Dear One+,
I have been trying for years to get someone to listen to me (I am Audio, after all) about the extreme importance of having the best audio quality. It’s fantastic to see an article that demonstrates the power of sound.

Unfortunately, my fancy cousin Lighting and my sister Video tend to get all of the attention because they’re just a little more sexy than I am. But, I’m telling you, if there’s one thing an audience member will complain about, it’s when they just can’t hear. Even with an obstructed view of my sister, the crux of the message being delivered is generally through a voice. And that’s where I come in.
With the right equipment and best engineers, I really shine. You don’t want to skimp on me, trust me!! Too often a meeting planner believes the house sound system will be adequate because it is built into that room…well, think again. Most systems were built with the venue, and unless in you’re in an ultra high-tech property, the audio system probably fell far below the jacuzzi tubs and bedside tables on that developer’s checklist of priorities.
The trick with me is to make sure you have:
a) Adequate Power – underpowered systems cause an audience to strain to hear the sound. And ultimately as our senses tire, our attention fades quickly.
b) Excellent Distribution – the correct system will distribute sound evenly in a room so there are neither dead spots nor ear blasting zones.

Thank you for calling attention to my sadly neglected state.
Sincerely,
Audio
“I put the ‘A’ in A/V”
(via my #1 fan and advocate: Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl, Pulse Staging and Events – @greenA_V)

This was a fun letter I contstructed after reading the most recent issue of One+ Magazine by MPI. Their Business of Meetings feature article discussed the impact of sound on our meetings. Did you know that “microphone feedback is the second most disagreeable sound, scoring higher than a recording of fingernails scraping a chalkboard and just behind the sound of a person vomiting, according to more than 1 million respondents in a study by the Acoustics and Audio Engineering Department at the University of Salford, U.K.”?

So, I encourage you to read this fantastic article delineating how absolutely crucial audio and sound truly are when it comes to a meeting experience.

Enjoy!!

Before traveling to Canada again, I wanted to be sure I had some reliable system for communicating with the United States without spending an arm and a leg. In the process I was able to transform iPadraig into an iPhone!!

Would you believe me if I told you I attended the last two conferences without business cards and my world didn’t implode around me for a lack of being able to connect post-event? AND, what if I told you I was able to communicate rapidly and at almost no cost while attending an international event??
Before your heart starts ticking away madly, please hear me out. Especially for those attending the upcoming World Education Congress in Vancouver,BC, see if any of these modern information sharing tools could potentially apply to you.
Sharing Contact Info:

• To be able to send contact info to your Twitter network, free iPhone app, BeamME, is a great option.
• You can send a Twitter Business Card using TwtBizCard. Here’s a sample of mine:

• Wawame, for iPhone, Blackberry or Nokia, could come in handy for sharing information while roaming internationally as it can utilize Bluetooth instead of requiring wifi or data roaming connectivity.

Communicating Internationally – if you’re not excited about spending loads of money to be able to make phone calls while roaming internationally, here are a few apps that are really handy! Just remember – turn your Data Roaming Setting to OFF! Found under your Settings, under the “General” section. See the picture for proper setting…

• Download Whistle Phone for your iPhone or PC/Mac and enjoy the free calls over VoIP (that’s Voice Over IP, which is basically using the Internet to make voice-to-voice phone calls). I have successfully used this to make my iPad a telephone!!
• Skype and Google Voice can really come in handy for affordable texting and checking voicemail via email.
• I will be posting a video today of how to use Whistle Phone to make international calls.

Based on my live streamed interview with professional tradeshow representative, Emilie Barta, during the “Continuing the Conversation” segment of The Expo Group’s brilliant #InZone experience, I created a summary of the main talking points of our conversation on “Three Tips to Incorporate Social Media into your Events”. Essentially I wanted to convey the importance of having a STRATEGY. Also, because the conversation was so interactive and lively, I found I had far more I could have added. So, here’s a bonus of SEVEN tips

1. Knowing WHY you are using Social Media is the first step.
Before you launch your Facebook page, create a Twitter hashtag or embark on a Foursquare journey, determine why you participate in social technologies. If it is for marketing and/or promotion, then you need to look at the social media aspects of these platforms. For making connections and building relationships, you should be focused on social networking. If you need to improve client relations or do brand management, you should choose the platforms where you can best listen to your customers and engage in two-way communication. The great part is that, in most cases, you can use the same platform for all three
2. Humanize your media!
These are social technologies. What are the characteristics of social behavior? Certainly conversation, playfulness, relationships, open communication and curiosity all qualify. So, when you devise your social media planning, don’t forget your content design should reflect this. Humanize your blogs using examples such as Cisco (link to duck calls). Open up direct lines to leaders in our organization, such as PCMA’s blogs or Zappos’ Twitter accounts. This democratization of communication is what makes social media so unique and popular. Give your brand a human face!
3. Set goals and assess performance
Bet you thought I was going to give you the magic formula for measuring ROI on social media, right?! Well, sorry, it’s not as simple as that. When setting goals for technologies around social media, remember that you are doing the same exact market planning as you would for any other media channel. If your ultimate goal as an organization is improving event attendance, you can create objectives around this to assess how your media activity is influencing this type of behavior. If Prada can determine whether or not their two-page Vogue ad influences the sale of more purses, then social media planners should be no different. One firm (insert name) has a new tool for measuring brand influence as it pertains to each medium
4. Empower and Enhance facetime
If your goals include social networking and you’re building a strong online community, you must create the opportunity for online networkers to cement their relationships in person. Providing social media or networking lounges and then hosting directed activities in these areas supports the objectives for creating those communities. As an example, Tweetups can benefit from even a tiny bit of structure or organization. At the recent PCMA conference in Montreal, the Tweetup was hosted by the Ontario Convention Center. There was a visual Twitterfeed and each Tweep received one free drink ticket.
5. Social Media management is NOT a summer job
99.9% of the time, it is not advisable to hand off social media duties to an intern. Do not assume that the youngest person on the event or marketing team has the best skills for managing your social campaigns! Additionally, outsourcing of social media is not always in your best interest. If you choose to hire a consultant, use them as a coach; arrange for training and establishing systems to help you most effectively manage the social media processes. That being said, there are still some roles that an intern can serve – perhaps monitoring the social media streams or performing marketing analyses.
6. Beyond one month of engagement
A frequent mistake is to create a social media campaign focused wholly on a one-time event. When stuck on the goal of improving attendance, we tend to think of the build-up, marketing phase before an event. But, as I mentioned before, these are social technologies and human relationships need nurturing all year long! Don’t let your efforts lapse because you “hit your numbers” at the show. If you want to continue to drive those numbers, you must engage with your target market the entire year.
7. Twitter, Facebook, Social Technologies are NOT another inbox
As Emilie and I discussed, all too often there is a misperception that if an event planner, exhibit manager, show organizer, etc. jumps into the social technologies game, they envision a phone that buzzes at them nonstop. Well, this is where you need to understand that the stream of conversation that happens on these platforms are like the radio. You will tune in when you need to hear a certain talk show or get the news that is most important to you. If there is a particular song you want to hear, you will listen to that station. However, the information will continue to flow with or without your constant attention. Using specific tools for management and processes, you can effectively monitor and engage with this flow so that it becomes focused and honed specifically to your goals.

Neglecting the blog? Guilty as charged!

In the excitement of preparing for my upcoming presentation at the TS2 Show on creating an Event Engagement Plan with Social Media, I have failed to complete the usual really fun and interesting blog postings (IMHO, ha!). So, here are a few details on the TS2 Show in Boston – and I’m pretty impressed with how they’ve worked to make it “different”.

I had a fantastic conversation with Jon Goldman, one of the other speakers.We found that we had some commonalities with our concepts and presentations that will allow us to tie together content to create the maximum value for our session participants. The TS2 organizer facilitated this speaker to speaker communication. This can really help you maximize the value of your presenters.

On Wednesday, July 14th at 12:30pm EST, I will “Continue the Conversation” with Emilie Barta and a remote audience on the Top Three Tips for Incorporating Social Media in Your Events. The conversation will be webcast from the InZone on Wednesday, July 14th at 12:30pm EST. Register for free here.
Follow all conversation using #TS2Show and #InZone

Please press play and read while enjoying the video/music…

So. You’ve spent the last 72-96 hours with a rapidly-formed tribe of intelligent, bright humans. Through various connections, you came together as a tribe of like-minded individuals in order to achieve a common purpose (obtaining education, enjoying entertainment, networking, etc.). You each brought your one-of-a-kind talents, quirky humor and unique personality to the event for three or four days of learning, growth and fun. You had mind-expanding conversations, you ate and drank together, some inside jokes formed…we all know how organically these beautiful group friendships forced by situation can take shape.

But, does anyone else experience the end-of-conference blues like I do? Those final hours when your tribe slowly dissipates as one, two, three, then finally all of you drift into the distance in taxis, trains or buses? I know I personally have a deep sense of loss and sadness watching my “peeps” gradually drift back from whence they came (the best is being able to stick together all the way to the jetway!).

Well, if you feel this way too, here are a few suggestions:

1. Use your Online Community – the best event organizers realize that an online community shouldn’t end just because the physical event is over. They continue to nurture relationships over time, and keep those connections alive with energy and initiatives for staying in touch via the community.
2. Social Networks – if you don’t have an online community for your event/association that is strongly supported, use the usual suspects. For connections that seemed more profound and long-term, try connecting on Facebook and see how your relationships deepen as you see their life unfold on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
   For those connections that you might need to ease into, try connecting via LinkedIn. This is generally the less personal route (read: no photos of family vacations, pets, kids), but still offers you insight into their professional lives, the chance to see who you know in common and can be a great way to keep in touch.
   And, of course, there is Twitter that allows for a blending of the two.
   Tripit is an EXCELLENT tool to track your connections’ travel plans to determine when you might be attending events together again or making trips to mutual destinations in the future. FourSquare is similar to Tripit, but a little more intimate than the travel planning features of Tripit – rather than filling information about upcoming business trips, you “check-in” at places as insipid-seeming as your local gas station (and, yes, there really is value in this…but there are millions of blogs about that topic).
3. Skype/Video Conferencing – you might consider organizing chats or conferences using Skype, ooVoo, dimdim or another platform where you can see each other and try to continue some of the great conversations you had onsite. It’s an excellent way to organize think tanks/roundtables with people you trust and respect.
4. Newsletters, E-Marketing or Regional gatherings – if you can find a way to connect through some of the other networks, you can easily stay in touch. However, if you need something a little less “connected”, subscribing to newsletters or adding contacts to your E-Marketing lists can be a useful way to stay front-of-mind. Additionally, be sure to stay in touch to find out what other events your tribe members will be attending and do your best to recreate the energy there.

No matter your technique for staying in touch, be sure to maximize each moment of being with your tribe face-to-face. Although you might not be walking away with millions of dollars, you will surely share the same sense of joy, mutual respect, accomplishment and friendship as that Ocean’s Eleven team (man, don’t you just love how they look at each other with so much admiration and tenderness).

This post is dedicated to Michael McCurry, Billy Kirsch, Tony Stubblebine, Jeff Hurt, Jessica Levin, Greg Ruby and Bob Hancock for pushing me to be my best and for their enduring friendship during PCMA EduCon 2010. Also, John Potterton, Christine Melendes and the rest of the PCMA Staff!!

This really insightful and touching commentary arrived in my inbox the other day. If you don’t know him, Billy Kirsch is a Grammy, Emmy and CMA-award winning songwriter who provides corporate team building through music and songwriting. (Watch the fun videos of how it works here.) As a critically acclaimed performer who works with some of the nation’s top event producers and planners, Billy shared with me how crucial the technical support really is when leading this type of team-building activity. Imagine investing so much time into creating such a magnificent experience and end product only to have it stilted because the AV crew was not at the same caliber.

But, I think it’s better expressed in Billy’s words:

“I’ve been a full time performer for over thirty years. That’s a lot of gigs and a lot of encounters with AV professionals. Oh….that word professional is so loosely used. Whether it’s a stage concert for thousands of people, a keynote address, or a team building event, every set-up is important and vital to those of us who putting ourselves out there in front of a group.

I recently did a corporate event in which the program required us to move off stage into the audience. Participation and mobility are a big part of this event. I submitted my usual tech requirements to the AV supplier and they said that all would be covered, including my specific request for vocal performance quality ear mics. Alas, we got to the event and found they only had lapel mics, a HUGE difference. You can’t sing through a lapel microphone, trust me! Or, what about a recent keynote address in which the stage was set with the latest hi-tech presentation tools, including great video. However, someone forgot to remove a table on stage with water bottles and a laptop. This table obscured the view of the video for half of the audience! Good AV productions companies don’t miss these kinds of details.

If you had two weeks to read this article, I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, the details matter, trust and professionalism matters. And it’s often hard to find in the world of AV production. I’ve recently become friends with Midori Connolly of Pulse Staging, a sustainable (green) AV staging company. Yes, Midori and I are friends, so my comments are not completely unbiased. But, it’s been so refreshing for me to meet someone who really gets it. Someone who understands the vital role AV plays in every event, and someone who has the pride and skills to execute events beautifully.

When I’m booked to do an event and I know the AV company personally, I’ll sleep the night before, show up on time and present a successful show. I wish this scenario was not so hard to find!

Billy Kirsch, Team Building Through Song – Kidbilly Music - www.kidbillymusic.com”

Highly recommend you subscribe to his blog…always fun and insightful!

The Junior Seau Foundation moved away from text slides to describe silent auction packages. In this picture, there was a marked increase in bidding excitement when a giant rally car raced across the screens over Warren Moon's head!

Symmetry is overrated. No, I’m not trying to blast the aesthetics of balanced Greek architecture…but I’m tired of walking into events and looking at two 9×12 screens flanking a center stage with a wooden lectern placed square in the middle. Black drape and colored uplights are generally the order of the day, if budget permits. As the meetings and events industry undergoes perhaps the greatest shakedown since Bob Seger sang about it in 1987, close attention is being paid to the quality of the content at meetings, conferences and other educational events. I don’t understand why we shouldn’t do the same for the technology showcasing this content!

Blogs such as Presentation Advisors, Midcourse Corrections and Speaking about Presenting and books such as Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology fairly beg speakers and educational managers to stop the murderous practice of boring presentations dictated by slide after slide of bullet-laden text.

But if PowerPoint is guilty of leaving a trail of slain bodies in its path…where is its trusty sidekick, AV? For too long, we’ve been lulled into what some AV companies actually refer to as the “Standard AV package”. I’m sorry, but what the heck does that mean? Oh, yes, I already described it – refer to paragraph one. So, what are the alternatives? Well, I have a few ideas and they tie into everything that my presentation advice heroes suggest:

1. Budget-friendly advice: Flip that screen on its head. Get creative with your PowerPoint design and design slides that will fit a 12×9 screen…make them vertical and see the limited space for text shakes up some of your creative thinking. You could also use one vertical and one horizontal screen and shift their content back and forth to eliminate any “I couldn’t see the speaker at all” complaints. (For example, use the vertical screen for IMAG [the camera image] and presentation content on horizontal then vice versa as slides change.)
2. Bigger production? Have some fun with some blended widescreen projection and go for the fun movie theatre effect. You don’t need a massive budget, but it will require a little creativity with content creation. Suffice to say, bullet points do NOT look great on a big widescreen! At our most recent Junior Seau event, using creative video in place of a text-based auction item description engaged the audience’ imagination as they envisioned themselves racing around with the DC Shoes team. (For more on how video can evoke emotion to engage an audience, see this post from Mike McAllen.)
3. Futuristic ideas and the sky’s the limit? The new Christie Microtiles are exciting new technology for displays. With incredible environmental sensitivity and total flexibility in design, any configuration of the tiles is possible! Or, how about handheld devices where each attendee will have the speaker’s voice, presentation slides and any audio/video right at their fingertips?? It’s closer than you think!

Gorgeous Christie Microtiles can be configured in any shape!

I’ll be posting more on the role of AV in the serial deaths of meeting attendees, but in the meantime, what great ideas have you seen to improve tired designs? What new ideas would you like to see?

For several months now, I have been excited about the potential use of netbooks/tablets within our company and for the events we service.
In anticipation of this transition, I purchased a first generation iPad this week as we are all on Mac’s and use an Apple server. So far, here are a few discoveries:

1. First off, this is not meant to be a substitute for a laptop. It’s more like the notepad that I use when listening to messages, taking part in conference calls or meetings and scribbling down random notes, but now I can insert video clips, photos or record audio notes. My next step is to use some kind of stylus for handwritten notes (but without any of the annoying hieroglyphics of the Palm Graffiti…remember that?); plus I’m a habitual doodler!

2. While presenting a live webcast, I couldn’t access my browser window on my laptop without closing the presentation. So, I opened up the browser on the iPad and was able to monitor the twitter stream for any questions or comments from the audience.

3. I’ve had many questions about which version I bought and why. We selected the non-3G version, 16GB model. A few factors impacted this decision.

• First, having wifi seemed to be enough for our use – in most cases we’ll be using them as production binders and will have Internet connections for the automatic document updates. And it is fast as blazes, so that has been a plus.
• Next, if we need to check email or calendars, we always have an iPhone in the pocket or holster. The additional $130 and $30/month charge seemed silly. In a pinch, webmail is always available on the browser.
• We didn’t think the additional memory would be necessary. My iPhone has 16GB of memory and I have not even come close to the limits.

4. In most cases, it will function as a “safe place” for note taking during meetings, writing, reading business materials, conducting research and other creative composing. I say “safe place” as it will not carry many of the distractions associated with working on my laptop (largely because of the communication features I do not intend to use – haven’t even set up my email account!). Oh, and, the e-reader functionality is fabulous.

All in all, I’m very pleased so far. Btw, he has a name. Meet iPadraig. Stay tuned as we find more uses for him and begin experimenting with future versions on showsite.

Within the events world, we all know we’re facing the greatest challenges of our industry to date. There is no need to reiterate the “shrinking budgets, environmental concerns, blah blah blah” reasons for a decline in the volume of face to face meetings. So, for Marriott to roll out a new “GoThere” (warning: link takes forever to load, grumble grumble) virtual meeting solution in collaboration with AT&T, it’s ingenious, right? Well, yes and no.

First, What Will Work

1. Reduced costs. At $500/hour for the room usage, even a three hour meeting could save thousands in hard costs for high-level executives who don’t need car service, business-class airfare or hotel (a three hour cross-country meeting could potentially require an overnight stay). I wouldn’t say there was a significant amount of savings in lost productivity as most executives are working via mobile tools during travel.
2. Access to cool technology. Costing hundreds of thousands of dollars per room, Cisco Telepresence is not something most people can utilize. This could be an opportunity for small businesses and independents to experience the system.
3. Beautiful quality. Make no mistake, the technology is gorgeous. Close to flawless. Easy to use. Nuff said.
4. Environmental impact. Obviously the reduced travel equates to reduction in an environmental footprint. Calculations can be made to estimate the reduced impact.
5. International organizations could reap massive benefits. Planned locations include Shanghai, London, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Hong Kong and eight US cities.

The Challenges

Marriott has their work cut out for them. Why?

1. You have to book multiple rooms on multiple ends to hold the meetings. That’s double the cost…and unless you have quite a few people participating in each meeting, it could be difficult to recoup the expenditure. Plus, realistically, what are the chances that your desired party happens to be in one of the planned 13 cities? That, too, could be tricky.
2. You have to travel to get to the meeting room. This still means time away from the office. Coupled with #1, if you have to travel a fair distance to get to one of the rooms, this could equate to an even higher expense!
3. Maybe the name “GO There” wasn’t the wisest choice? Just a reminder that it still requires leaving the office, unlike many in-office web conferencing suites offering decent quality and the same interactivity. I have personally experienced several video conferencing technologies using large-screen monitors and didn’t feel I was lacking much in communication abilities.
4. Decreasing market share. With the acquisition of LifeSize Communications by Logitech (yes, the mouse company), we will potentially see far more affordable options popping up in offices around the world…with little to no sacrifice in quality. (FYI, this is a company to watch, wow!) Polycom and Juniper’s new collaboration is another potential threat.
5. They will need to do extensive consumer education in order to show the best use of their technology in place of using widely available, semi-affordable collaborative tools. Assembling a long list of case studies and demonstrations will be mandatory to sell the value. I can think of many reasons to use the rooms, but I don’t see anything listed in any of the verbiage on their site.
6. Environmental calculations could be difficult. Trying to gain an estimate of the actual reduction in footprint will require manual calculations by…the client? Without automated calculators, this could be a lost metric for organizations needing the data.

Within the list of challenges, I believe there are opportunities to find new markets and new ways to use the technology. It’s going to be a tough road, but obviously Marriott didn’t make this move without serious forethought. And with giants AT&T and Cisco backing them, it’s probably not as massive of a drop of cash anyways. All things being equal, it’s exciting to see Marriott working to innovate and adapt in making videoconferencing a tool available to the public.

As meeting professionals (supplier or planner), where are the opportunities for you? Can you adapt your job duties and expertise to become an expert on this new type of meeting?