Cynthia Hornketh studied economics and social science in college, and then pivoted to a career in the event industry that has spanned more than 30 years. She spent most of that time managing an event logistics company in Boston owned by Experient and then Maritz.
But it was just in the past few years that Hornketh, 55 and now vice president of program management for Gartner Summits, began to really use her social-science training by incorporating design thinking into her work. “Design thinking” has become a buzzy term, but Hornketh believes in its value.
“At the heart of that discipline is really understanding who it is you are designing for—it is very customer-centric, or human-centric—and then using that perspective when making decisions about your event and when you are evaluating [it],” she says.
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Another element involves translating research on things like decision making into event-design principles. “If you give too many choices they shut down,” she says. “So when you put an event together, only give people six to eight sessions to pick from.”
Hornketh says her work in design strategy and research has convinced her that planners need to shift their thinking to address both the personal and professional interests of attendees.
“We in the events world have to be thinking about these people as people, not just their jobs,” she says. “That’s an interesting shift to then have to communicate that internally, particularly when it may involve asking for different budgets.”
Another driving concept is that a desire to learn is just one thing that attracts attendees. “They also want to be entertained, and a big reason people go to events is because they just want to have that opportunity to think. When we are in our day-to-day work environment, you have no brain air space,” she says. “People need time for the brain to process information.”
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