jANUARY 2012
Future Events Experience:
The future of the meetings industry showcased at EIBTM 2011
FEATURES: • Meetings technology trends to watch for 2012
USA $12.99 • UK £7.99 • Europe €8.99
ISBN 978-1-105-17118-5
90000
• Networking for life • Interview with Industry 2011 Technology Innovator winner 9 781105 171185
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For technology decision makers and event planners – find out about the latest trends in the industry!
7th June 2012 London
5th September 2012 Brussels
Key Sponsor: Innovative Software Solutions Amplifying Your Next Event
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Inside this issue 4 Future Events Experience: The future of the 7
18 The case for virtual events
meetings industry showcased at EIBTM 2011
20
Networking for life
Interview with Ivan Lazarevl
22 Visual communication content
9 12 meetings trends to watch for 2012
management: -interview with Esben
16 Succeeding in the event planning industry
Ehrenskjold
with SEO - a review
Future Events Experience page 4
24
Interview with Sally Greenhill
12 meetings trends to watch for 2012 page 9
The case for virtual events page 18
A word from the editor Dear readers and industry’s colleagues, We hope you enjoy the latest edition of The Meetings Innovator. We would love to hear from you to take part in some of our feature articles in future editions.
The April edition will focus on
mobile solutions. So if you would like to advertise, or contribute on this topic please let us know as soon as possible.
Future editions this year will include
sustainability and what technologies will make your event more environment friendly; the key industry
In addition, we are delighted to announce The Meetings Innovator 2012 European Summits and CTO Forums – to be held in London, Paris and Brussels. More details to follow in April but save the date now for London (1st-2nd May). We thank all our contributors for this issue and look forward to working with, and updating the industry throughout the year.
innovations as well as the future of the meetings industry and Generation Y.
The Meetings Innovator is driven to deliver you the most in-depth and informative knowledge centered around the ever-changing events industry. In this new, hi`-tech era, let The Meetings Innovator be your guide.
Chief Editor: John Sofrin Designer: Josh Bugosh John@themeetingsinnovator.com +44-(0)-20-315-00-779
Yours, John Sofrin WRITE TO THE EDITOR Have something to say? Want to contribute an article or publish a comment? Feel free to write Adi Ben-Nasher, chief editor of The Meetings Innovator.
John@themeetingsinnovator.com
Copyright© 2011 The Meetings Innovator
Industry News Future Events Experience: The future of the meetings industry showcased at EIBTM 2011 In November 2011 during EIBTM in Barcelona, a new concept was launched which was created by SyncPartners Ltd and sponsored by Newtonstrand Ltd. The Future Events Experience, planned for more than six months, created a new live feature area at the exhibition. The main objective of the area was to show delegates at the exhibition (suppliers, visitors and press) a concept about how future meetings and events might be run. Building on other ideas and events run in the past, SyncPartners co-ordinated the whole feature area with technology sponsors, speakers and suppliers.
4
The idea behind the Future Events Experience was that current meetings industry practices tend to utilise technology as an afterthought rather than incorporating it from the very beginning into the whole event or meeting.
Organisers will typically
ask the audio visual supplier what other technology products they could provide or try to add in technological special effects after having already set up the meeting hall or exhibition area.
Industry News Younger
delegates
today
at
meetings
and
conferences want to be able to interact with the
are being shown, rather than just see and hear about them.
technologies they see at an event and not just to
The Future Events Experience feature provided an
watch a presentation by a keynote speaker for
area for decision-makers to come and experience
example. If you take the Apple store as an analogy,
themselves, as attendees, what their next event
you can go into the store, play with the computers,
could be like.
and get free lessons in how to use your computer.
A group of technology and events supplier
SyncPartners and Newtonstrand wanted to create a
contributors provided different aspects for the
similar experience at EIBTM for all delegates (not just
area including mobile application, entertainment,
visitors).
furniture, audio-visual and catering. Newtonstrand
provided
several
different technology platforms for the area, including a full working studio that
broadcasted
the
Future
Events
Experience speakers and entertainment live on Facebook and the EIBTM website. Another key aspect of the area was a Speakers Corner using the Newtonstrand Chance2Speak
Platform—delegates
could book a slot in advance and speak on the stage about a hot industry topic of their choice. It was something that has not
Research has shown that when you just look at something, you only retain 30% of what is shown. When a person is able to see, hear, touch and feel something, they retain up to 95% of what is being taught. That’s an important principle for today’s organisers to keep in mind, since the younger delegates in the meetings industry (who are quite technologically savvy) expect to be able to interact with and use the concepts that
It’s like networking on steroids Turn your next event into a vibrant business networking platform for your delegates using Chance2Meet structured networking.
info@newtonstrand.com
Value Beyond Gimmicks for Your Next Event
5
Industry News been done previously where delegates are always
relevant agendas and digital copies of brochures
expected to listen to industry seminars and keynote
and so on. They want a different type of networking
speakers organised by the event.
experience than what has been the norm up until now. Not all events are meeting the needs of this
The future of the meetings industry – challenges faced by the meetings industry
younger meetings generation. The challenge today and in the future is to ask the
The greatest challenge faced by the meetings
right questions. Many event organisers are striving
industry is sometimes simply that we are asking the
for the “wow” effect, but today’s attendees are
wrong kinds of questions. Rather than talking about
not necessarily looking for that. They want quality
how we can incorporate social media in our events,
content, to be able to interact with the presentation
we should ask: Is there a place for that in the event?
or technology and to contribute.
What value will it create and how can we make sure we produce sound rather than just noise in that area? The
fact
is
that
many
organisers are still trying to come to terms with how to incorporate technology in a meaningful way.
Many
still don’t understand how to
bring
some
of
those
technologies to the event and
it’s
sometimes
an
afterthought at the end. Like all challenges in running an event, perhaps we need to go back to some basics and ask more questions at the beginning rather than just running the meeting as it’s always been done. Meeting planners that have been in the industry for 20 or more years have got a good handle on what it takes to put on a good event and are very comfortable because they know the suppliers, venues and basic equipment needed for a successful meeting. However, the newer generations coming into the industry are looking for an entirely different type of experience. They want to get information quickly on their mobile apps, have fast access to the
6
Adi Ben-Nesher CEO, SyncPartners
Industry News Interview with Ivan Lazarevl Ivan Lazarev is the President, CEO and co-founder of ITN International, Inc. During the last 25 years he has occupied key positions in the trade show lead management and registration services industry worldwide, including being an executive vice president at eExpo for 5 years and the manager of international business development at VCS, Europe’s largest trade show information management company. First of all, congratulations on winning the EIBTM
Please describe your solution to the readers. How
Technology Watch. How does it feel to receive this
does it work? What are its’ advantages compared to
honor? Would you say that this solution was your
other tools in the market etc.?
company’s biggest achievement to date?
Our solution is a data analytics service for events,
We are very proud of having being recognized by
tradeshows and conferences. It relies on NFC
EIBTM and it is certainly nice to add this award to a
mobile technology and on a suite of cloud-based
long list of awards we have garnered since 2005 when
online applications for event management such as
we first introduced NFC at events and tradeshows.
registration, access control, surveys, lead retrieval,
This one feels particularly good because it is the first
purse applications, ticketing, gaming, smart posters
time that we are recognized by the industry at large.
and information exchange portals. All the touches that we collect via our solutions at events form the
Could you tell us some more on the company? How
basis for our analytics tools that provide our client with
is it organized, what are its goals etc.?
valuable and actionable data. Also, our commitment
ITN is a private company owned by the two co-
to NFC has allowed us to embed the event badging
founders. We have been profitable since inception
with other citywide services such as transportation,
and we have been growing steadily every year.
retail couponing, museum access, etc.
What makes us different than the competition is our dedication to deploying and growing a NFC
How did you come up with this? Did you experience
ecosystem for the event and tradeshow industry.
a specific event during which you decide to
We have accumulated an amazing amount of
“change the rules of the game?”
experience using mobile applications and NFC tags
In 2005, we were lucky enough to have been
and now that NFC is becoming the new disruptive
contacted
by
the
leading
manufacturer
of
technology in the mobile industry, we are poised to
contactless chips in the world, and they exposed
take full advantage of the opportunity.
their plans for NFC to us. When we understood the impact that this mobile technology would have on
7
Industry News
event data management, we did not hesitate and
for attendees to experience an event and the city,
we switched from the contact smart cards we were
and our solutions will make that experience better.
using at that time to NFC contactless. There have been no regrets for making that tough decision back
What is left to be done? Meaning, what other
then.
products are in your barrel that you can reveal at this point?
How does your solution answer the industry’s needs? We see a near future where your mobile phones
`We have a very precise road map that we have designed and we are on track in our new product
will hold your wallet and inside your wallet will be a
deployments. You will see new features in our
section to manage your event information, including
mobile apps that will constantly increase the ability
storing your contact information as well as all your
by our enterprise client to manage information and
access rights for the event that you are registered for.
deliver valuable content to event-goers interacting
All this will happen Over The Air (OTA). But you will
with their products and services. A lot of our efforts
also be able to load your public transportation pass,
are in back-end data integration with CRM systems.
the key to your hotel room, the tickets to the play you
Shortening the sales cycle via the use of our
booked, or the coupon for the restaurant reservation
solutions is the key to our continued success.
you made. All this will happen OTA as soon as you arrive in the city where the event is taking place. The
Lastly, what message do you have for those Events
industry is constantly looking at ways to make it easier
and IT Managers outside, on the future of the industry? We believe that the industry is going to shift
“We see a near future where your mobile phones will hold your wallet and inside your wallet will be a section to manage your event information, including storing your contact information as well as all your access rights for the event that you are registered for.�
towards a more focused process for matching buyers with sellers, and we need to make the process easier. Face-to-face marketing will remain the preferred method to create and enhance new or existing business opportunities. So we are quite positive about the future of our industry and we invite events and IT managers to embrace the new ways of handling information exchange, as they will not only improve the effectiveness of their events but will create a better return investment for
8
sponsors and exhibitors.
TEchnology For meetings 12 meetings technology trends to watch for 2012 by Corbin Ball
The rate of technology change is increasing. Meetings and tradeshow technology continues to advance with technology products becoming better, cheaper and easier to use. Innovation is bubbling with new options. Here are some of the major meetings and tradeshow technology trends to watch for this .coming year. 1. More free or low cost apps for events and trade shows The cost for the equivalent technology is being cut in half every year. Web software development is much faster and easier than ever before. What used to take $100,000+ and a team of programmers weeks or months to do, can now almost be accomplished by a gifted teenager in his/her bedroom over the weekend. Web services and application programming interfaces (programming standards allowing easy data sharing among websites) allow greatly simplified sharing of data between sites. For example, an online registration program can work with Saleforce.com or other contact database simply and quickly without expensive and time-consuming .custom integration programming . Consequently, many free or very low-cost web tools have emerged to help meeting professionals do their job better. There are free online databases of meeting facilities (Cvent Supplier Network: w w w.cvent.com/en/sol utions/event- planning software.shtml); free exhibition floor plan/sales tools (Floorplangenie.com); a wide range of social media tools for promoting events (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Wordpress, Flickr, Slideshare, etc); free HD video conference tools (Skype and Google Hangout); free collaboration tools (docs.google.com and join.me); thousands of free or very low cost mobile travel and other apps to help meeting professionals and attendees, and .much more. These are just a few examples. There are many more to come.
2. Mobile technology crosses the chasm from the early adopter to the early majority for events Recent data from MPI�s FutureWatch 2011 Survey and others indicate that more than 80% of meeting professionals use smartphones and other mobile devices in their jobs. Yet, relatively few planners (9%) have used mobile applications yet for their own meetings. This is about to change. There will be a very significant adoption of mobile apps for events in 2012 and 2013. If a meeting does not have a mobile .app, the attendees will soon wonder why the meeting organizers are behind the times. There are hundreds of mobile companies and mobile apps targeting meeting professionals (I have more than 200 linked at my regularly updated online web links file: www.corbinball.com/ bookmarks/#MobileApps). Although there will likely be a shakeout similar to the dot.com deflation in the late 1990s, the companies that survive will change how we do business. There is a very strong business case for adopting mobile apps for your events, including better real time distribution of conference information, better location-aware/way-finding capabilities, event greening through paper reduction, better onsite networking, lower cost survey/polling options, enhanced branding, better attendee analytics, better CRM, advertising revenue generation and enhanced attendee experiences. More details on
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TEchnology for Meetings building the business case for mobile apps can be found at: ow.ly/6i35J. Another driver increasing the use of mobile apps at events is the growth of applications targeted at the meeting venues rather than the meeting planner. Meeting facilities managers will either resell (at low cost) or give the app customized to the event to meeting planners and attendees. Examples of this .model are SwiftMobile.com and eMarketing360. com. 3. Do it yourself (DIY) mobile event apps will proliferate One of the hottest areas of mobile development is in the low-cost DIY arena. It is possible to create a fully featured, cross-platform business app (iPhone, android, iPad and mobile web) with customized logos, colors and content using BiznessApps.com for as low as $39.95/month. This DIY site is very .easy to use with video tutorials throughout. Although BiznessApps has an “events” option among the dozens of business templates offered, there are several companies that are targeting events specifically with DIY products including: Grupio.com, GenieMobile.com; EventKaddy.com and even the high end QuickMobile.com. Often times, these will be at a fraction of the cost of a standard application .built by mobile app programmers. 4. HTML5 will become the standard for many event mobile applications Although I like the customized look and feel of native mobile apps built specifically for iPhones, iPads, :Android, Blackberry, and Windows 7 phones, there are problems • Building customized native apps for each phone is substantially more expensive and requires much more programming expertise than the building a single web app that can be viewed by .all smart phones. • Sometimes the apps don’t work – especially for the Android operating system which has hundreds of phone models with different screen sizes and processor speeds. The low-end .“free” android phones simply do not have the power to run some apps.
10
• It takes time and money to get the native apps approved through the various apps stores. For example, the iPhone/iPad store usually takes up to a month for approval and costs a least $99. Substantial last-minute changes simply can’t be done. • HTML5 (HTML Version 5) is the latest version of the Hypertext Markup Language, the standard programming language for describing the contents and appearances of web pages. It provides many :benefits for mobile app development over native apps or previous versions of HTML. • It is much less expensive than native app development. The language itself is simpler and programmers don’t have to worry about building and customizing the app for all the specific .mobile operating systems. • Unlike previous versions of mobile web, users can download the web pages to the phone. -- it does not require continuous access to the Internet for it to work. It will give a much closer .“native app” experience the previous mobile web versions. • HTML5 supports geo-location so that users can access mobile websites that access their position (a benefit that formerly was restricted only to native apps). • It will work across all modern smart phones by simply launching the web browser. • It does not require approval through the app stores, saving money, but, more importantly, saving time. Changes to the app can be done on the fly substantially reducing development .time and allowing much greater flexibility. There are limitations with HTML5, however. Scrolling through large amounts of data (such as hundreds of names on an attendee list) will require either a native app or internet access using HTML5. Large, complex meetings will usually require native apps. They HTML5 pages also tend to look more basic in appearance and navigation. Despite these limitations, the move to HTML5 will drive down the cost and development time while increasing the flexibility for mobile app development for events. It will also make the do-it-yourself model easier to provide as well.
TEchnology for Meetings 5. Conference recording and distribution is becoming cheaper, faster and much more capable Conference recording has been around for decades starting in the days that audio-cassettes of the presentations were mass-produced onsite and sold in the foyer. Recent technology advances have made it possible to quickly and relatively inexpensively distribute speaker video, audio and visuals over the web in real-time and on demand afterwards. This technology to do this was simply not there just a few years ago. The price of high-definition video cameras has plummeted (we are even carrying them around as mobile phone feature). Accessibility to reliable broadband is as available for most meeting facilities and the price is dropping. Video streaming encoders are turn-key. Presentation management software has proliferated. For example, the “video recording and webcasting studio in a box” pictured below is the Roland Systems Group (www.rolandsystemsgroup.com) VR-5 incorporating a 5-channel video switcher, audio mixer, video playback, recorder, preview monitors and output for web streaming. What previously would have required crates of equipment and $100,000+ has been shrunk into a 9 pound (4.3kg).box for under US$5,000, greatly simplifying the production, recording, and streaming of live events. Using these smaller, cheaper, and faster tools, it is now possible for conference recording companies to record video/audio and slides for dozens of simultaneous presentations and have them available for sale or distribution on the web that evening. Streaming technology for real-time distribution is also easier a nd simpler than in the past. Some of the companies providing these services are: Content Management Corporation (cmcgc.com), Freeman (freemanco.com), OmniPress (omnipress.com), PSAV Presentation Services (psav.com), Sonic Foundry (sonicfoundry.com), Digitell (digitellinc.com), and
Soma Media (soma-media.com). More information and details on the benefits for conference recording can be found at the following article: ow.ly/6i8Mh. 6. Hybrid meetings will extend the reach and broaden the impact of face-to-face events A hybrid meeting is an event that combines both face-to-face and virtual experience for local and remote attendees. It will become commonplace for many events in the next few years. Meeting professionals are recognizing that it has become much easier to extend the impact of an event beyond the four walls of the meeting room. A hybrid event can multiply the event’s impact and can recruit new attendees for future events. Live steaming sites such as LiveStream.com provide easy methods to stream conference video to remote attendees with a range of pricing plans from free to enterprise level. Increasingly, interactive tools such as polling and remote Q&A will engage the remote participants. With Twitter.com, event hashtags is currently being used to allow remote attendees to comment and ask questions during a presentation as well. Skype.com can connect HD video signal from four locations for free. The HD option allows events to bring in remote speakers or groups in high enough quality to project on a large screen in a meeting room. Google Hangouts (plus.google.com/hangouts) is a great free, new option for events allowing video from up to ten locations to be seen on each screen in a reliable and relatively low-bandwidth format. Event Camp Europe (eventcamp.eu) has recently used Hangouts to have a “Hybrid Wine Tasting” connecting face-to-face groups from four cities in Europe. The wine was shipped to the four cities, poured and distributed, the wine was introduced and described, attendees held the wines, smelled the bouquets, and tasted them. All five senses were engaged simultaneously in multiple locations!
11
TEchnology for Meetings 7. Near Field Communication (NFC) will provide streamlined connectivity and services for events NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity standard to enable communication between devices when they’re touched together. It is expected to become a widely used system for .making payments by smartphone in the U.S. The applications for events are significant allowing for very fast, secure and simplified means of: • Electronic ticketing • Electronic business card exchange • Credit card payment • Easy pick up of conference literature, exhibit brochures, course notes, and other digital documents.
becomes commonly available in mobile phones. Blackberry’s three new Curve models are NFCenabled as are dozens of Android phones as well as many Nokia and Sony phones. The tipping point, however, may be if the soon-to-be-released iPhone5 will offer NFC. Whether it is this year, or next, NFC will provide much better and faster data exchange, ticketing and micropayment options for events. 8. YouTube and other social publishing tools will be used increasingly to promote and manage meetings and to engage attendees Much has been written about the power of Facebook.com and the other social networking sites to engage potential attendees before an event to increase attendance and networking onsite. I believe the wide range of free social publishing tools will also be used increasingly for similar purposes: • Twitter.com (technically a micro-blog and, therefore, a social publishing tool) is widely used at events with event hashtags to engage attendees before, during and after an event. Planners should advertise the event hashtag in advance of their events to increase utilization. • Free blogging tools (such as WordPress.com) can be used to create event blogs to increase attendance. Ask your speakers to participate to add comments about their sessions. Invite influential bloggers to your event, and give them internet connections to spread the word.
NFC has been widely used in Japan and parts of Europe for the past few years (I have personally seen people paying for packing meters and tram rides in Estonia simply by tapping their phone to the transaction device). ITN International (itninternational.com) has successfully used NFC at events in Europe for some time, including contact exchange, e-ticketing, and micropayments. Companies such as Poken.com use NFC to provide many of these features with a small, inexpensive (US$18), NFC-enabled “pokenTAG” that is worn around the neck and glows green when information is exchanged The game-changer, however, will be when NFC
12
• Encourage attendees to upload their event photos under a designated event name (using the Twitter hashtag) to Flickr.com so everyone can share their experience. This page can then be used to help promote future events. • Speakers can share their slides using SlideShare. com. • YouTube.com (the world’s second largest search site after its owner Google) is potentially one of the most promising event promotion tools around. The old saying goes that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A video can be worth a thousand pictures and be far more compelling than web pages or brochures full of text! Video is the most compelling language of the Internet. cont’d on next page
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Innovative Software Solutions Amplifying Your Next Event
TEchnology for Meetings 9. Social gaming tools will be used to engage face-
10. iPads and tablets will provide a new medium for
to-face and virtual attendees at events People spend more than 3 billion hours a week globally playing online games! Jane McGonigal in her noted TEDTalk speaks of how gaming can make a better world by deeply engaging people and by encouraging collaboration and cooperation. She proposes to harness gamer power to solve real-world problems. Online gaming engages people. It can immerse in a different reality. It can be very fun! …And it will find its way increasingly into events. On a basic level, location-aware programs such as Gowalla.com, FourSquare.com, and Facebook. com/places encourage people to check in at locations. People will win badges and prizes and receive tips from others. This, however, is much more than building loyalty at a favorite restaurant. All of these free online tools have developed option`s for checking in at events. These location-aware gaming options can help networking at events. Scvngr.com is another online social gaming tool (free for non-profit groups and associations) that engages attendees with treks and challenges. This tool has been used recently at the Consumer Electronic Show and SIGGRAPH shows to guide people through the exhibit hall and to win prizes by performing a challenge such as signing up at an exhibitor web site. Social gaming is also being used to engage virtual and hybrid meetings attendees. Contests and challenges have been proven to engage people attending virtually. The Cisco GSX hybrid conference had 19,000 virtual attendees with one million views, 13,000 active players of the “Threshold” (an interactive espionage immersive reality thriller), 8,000 participants in group chats, and 9,5000 playing GSX mini games.
accessing data at events The iPad is the most recent of the long-running, game-changing innovations from Apple. This and other tablet devices represent new ways to access information. Light weight, highly mobile, highly intuitive. The larger screen allow for bigger fonts, easier readability and more real estate to display material in a page-like format. The navigation is intuitive (with your (fingers instead of a keyboard and mouse. Tablets are a natural for events as our industry is a mobile one: • We do business away from our offices and from our “large screen” computers on a regular basis. • Most of us don’t carry around notebook computers at events for a number of reasons: weight, · security, the inability to access easily while standing, etc. • We constantly need to manage a wide range of data at events. For lack of a better way until now, much of these data have been in the form of paper. Tablets will increasingly be used at events for interactive conference programs, course notes distributions, surveys, interactive exhibit floor plans, product displays, information kiosks, lead exchange, speaker Q&A, onsite blogging/social networking and more See more on the impact and benefits of iPads and tablets at: ow.ly/6jdGw. 11. Free, easy to access Wi-Fi is increasing expected by meeting planners Free basic Wi-Fi broadband Internet access is expected by planner in the meeting room, guest
Real-time interactivity between speakers and their audience Allow your speaker to receive immediate feedback from their audience, integrate the information into the flow of their presentation, and create a truly memorable experience for attendees info@newtonstrand.com
14
Value Beyond Gimmicks for Your Next Event
TEchnology for Meetings rooms and the lobby. Although some luxury properties are clinging to Internet fees as a profit center, Internet access is viewed by attendees as a utility similar to lights and water. Planners are saying “do not nickel and- dime us with add-on charges for basic Internet access.” If Motel 6 can provide free Wi-Fi, so should meeting hotels and venues. However, this does not mean unlimited access. Internet bandwidth can be expensive and most venues cannot handle unexpected, very large demands. If 500 event attendees pulled out their iPads to access HD video simultaneously, there are few venues in the country that could handle this without making special arrangements. If a group needs dedicated bandwidth, a dedicated IP address or other internet services, it is reasonable to charge for these. But basic, throttled access (with a minimum of 500kb/second download—fast enough to access email and limited video streaming) should be free. Additionally, venues need to make logging onto the Wi-Fi network easier. Opening the browser and clicking “OK” is all that should be required. As mobile devices are being used for Internet access with greater frequency, it is important to make the login screen readable in smaller formats as well. Better yet, autosensing technology can provide a mobile web login page optimized for a smaller screen. See more on the advances of hotel guest room technology at: ow.ly/6kJqx. 12. “Indoor Positioning Systems” will greatly assist in event and trade show way-finding and navigation Standard GPS does not work indoors. Standard Wi-Fi triangulation only gets to about a 100 foot (30 meter) accuracy—not good enough for precise tracking though an exhibit hall, venue or for person-to-person finding at an event. New technology from at least two companies
(Wifarer.com and Sherpa-Solutions.com) promise to overcome these challenges to provide very precise positioning (as fine as 1 meter) by tracking Wi-Fi enabled smart phones, carried by an increasingly larger percentage of the population. These tools will be able to provide the following (with several other features likely to develop): • Precise positioning • Personal navigation through a venue/exhibit hall with optimized routing • Friend/contact finding and networking (with permission) • Location-based content delivery (exhibit discounts or video as examples • Optimized exhibit hall viewing by product category • Exhibit hall “hot spot” and traffic flow analytics In addition to venues and convention centers, this technology holds great promise for shopping centers, airports, hospitals and museums. A short video demonstrating the application in a museum can be seen below: (youtube.com/ watch?v=DKhOHfPQnmg. Corbin Ball, CMP, CSP is a professional speaker and consultant focusing on meetings technology. With 20 years of experience running international citywide technology meetings, he now helps clients worldwide use technology to save time and improve productivity He can be contacted at his extensive web site: www.corbinball.com and followed on Twitter: www.twitter.com/corbinball.
Bringing speakers and audiences closer through the power of inquiry Enhance the presentation experience by allowing the audience to electronically ask live questions without interrupting others or disrupting the flow of the presentation.
info@newtonstrand.com
Value Beyond Gimmicks for Your Next Event
15
TEchnology UPdate Succeeding in the event planning industry with SEO – a review
Many successful event planning businesses are built from the ground up each year, with
In order to understand why SEO is valuable, you
the main problem being the vast amount of
first must understand what SEO truly is. Search
competition that surrounds the industry. In
Engine Optimization is the practice of refining
today’s technological age, it is important to set
your presence on the Internet so that you appear
your business apart from the competition so that
within the first few search results anytime an event
you are the first one that clients call upon to plan
planning company in your area is searched
their events.
for. This is actually the practice of marketing to
Many people turn to Internet searches in order
your customers online. Implementing SEO and
to find what they are looking for. While the yellow
focusing a good amount of time on the practice
pages still exist, you will find that promoting your
can yield you many benefits.
online presence is far more likely to bring you business. However, there are pitfalls to having an online presence. It is not as simple as placing an informational website or a listing in the directories. Today, you have to convince your customers of the reasons why they should choose you over the many other event planning businesses. Doing that requires that you implement successful search engine optimization – or SEO for short –
16
Valuable Reasons why SEO is Necessary
practices.
• Effective SEO will put you ahead of the competition in organic search engine rankings. Organic search engine rankings are those that are obtained without other resources such as pay-per-click ads. The higher you are above your competition in terms of search engine rankings, the greater your chances of your customers calling you first.
TEchnology UPdate • Better SEO practices will gain you rankings in the first few pages of the search engine results. Typically, you want to strive for the first page ranking. However, customers will typically browse between the first three to five pages before calling it quits and starting a new search. If you are beyond these first three to five pages, you are not reaching your target audience. Successfully Implemented SEO Now that you know what SEO can do for you, you need to know that there are both effective ways and ineffective ways of implementing the practice. You want to avoid looking like spam to the search engine filters. Search engines like Google frown upon spamming your website with content – namely keywords - that serves no purpose other than to gain rankings. Furthermore, you are not promoting anything if you are focused on keywords rather than good content. The best ways to implement SEO on your website, successfully, involves a bit of research. First you will want do an analysis as to which keywords clients are
want to build solid content for your site that is not only going to tell the readers exactly what you can do, but also provide information that will help them. You can do this in numerous ways. • Make sure your web content – the body of your site that tells customers about you, your service, and your testimonials – is informational, with sparse use of the keywords you have found. Do not use the keywords in every sentence – it is unnecessary. • Find good articles that you can republish without infringing on copyrights, or write your own for informational purposes on your website. In addition, maintaining a blog that you post to regularly – or hire someone to post to – is only going to serve the greater good of your business. Now that you understand how crucial SEO is to your business’ success, implementing the practices should be one of your top priorities. After all, if clients do not know you exist or cannot find you, you are likely losing out on a great deal of business.
searching for when they are looking for a service such as yours. Once you have these keywords you
17
Future TRends The Case for virtual events by Michelle Bruno
There is now considerable evidence that when executed
well,
the
virtual
extensions
of
live
again to 15,000 participants.
conferences will increase face-to-face attendance.
a
Some semi-official data has emerged. However, most
has removed the
of the substantiation comes from real-world examples
registration
and the growing support from organizations that are
and “shifted their
heavily invested in live meetings. Of course, there are
virtual strategy to a pure marketing activity versus
still naysayers—late adopters waiting for “official”
a direct revenue generation program.” So writes
proof—even though the evidence is mounting.
Michael Doyle of the Virtual Edge Institute (VEI),
Nevertheless, a close inspection of some of the
an organization dedicated to advancing virtual
successes reveals the crucial link between virtual and
meeting technology.
live events and paves the way for more innovation. San Jose, California-based Cisco Systems, the
result,
Cisco fees
In 2006, June Cohen, now the Executive Producer of
TED
Media
(producer
of
the
Technology,
global leader in Internet networking technology,
Entertainment,
produces the annual Cisco Live event. In 2009, they
succeeded in efforts to place conference content
incorporated a virtual extension (participants could
online for free. She is quoted in 2007 on the TED blog
view content remotely) as a way to reach thousands
on how the move affected their live conference.
of attendees who were unable to attend in person.
Design
conference)
famously
“Conventional business logic would tell you that
According to INXPO, the platform used by Cisco
in a community like TED,
for the virtual component, survey responses from
commodity scarce and expensive to retain brand
the 2009 virtual attendees revealed that 34% were
value. But the same year we started releasing most of
extremely/very likely to attend the in-person event in
our content for free we raised our conference price
Las Vegas in 2010.
by nearly 50 percent and still sold out in 12 days.”
you have to keep your
Cisco Live 2010 registered 12,700 attendees on
Tony Lorenz, a leader in the hybrid event marketing
site—a 35% increases in attendance over 2009—and,
industry and Co-founder of bXb Online, has several
31% of the virtual attendees indicated that they were
times used the analogy of professional sports in the US
extremely/very likely to attend the in-person event
to address the issue of the cannibalism of live events
in 2011. As expected, live attendance in 2011 grew
by their virtual counterparts. His remarks during a
Join us at the London Meetings Innovator Summit For technology decision makers and event planners – find out about the latest trends in the industry!
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18
As
Register Now! Thursday 7th June 2012 London
Future TRends recent press conference at Convening Leaders, a
meant to be. Live event producers should now feel
co-located meeting of the Professional Convention
more confident investing in virtual strategies. Finally,
Management
there is momentum and proof that this new medium
Association
(PCMA)
and
Virtual
Edge Institute, included references to professional sports teams whose owners were initially fearful that broadcasting the` ir events on television would dilute live attendance at the games. The opposite proved to be true, Lorenz says, and the industry was redefined
is a viable alternative for the live event industry. Michelle Bruno is a meetings industry writer, blogger and event producer. She blogs at forkintheroadblog.com and is the co-producer of the EastVirtual Event Workshop
by its eventual move to network and cable TV. A number of organizations that have, over the years, relied exclusively on the efficacy of live events, have embraced virtual event strategies. Several years ago, Freeman, a provider of integrated services for face-toface (F2F) marketing, including trade show general contracting, began offering hybrid (virtual and live) event services through its platform partner INXPO. Earlier this year, PCMA announced that it would be investing $50,000 in the Virtual Edge Institute—a move that opened the door to increased opportunities for live event producers. At Convening Leaders, bXb Online announced that it would add an additional $100,000 to support VEI’s Digital Event Strategist certification program. Like any new marketing or communication medium,
virtual
extensions
must
be
executed well in order to be successful. More importantly, the content has to be useful and entertaining (or at least not boring) to watch. Despite
such
challenges,
the
meetings
industry should now be able to move forward using virtual events as the tools they were
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19
One-on_one Networking for life by Håkan Söderbom
Building and maintaining a network is important for many reasons; from having the specialists to call on when you need them professionally, and on to having a support network to lean on when you are between jobs. Given recent years tough work situation, the latter is nothing to underestimate. To be able to ask someone for help, no matter what the topic is, there needs to be some level of trust and willingness to help. Trust capital has to be built before it can to be tapped into. Think about your networking activities in three phases;
meeting
and
initiating
a
relationship,
maintaining and nurturing the relationship, and finally calling on the relationship for help. Beginning the relationship Meeting people is easy, right? Well, meeting the right people is definitely not easy. Ever attended a drinks reception or an event with plenty of mingling opportunities? Of course you have. But how many times have you engaged someone in an encounter that eventually led to a business transaction? The answer is, probably, “very few.” Take me for example; I can think of definitely less than a handful, maybe even only a couple. But there you are, saying “hello” to a stranger for the first time. What do you do next? I used to think networking was hard, intimidating and not very useful, yet everyone told me I had to do it, and I knew, rationally, that I should be doing it. Still I found it hard. The main change came after attending a session with a networking specialist. What she said
20
changed my whole approach to networking. First, she said, don’t focus on yourself, but focus on the person you are meeting with. Spend some time getting to know them and understanding their interests and background. Second, listen for something that you can help them with. It may be anything from pointing them to a resource like a book you have read, to connecting them to someone who can help them with their goals. If you take those two simple steps, it will transform how you experience networking, and it will put you in a position to start enjoying networking and to the responses you will receive from the people you meet will invigorate you and make you want to keep networking. Sometimes, but not very often, the person you meet with will be the right one for an immediate business relationship. But don’t count on it. Instead, set yourself up for long-term success. Nurturing the relationship In your first meeting you exchange business cards, giving each other permission to stay in contact. If you are like most people, that business card gets tucked away safely, not to reappear until after such a long time that you have completely forgotten who the person is.
One-on_one Instead, what you need to do is to reconnect the next day, or when you get home from the event.
other based on common interests and to arrange inperson engagement.
Just thank the person for a pleasant meeting, and
Structured networking allows the event organizer to
remind them of who you are and what value you can
provide truly effective networking, adding significant
provide.
value to the attendees. When people say that the
The next step is harder, reconnecting at an
networking was really valuable, it usually is because
appropriate time, and building up that trust capital.
the event organizer has gone the extra length to
Depending on the relationship it may be something
make networking a key feature of the event.
short like “what’s up, just checking in” (ok, I actually
After exchanging business cards, how do you stay
don’t use that very often), to a question about how
connected? At this point, LinkedIn is a fantastic tool
his or her project is going – Just something to give
for reinitiating the contact, exploring their network
a personal touch. Don’t let more than 6 months go
and starting a longer-term relationship. LinkedIn has
between contacts.
the added benefit of gently updating your contacts with key changes you make to your profile. Use this
Harvesting the relationship
wisely.
At some point you will get to a point when you need
When you reach out for help, as we talked about
help. When you ask for help, be specific about your
before, it isn’t about what each contact can do for
goals. Explain how your contact’s help is important to
you, but really about whom, in their network, can
you, but don’t pressure them. This is not about calling
help you. Having a strong profile on LinkedIn that
in a favor, but getting the word out there. By letting
projects the goal you are trying to achieve, is the key
your network know what you want to achieve, you
to allowing the word to spread.
empower your network to provide the best help it can, even if you haven’t thought about it yet.
Håkan Söderbom is the Chief Conversation Starter
and Co-founder at Konsult Partners, where he
Think about that again, by sharing your goals,
helps organizations of all sizes grow their business
and not necessarily each step how to get there, you
and improve their online presence by leveraging
allow your contacts’ imagination, their skills and their
new online marketing techniques including
network to work for you. If you are too specific, your
social media marketing, inbound marketing,
network won’t necessarily work to its full advantage.
search engine optimization and reputation
Whatever responses you receive, remember to
management. Previously, Håkan was the Director
thank the person. Now the relationship has reached
of Partner Business Development at Microsoft. At
a new level…
Microsoft, he successfully built and ran worldwide
The tools We just covered a high level strategy for networking. Getting down to the tactics, what tools do we have? Events provide great opportunities to meet people, but the ad-hoc networking provided at most events
partner recruitment programs and in doing so had the opportunity to refine his expertise in digital marketing and community engagement. These experiences now allow him to act as a trusted advisor for internet marketing and online engagement.
just don’t cut the mustard. The solution is structured networking that allows the attendees to find each
21
One-on_one Visual communication and event content management an Interview and a case study Esben Ehrenskjold is the founder of Streamline Data Ltd and the inventor of Streamline Events – an event content management system. From a background creating technical presentations with the purpose of visually communicating high-way projects to the public, Esben has developed an innovative tool for visual communication and event content management for the meeting industry.
With Streamline Events, a template was created
Esben, why, in your opinion, is visual communication important for the event organizer? Visual communication by the means of branding and information is how the event hosts deliver their message to the delegates. Today it’s the only presented on-site in form of printed catalogues and signage. With Streamline Events, event organizers can
now
also
deliver
their
message
through
digital branding, agendas, sessions’ information, advertisement of social events, etc. in session room presentations, digital signage and touchscreen kiosk presentations. We allow event organizers to manage all digital content from one platform, distributing speaker presentations in a seamless way and bringing updated information to the delegates and ROI for the sponsors through increased exposure. How does it work in practice? Let me explain it with a case study. Association Congress 2011 was a typical one. It spanned over two days and had three parallel seminar streams with approximately 300 delegates and 30 speakers all together.
22
pre-event for the seminar streams. The template utilized the Association Congress branding, including logos for the sponsor and supporting organizations. All relevant event management data was inserted, and agendas, session information and sponsor slides for each stream were hereby added to the session stream presentations all with the same branding, based on the template. A Speaker Ready Room was implemented on-site where all speakers got their presentation content uploaded to the session stream presentations that now were ready to be distributed to the session rooms. As Streamline Events is a system that offers dynamic presentations with a content menu, the speakers took advantage of not only adding their PowerPoint or PDF presentations, but videos, social media content from YouTube and web content as well. All of these can easily be run by the AV Crew or the speakers themselves from the content menu while presenting. After a very successful congress, all speaker presentations were uploaded to Slideshare and reinserted into the session stream presentations and then made available online for the delegates.
One-on_one Digital
Signage
and
Touch
Screen
Kiosk
Streamline Data will continue the development
presentations could be implemented in a very similar
of Streamline Events and the two limited editions,
way at a congress and also managed and distributed
Streamline Presenter and Streamline Self Running,
from the Speaker Ready Room.
in our product suite after the overall principle: Development with the users for the users! Streamline
Was the product built through any partnerships?
Data will as well continue to develop our innovative
Streamline Data Ltd services the end-user through
User Interface based on open-source technology with
partnerships with PCOs, AV Companies, etc., and
drag and drop functionality and close integration
we see ourselves as a service organization for our
with social media. At last we are in the process of
partners developing tailor-made solutions, of course
moving the development in two individual directions:
all based on Streamline Events. Our partnership with Shocklogic Global Ltd is a good example where we have gone together, creating a branded version called Presenterlogic that closely integrates with their abstract management system Abstractlogic. The advantage of integrating with an abstract system is that all event management data can be imported (session rooms, speaker data, and session / presentation data) within minutes and no data has to be typed in more than once. Why, in your opinion, is the solution unique in the industry? Streamline Events 2.1 is both unique as well as innovative in terms of concept, integration of event management data, social media integration, specific functionality and end product. As far as our research goes, no other product on the market offers a solution for: Building one central content library; Streaming Event Management Data directly from customer’s databases into one content library automatically; Searching and integrating Social Multimedia real-time directly through a Wizard; Creating web pages through an HTML editor where the layout of text and pictures is controlled by drag and drop functionality; and constituting an end-product that offers Dynamic Extendable Presentations that can be distributed hands-on, through a network, such as digital marketing and online. What further developments are planned?
1. Entering a project with the Innovation Partnership of University of Leicester, creating a free online version offering specific functionality from Streamline Events targeting Speakers focusing on the integration of Social Multimedia. 2. Creating a branded version of Streamline Events for a London-based Event Management Supplier integrating closely with an existing Abstract System. And finally, how did you come up with the idea? What experience did you have in the industry that’s been triggering the development? My idea for Streamline Events came from my experience creating
in
the
multimedia
road
construction
presentations
for
industry, public
meetings in connection with highway projects. I worked in a company (Vianova.dk) and we needed presentations with rich multimedia content such as visualizations, 3D models, virtual reality, etc. for sales presentation, seminars, conferences, and public meetings, and PowerPoint was not a sufficient tool. I searched the market for solutions but did not find any. I came up with new way of creating integrated presentations, and after me and my family moved to England in 2007, I started to develop the system as a full web-based content management system, with the intention that event organizers should be able to create dynamic extendable multimedia presentations easily without more than a standard IT knowledge. Thank you Esben.
23
Global Interview with Sally Greenhill Sally Greenhill is Managing Director of The Right Solution, specialist consultants providing market research, design, technical installation, operations and marketing services for convention centres, destinations and exhibition/events facilities. Since 2007, she’s been researching the Chinese market for Reed Travel Exhibitions for CIBTM, and held projects in the Middle East, China, and India.
Sally, what changes did you come to recognize in the Chinese market during this working period? The phenomenal growth in the domestic, inbound and outbound markets for meetings and events in, to and from China, with easier access to/from many destinations helping to make China attractive to many parts of the world. At the same time, the domestic market is really booming and eased visa restrictions are enabling more people to travel outbound. The infrastructure has developed at a really fast pace with new hotels, convention centres, train lines etc. What can you tell about the eastern-western dynamics from the cultural point-of-view? It is important to learn about and try to understand the Chinese culture if you want to attract their delegates and visitors. The language, food, methods of communication, areas of interest and suitable facilities etc. are all important. This is also important for working and organizing events there. Relationship-building is vitally important. Respect for the local culture is vital, and as is one of the most enjoyable aspects, too: taking time to discuss issues while drinking tea, having a good meal and having respect for the authorities and regulations. It is all important. Is this issue playing any part while doing crosscontinents business? And in what sense? If you want to do business with China you must demonstrate real enthusiasm and interest in learning their culture and doing business their way. That’s
24
partly why you need local partners to work with. This helps ease the way through the local and national regulations, helps set up vital relationships and sets a business off on the right track with less mistrust of an international “outsider.” In my view, one key aspect is to keep rightful proportions of monies generated within the country and not take all of the profit/value generated out of the country. And this aspect is of course not unique for the Chinese market. But in general, associations need to work with a local partner for the organization of their event. This helps with licensing and eases the way through the regulatory process. Many associations are keen to gain exposure in China where they have the opportunity to increase their membership, and a local partner helps make their event happen in China. Can you name two or three trends in the Chinese meetings industry? Are these trends different in any sense from the Western ones? Yes, the levels of growth are significant – 74% of buyers in our research predicted more events this year. However, increased volume wasn’t matched by increased budgets so “value” will be important. At a time of rising inflation, this will be a difficult balance. How does this inadequacy affect the industry, foreign investors, etc.? It means many people are trying to stretch their event budget, doing “more for less” and it requires event organizers to think creatively about how to
Global
ensure a successful event without overspending. I think this is a worldwide trend, but it was interesting to find it is prevalent in China, where the booming economy might have suggested that budgets were booming too—our research suggests this is not the case, as inflation has increased prices and many people are trying to attract maximum audience numbers with no more budgets available.
“...many people are trying to stretch their event budget... ...it require event organizers to think creatively about how to ensure a successful event without overspending.”
What can you say about the technological aspects of the Chinese industry, compared to the West? There are differences but it isn’t as clear-cut as more or less technological. There are high numbers of young people who embrace technology and use it fully, with WiFi readily available in many areas. At the same time, there are still interventions and restrictions in place. There is also huge respect for their traditions and history and these go hand in hand with new technology. For example, while Wifi is freely available and new technology is widely used with fantastic new investments in infrastructure, there is also an intrinsic respect for the traditions and history of the
country which combines to make an exciting event destination with much to offer the visitor. Seeing tai chi being performed early morning (as it has been practiced for hundreds of years) while reading your messages on your smart phone is one example. At last, a part of being innovative is being able to identify new market opportunities. In light of the fact that Right Solution has been working with clients in Africa and Asia for some time now, what are your general insights regarding these markets? What is your advice for other companies, debating on the question of entering these geographical landscapes? Well, Africa and Asia are huge continents and each country has its own culture and way of doing things. It is important to take the time to learn about each country’s cultural issues, have respect for their culture and work within it. I can say that in developing countries, digital systems have been, if anything, more important than in traditional countries as analogue systems were often unreliable and new technologies have created opportunities for communication that were out of reach and too expensive before. The “world” has been shrunk by communication systems that make it easy to talk to anyone anywhere. Any words for the future? Yes: The world has changed and the balance of power economically has moved from the West. Go explore –it is exciting and rewarding! Thank you very much for this interview, Sally.
25
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