About

Gianfranco Chicco (Photo by Roberta Tartaro)

Gianfranco Chicco (Photo by Roberta Tartaro)

Conference Basics was born in early 2009 as a place to discuss the organization and management of international events, a sector in which I have been working in since the early 2000’s.

I write about organization basics, tips and how-to’s, best practices, tools, anecdotes, event reviews and interviews to notable organizers, speakers and attendees. It also acts as the home base of a Think Tank on The Future of Conferences that aims to reinvent and experiment new ways of organizing an event by challenging the status-quo and the “business as usual” mindset.

The world is changing very fast and technologies like the Internet (especially Social Media), mobile phones, and near field communication have radically changed the scenery in which conferences exist. No longer it’s enough to gather a bunch of interesting speakers and an audience in a room to satisfy their need of meeting physically. Good content is just one of the parts of a full experience that takes place before, during and after the conference. This Experience has to be carefully designed through a multidisciplinary approach.

To be successful, conferences have to be useful, relevant, entertaining and have a WOW factor in them (read more on this); otherwise they will join the crowded ranks of mediocre events destined to disappear.

Services

The Think Tank approach mentioned above has allowed me to team up with a group of remarkable professionals all over the world that complement my own abilities. They come from different backgrounds like User Experience Design, Psychology, Content Programming, Graphic Design, Public Speaking, Interior Design, Light & Sound Design, Communications, Photography and Video.

Together we design events by developing a holistic experience that has the attendee to the conference at its center. To reach this goal we create new formats, invent innovative tools, cross-pollinate between different sectors and apply the best practices in conference management.

About Me

My name is Gianfranco Chicco and I’m a professional organizer of innovative conferences, from business forums to media and technology meetings. For several years I have been in charge of startup, marketing and operations for a company in the executive education area that organized conferences with outstanding business speakers. I am currently the Marketing Manager of PICNIC Festival and the Conference Director of Frontiers of Interaction. I also work on several assignments as a freelance consultant.

I have dealt with speakers like Bill Clinton, Michael Porter, Philip Kotler, Kevin Roberts, Lawrence Lessig, Malcolm Gladwell, Rudy Giuliani and Jack Welch amongst many others but also with lesser known names which where many times much more inspiring than top shots.

Having worked in America (USA, Brazil, Argentina), Europe (Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands) and Asia (Japan) and taken part of events in many other parts of the World, and after making many of the typical mistakes of the sector and seeing much more being done everywhere else, I decided to share some of the lessons learnt and in particular to dedicate my time to those innovative aspects of conference management that can transform a good event into an outstanding one.

Apart of Conference Experience Design, I’m passionate about travel, photography and writing. Find more about here:

{ 4 comments }

1 JonathanMarks July 24, 2009 at 7:16 am

Congratulations at the new job in Picnic. They need someone with your international insight.

2 Gianfranco Chicco July 24, 2009 at 7:52 am

thanks Jonathan!

3 JonathanMarks July 24, 2009 at 1:16 pm

Congratulations at the new job in Picnic. They need someone with your international insight.

4 Gianfranco Chicco July 24, 2009 at 1:52 pm

thanks Jonathan!

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