Velvet Chainsaw Consulting

02/24/2026

So proud of our fearless leader!
Congratulations Dave Lutz!
~ The VCC team

https://velvetchainsaw.com/2026/02/19/dave-lutz-honored-with-the-lifetime-achievement-educator-award/

01/08/2026

One of our content strategies for 2026 is to visualize some of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting's best content from over the years. We're using AI to help. Atomizing content into small bites is something conferences (and speakers) will increasingly adopt in 2026.

  Attracting NextGen attendees continues to be a top priority for conference and trade show organizers. What we’ve learned is that success has less to do with age and more to do with shifting workforce dynamics and rising expectations for practical, immediate value. Conferences that emphasize rel...

10/03/2023

If you're thinking of reimagining your event and would love ideas for how to facilitate that with a committee, planning team or staff, check out the excellent guest post today from creativity expert Diana Kandor

This is a guest post by Diana Kander. Diane is a keynote speaker on curiosity and innovation and a New York Times Bestselling author. Her latest book, Go Big or Go Home, outlines five ways to create a memorable customer experience. The event planning industry is one of immense creativity, innovation...

07/25/2023

https://velvetchainsaw.com/2023/07/24/five-smart-strategies-for-post-pandemic-success/

Last week I attended the National Speakers Association’s (NSA) Annual Meeting, Influence 2023. As a 25+ year member of NSA, I was eager to see how they would weave in their 50-year anniversary and deliver on a promise to elevate the education and main room experiences. They did not disappoint. Bel...

09/29/2022

Association leaders can open doors with potential sponsors, as well as keep an eye on what sponsored thought leadership looks like within their organizations, according to Dave Lutz.

Sponsors want a better relationship with your members. But make sure that those sponsorships don’t become a turn-off.

04/06/2022

Covid has changed the timing of how attendees register for your events. Here are five tips to help you navigate the changes to your registration pacing.

Before March of 2020, pacing data was a useful tool for predicting final attendance and revenue. If you were pacing behind, you could make midcourse corrections. As we come out of the pandemic, we need a different playbook to drive attendance and earlier commitment. Use these five tips to develop a....

03/04/2022

Creating a hub experience at your next conference or trade show is well worth the effort. Here are seven design considerations.

High-tech user conferences like Dreamforce and Microsoft Ignite have been designing innovative hub spaces to engage and nurture their top customers for years. While some of the elements in these areas can be costly to implement, they don’t have to break the budget. Creating a town-square-like expe...

11/15/2021

Please join us on Tuesday, November 16, at 12 noon ET for a fascinating conversation between Tracey and Dave: Going hybrid is not that simple!

Since the pandemic moved our event cheese, industry experts have been quick to proclaim that meetings are forever changed and hybrid is here to stay. If only it was that easy! Event organizers are quickly realizing that hybrid isn’t cheap and it requires a lot more work. While hybrid can improve r...

09/27/2021

Two large professional societies (Nat'l Apartment Assn and Soc. Human Resource Mgmt) hosted their shows in the past 30 days. Join us Wednesday to hear about their recent experience and future outlook.
Link to Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UbA8ShRmTVu2MXRCBtUY5A

https://velvetchainsaw.com/2021/09/23/webinar-should-you-move-ahead-with-fall-in-person-events/

Register Now for our next VCC Webinar, Wednesday September 29, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM EDT. Space is Limited Organizations are making tough decisions about how to–or even whether to–move forward with their upcoming conferences and expos. While some have made the decision to cancel their f2f events, ...

09/07/2021

It's time to ask some tough questions about your duty of care at your upcoming events.

Just when we thought we were turning the corner on a rise in Covid cases, we are hearing about short-term cancellations of conventions once again as the Delta variant causes cases to rise. Several conventions that occurred in June and July resulted in a number of positive COVID tests, including brea...