's the person that we're working with who's organizing the community and the audience around the event, not purely managing things on stage. So it's the person that's bringing us all together, and there's the reason behind all of it. Not necessarily the person that we see on stage.
N: Yep. Okay. Cool. Thanks for that distinction because I think that when we say the word host, that's what people are thinking. They're thinking of the MC, and that's two different things.
0:01:28
N: We came up with three, what we consider key characteristics of a good host. And this is based on our experiences with clients in the past. Based off of things that were super great and things that were not so great. And we came up with these three, and we wanna step up on them today. So let's jump right in.
I: The first one is purpose. So as we've worked over the years with our clients. I I think it's important to acknowledge that not everybody is perfect at hosting a conference. And so it's important to identify, what are the good things? What are the things that definitely need some work? Things like that. Purpose always comes down to one of the most foundational elements. If a business owner, community organizer, what have you, comes to us and wants to organize an event. The first thing we're gonna do is ask why? And if you don't have that sense of why, then you have a lot of work to do to get there. So having that clear vision for who is this for? Why are we doing this? What is the need? How committed are you to the community? These are all things that are gonna help set that foundation for building the strategy on top of it. Part of that is also being goal oriented. You know, knowing how you're gonna measure your success or what success looks like for this particular audience. So having that clear vision is really key.
0:03:08
And when we work with people, when they come to us, they don't necessarily have it all planned out. Right? We help them get more detailed on the true core of their purpose. Because sometimes they'll come to us with what they think is the purpose. And then when we work with them, we help them discover what the actual purpose is. Why do they actually wanna do this?
And that is one of our favorite things, challenging your assumptions as a client and really teasing out, what is that true purpose? And I think things always work better, the more specific we're able to get with people. Or the more specific that they come to us with their idea. And in terms of goal oriented, they might not know how to get there, and that's how we help them. But they do have this image of where they wanna get to with the audience or with their idea, with their vision for this conference that you're trying to put together. I feel like when it comes to commitment to the community. It's about having a really clear sense for what needs you're fulfilling for the community and being committed to helping them through that. It's not always about altruism. It's not always about, you know, pursuing a cause per se, but it is this dedication to helping, this kind of service oriented attitude that really helps to fulfill those goals.
It's coming at it with this idea of ‘I have this thing in mind and I know who it's for Or I know who needs it or I know where it fits’. It's not ‘I wanna do this because I wanna make a million dollars’. Right? It's when they come to us and they say, this is a thing that needs to exist.
0:05:20
I: Now our second key characteristic is curious and vulnerable. So I think this is like a one two punch. So curiosity in and of itself is a great thing. Curious people are fantastic. But adding to that a layer of vulnerability changes the way that curiosity works, I think. So for me, what that means is that you're willing to experiment and that you are willing to adapt. If something isn't working or to change things up, that curiosity brings in this, willingness to listen and And ask questions. Trying to gain a deeper understanding of the people that you're serving. This goes back to the commitment to community. But it gives you the ability to be flexible and nimble and agile when it comes to creating this experience for people for the first time especially.
0:06:33
N: Someone was to come to us with an idea, but they're not willing to ask questions. They're not willing to mold the idea. They're not willing to be open to allow us to give them ideas or to ask them questions about, do you think it's this or would this work better? Right? It goes hand in hand with being open and curious. Wanting to know how I can make this better? How can I bring people in To help me with this? And because when we say vulnerability as well, there is also that willingness to be wrong. Being okay with that versus someone who's just like, no. This is what this is, and I just want you to do it. where that just becomes sort of a logistical thing.
0:07:21
I: I think that vulnerability brings transparency and being able to say, we're trying this. It helps to have a sense of confidence. Right? Butif you have too much rigidity around implying that you know what's best, not listening, not asking questions, not asking the right questions, then that limits your ability to actually serve the community that you're bringing together.
0:07:55
N: And I mean, nothing is set in stone. So if you're coming to this with this expectation of, it has to be my original idea. It has to be. And if it doesn't in that way that it's bad. Right? Well, experimentation is, I'm gonna try this thing and we'll see what happens. I'm not gonna do it. And this is what's gonna happen, and it's gonna happen this way because I said so. That's just it, it just makes everybody miserable. It's not fun. It’s not fun to work with people that have this idea because I said so and that's it. Yeah. And, you know, not to toot our own horn, but -- that's why we love challenging the assumptions. Saying, okay. Well, is this truly what this particular sense of purpose needs.
0:08:49
I: What are your assumptions coming into this? In line with what the community actually wants or how they expect to gather or what kind of content you plan on presenting what format. I mean, all these questions come to bear in having that flexibility in how that's all presented and put together can really help you adapt to serving your audience's actual needs.
N: And that just made me think of when we work with a new audience on a new event, when we do the surveys, when audience surveys, where it's literally just us asking questions of, who are you? What do you want? we think you want this conference. We think you want this, but you tell us. What are your needs? What are you looking for? And there are a lot of people who are not willing to do that. They do not want it to surface. They do not want to ask people questions. Right? They just wanna do the thing and they did it.
0:10:00
I: And I think that that comes down to what I would call a healthy amount of ego. I think that there's room for a healthy ego in any leadership position, any community organizing position. That's just part of what leadership is. But when that ego gets in the way of letting a leader or an organizer or a host to truly serve the audience, that's where we get into trouble.
N: And I mean, ego's good. It's not like it's all bad, but if that's how strongly you feel about it, write a book. You better write that book. Have a YouTube channel where you just sit there and talk at people. Right? Because the whole thing with conferences is that It's bringing people together. It's not this is the me show and you have to listen to me and that's it.
0:10:57
I: Now our last characteristic that we'll talk about today is a strong work ethic. This is a little more brass tacks and logistics. But when it comes to actually putting the thing together, Even if you were to bring in a team like ourselves, you have to do the work and you have to know where to put your time and resources. You have to know that it does take work. I think that a lot of people either forget or are ignorant of the fact that organizing a first time conference in particular is like launching a new product or starting a new business. And so that takes time and energy resources, whether that's developing an identity for it, putting together a marketing strategy, all of these things take time, take skill, take energy. And so having that work ethic, being willing to roll up your sleeves and say, yeah, I'm in it, I'm committed, and to be willing to invest in what truly matters.
0:12:15
I: Conferences are not entirely DIY. Some people can do it. Some people are naturally attuned to those skills, and it's great. I would say that the majority of people aren't. And so it's going, where do I need AV help? Where do I need strategic help? What can I invest in that's gonna make the most impact on fulfilling my purpose and my vision for the community and help me help enable this to succeed? Yeah. And we've talked about it before.
0:12:50
I have all kinds of apps. There's all kinds of tools. There's all kinds of vendors. There's all kinds of things. That's not the issue. The issue is, what of all of this is actually what I need. Is actually serving my purpose. Is actually helping me reach the people that I wanna reach. It's not a tool issue. it's not just the logistics because there's so many things out there to do the thing. And now with virtual as well, there's a million more things. All the apps. All the apps. All the things. But how is this serving me? The strategy of Is this working? Is this what I'm actually trying to do? Does this fit with the story I want to tell?
0:13:34
And I wanna go back to that comment you made aboutIt being a product launch, or it being like starting a new business. Because that really is what it is. If you've decided to launch a conference, what you're saying is I'm gonna dedicate the next twelve, thirteen months to launch this product, and it's a conference. we have the dates and we have this amount of time. And all of these things need to get done within that amount of time. And you have to be there. It's not something that you just say you're gonna do and then It happens. No. It really takes dedication to be like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to give it the attention that it needs. And just like a business, there are phases. There are steps. There are things that need to happen as you build up to that launch. And then that's when you launch it, and that's like the beginning. The conference itself is actually beginning because after that, there's a whole other thing that has to happen and analyzing Did this work? Did people actually like it? Do I wanna do this again?
0:14:48
So this aspect of it is a business. You have to have the entrepreneurial mindset of I'm gonna achieve this like a business. This is not a joke. This is not a game. This is not a thing I'm kind of playing with.
0:15:04
And I think when it comes to, you know, if you're a larger company who's putting together a conference around a particular industry, That also goes to dedicating internal resources or if you can't dedicate internal resources being willing to invest in external resources. whether that's developing a brand identity, a sub brand for a conference product. If you're busy working on a product launch, and your team is dedicated to all the design work involved with that. You don't have the time and energy to dedicate toward creating an identity for the conference you wanna host, then you have to be able to hire help to do that because that is still necessary. Something has to happen. It has to get done at some point by somebody.
0:16:03
N: And I think trust is also– I guess this is kind of going back to the curious and vulnerable– but trusting that if I can't do it myself or if my team can't do it, I need to trust that the people that I'm bringing in can't do their jobs. And I'm not gonna feel the need to micromanage or question every single little thing because I'm terrified and I just don't trust other people.
I: It's interesting that you bring up trust because as we were kind of chatting through what these characteristics were I almost brought that up as a fourth one. Because it's not just trusting in the team you're working with. It's also trusting the audience. It's trusting the process. It's trusting your own time and energy. maybe I didn't bring it up because I wasn't quite sure how to articulate it. So there's this underlying trust factor that kind of cements all of these together.
N: Yeah. Let's go into that then. Let's talk a little bit more about that because It's funny that you thought of it, but you didn't mention it because I also thought of it, but didn't mention it. The hidden fourth characteristic. Yeah. It's a bonus.
0:17:33
N: Because for me, it's frustrating. If we work with someone and I feel like they don't trust me to do the thing that they paid me to do. It's so hard because you paid me to help you, please let me help you, please let me do the thing. But at the end of the day, they have this internal struggle within themselves and they second guess, they question. And that makes the process more difficult for everyone in the end. it slows the process down because if that person is indecisive. They're not sure where to go, and we make a suggestion. But they still don't go one way or the other. But then we have vendors that are waiting for us. That makes the process just awkward all around if there is a lack of trust.
0:18:41
And I think the trust carries into the purpose characteristics. So you don't trust your own vision. If you're constantly second guessing yourself, if you don't trust the goals you're trying to hit, if you don't trust your own commitment to community, that's going to affect everything else along with me. I say you have to trust in yourself and your own purpose.
0:19:09
I: I think that trust plays into curiosity and vulnerability. It's trusting the audience. I was talking about an event I attended where there was an enormous amount of trust literally put in the community to self manage a Slack group during the event. Right? That takes a lot of– I mean, code of conducts are absolutely necessary and that's, like, a whole other thing. I'm not saying those shouldn't exist, but trusting the audience to seek out their own solutions to provide candidate feedback to trusting them to trust you even. it's kind of a cyclical thing, but that trust and vulnerability and experimentation in and this is where it starts to get a little nebulous because we didn't really talk about this much. But it starts because it starts to mix with the carry off anything because trusting that audience is because they were curious enough to get to know that audience.
0:20:29
N: Because let me tell you, you cannot trust just any old audience with a chat or with a Slack like that. Like, when you told me they were doing that, I was just like, no, I can't deal. because I've moderated things before, and it's the Internet. You've been on the Internet. And if there's an opportunity to be a jackass, people will take it. If there's an opportunity to– like, when people do the whiteboards. I have to sit there and, like, okay, I have to be prepared to erase the penis drawings because you know it's coming. You know it's gonna happen? So that sounds like you really need to know the audience. If you're really intent on doing this kind of a thing. It's testing people with that.
I: Yeah. Well, and I think it's about the people who do it really well, the hosts who do it really well have the ability to communicate their level of trust.
0:21:34
I: I worked on an event for five years that leans very heavily on a team of volunteers to help manage the event. And that team was in here for from fifty to a hundred volunteers over the course of a week. We asked an enormous amount of commitment from them, and they always delivered and something that came through every time we did an orientation, every time we onboarded a new volunteer was letting them know that we were empowering them to fulfill the values of the event in whatever way that meant. Putting the trust in them to say, you don't need to run something up the flagpole. If you see an attendee who's having a hard time hailing a ride to this event, or if somebody's sulking in a corner, or whatever, if you see an issue, you as an ambassador for this event should feel empowered to help that person. That level of trust begets a different level of commitment of service as opposed to micromanaging, removing authority, making everything an escalation chain. And leaning on those values implying that sense of communicating that sense of trust, I think is huge.
0:23:13
I: I think in the case of this other event that I just intended, you know, it was saying, hey. Yes. We are giving you the ability to create whatever Slack channel you want. Keep in mind, there's a code of conduct and use your best judgments. And the community that this particular event has cultivated is receptive to that. And so they take on the responsibility of doing it intelligently and doing it meaningfully in a way that is a free event of a couple thousand people on a shared whiteboard. Like, of course, there's gonna be some graffiti. Yes. Because there's no filter around who's attending that. So that level of trust does play into the curiosity and the vulnerability. It's also a way to ensure that your audience is kind of honing up and leveling up their level of engagement with the events itself. They're empowered, I would say. That's empowered and because there's also an element of discernment. I trust you to have discernment.
N: Okay. So let's bring this all together.
0:24:39
N: So we talked about the characteristics, purpose, curiosity and vulnerability and the strong work ethic. Now, to close out this conversation, can we give people a takeaway of maybe how to get to that point with those characteristics? Because If you don't have it, you can develop it. I don't think it's like you have to be born with it.
I: These are not innate characteristics. Some people have them. Some people develop them. I think if any of these three things are missing, that's a clear indication of what you can focus on. So, you know, if you have an unhealthy amount of ego and you aren't curious and vulnerable, maybe it's hard to identify that that's the issue because the ego gets in the way of that.
0:25:34
I: But I would say that one is to ask more questions. Learn to ask questions and listen to the answers. So let's start from the beginning. When you're looking at your purpose if you don't have a clear vision, that is the opportunity for some deep work on. see what that is. Think about it. bring on an existential crisis, but that is reason number one why you should take a step back and think about, what is influencing me in this direction? Why am I committed to this community? Start asking the internal wisdom, journaling and whiteboarding and Team conversations and things like that are all really, really helpful. Yeah.
0:26:24
N: My favorite question is why. Just keep asking why. If I think this is the answer, why do I think that? Oh, I wonder why. Just keep going until you can't go anymore, and that'll take you through a lot of routes.
I: And I would add to that, working toward a disputable purpose in the words of Priya Parker who we love from her book, the art of gathering. Asking the why until you get to a point where you can argue confidently for something. So it's not just good, I love it. It's not just these are my people getting really down, can I clearly identify with this purpose either yes or no? And can I make an argument for why yes? Can I make an argument for why no? That's important.
0:27:28
I: I think from a curiosity and vulnerability standpoint, setting the ego home aside, starting to ask more questions of others. So the purpose is asking questions of yourself. Curiosity and vulnerability is asking questions of others. Adapting the curiosity skill, starting to have conversations. That's a great opportunity for me. I don't like the term focus groups, but conversations. Just conversations. Having dialogue with people about these things. And then the work ethic, if you feel like you don't have the capacity or the bandwidth to take on something like this.
0:28:15
I: I would then say it's worth asking why you think this is necessary and why it's not a priority. Because that might reveal some underlying reasons why. Perhaps you feel compelled to do this because it's a natural next step. But if you don't have the, you know, the resources available to do it, then you can't do it.
0:28:42
I: I think it's also a matter of identifying what you are willing to invest in. And this is the conversation I've had with clients over the years as we start looking at budgeting in certain areas where, you know, maybe ticket sales aren't materializing as they thought they would. If you build they will come, scenario doesn't happen. And I start to ask, okay, how much are you willing to invest? To make this happen to set this foundation work for the event, especially as a first time conference. If you can put a number behind that, you know, that will help you identify how many resources you are willing to put into the actual production of the event.
0:29:36
Yeah. And, I mean, it's either time or it's money. You don't have the time, you've gotta bring in a team and that requires an investment. So how much does that cost to you? Much are you willing to put into that? So the sweat equity, but also the financial investment of I wanna do it and I need help. So how much am I able to invest in that? And if not now, when? When?
I: Because it just may be the right time now. Especially if you know it's gonna take a twelve to fifteen month commitment to make it happen in the first place, you're looking out to three years, maybe five years in advance. And if you know, oh, well, my business is gonna be at a point where I can support this from an investment standpoint in three years, then great. You can start to lay the groundwork for the other two traits, the purpose and the and the curiosity and vulnerability to get you there in the future.
0:30:37
For me, this comes down to drawing a lot of parallels to the entrepreneurial mindset. These are very similar themes to what you see in successful small business owners and founders who have this clear vision and sense of purpose, who are curious and vulnerable, who are willing to put in the time and energy as a small team or as a solo team to make it happen. And so those are that that kind of skill set and mindset lends itself really well to organizing or and hosting a conference.
N: But I would also say we need to be careful because just the phrase entrepreneurial mindset, like, it is said so much everywhere that it just means nothing.
0:31:22
N: And there's this sort of stereotype of, like, the lone wolf entrepreneur, which is a complete lie. So I would say be careful. Right? Like, it's not this normal. I'll find the entrepreneur. I did it all by myself. It's definitely a group effort, and if it's about bringing the community together, it's kind of weird to then try to lone wolf the whole thing because you're an entrepreneur. Right?
I: Yes. And news flash, there's no exit strategy for hosting a conference. You're either doing it or you're not. It's not like you can go sell it to someone else.
0:32:01
N: So this isn't so that that is another way in which it differs. Yeah. Yeah. I just know how we are. Like, there's certain phrases and things of the mainstream that I'm like, yes, but no. Because there's this whole stigma. It's like thought leadership. That's another one. It leaves a bad taste in everybody's mouth.
I: It's loaded. There's a reason why it exists and those reasons are valid, but it's been abused and misguided in a lot of ways.
N: Perfect. Okay. So Thank you so much, Isaac. This was another great conversation. So I wanna say thanks to everyone for watching and listening. You can find us at kickassconf.com. And if you enjoyed this, please feel free to share it. And we'll see you next time. Bye bye.