Best of 2011: Mary Dolaher on Giving Guests Choices

The 21st century is a time of options and the moment-by-moment choices that go with them. Want to contact Mom? Choose between email, snail mail, phone, instant message, or social media. Want to do some banking? Use an app, find an ATM, go online, or visit a bank. Events must adapt to this—attendees won’t be satisfied by one or two ways to connect. They expect to experience them in 10 or 20 ways. In other words, events must evolve beyond the trade show floor, conference classroom, and networking reception into experiences that completely immerse attendees in the products and brands, exposing them both deeply and broadly to all the products you have to offer.  
 
—Mary Dolaher, C.E.O., IDG World Expo, Boston