The Meetings innovator Autumn 2012 issue

Visit Us at the Visit Us at the Future Events ExperienceFuture Events Experience

areaareaStand O200Stand O200

Autumn 2012

9 781105 171185

ISBN 978-1-105-17118-5

MMMMEEEEEEEETTTT IIIINNNNGGGGSSSS AAAANNNNDDDD EEEEVVVVEEEENNNNTTTTSSSSTTTTEEEECCCCHHHHNNNNOOOOLLLLOOOOGGGGIIIIEEEESSSS FFFF IIII TTTT FFFFOOOORRRR“GENERATION Y”“GENERATION Y”

SPECIAL EDITION FOR

3THE MEETINGS INNOVATOR - AUTUMN ISSUE 2012

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

A WORD FROM THE EDITOR

4 THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EVENTS

8 HOW THE NEXT GENERATION OF EVENTSMANAGERS IS USING TECHNOLOGY

12 THE 2ND LONDON MEETINGSINNOVATOR SUMMIT

14 TO HYBRID OR NOT TO HYBRID YOUREVENT

16HOW CAN WE USE GAMIFICATION TOINCREASE GEN Y ENGAGEMENT AT OUREVENTS?

18 COME IN POSTER WALLS – YOUR TIME ISUP

20 EIBTM 25 SET TO DELIVER ENHANCEDFUTURE EVENTS EXPERIENCE AREA

23 EIBTM 25 INNOVATION AREA SPONSOR:NEWTONSTRAND INNOVATIONS

24 EIBTM 25 INNOVATION AREA SPONSOR: EVENTSKILLS

The “Millennial” Generation is defined as a demographic cohort, set to be born between 1983 toabout 1997, which mean that this is the last generation to experience the transition from the“Analogue” world to the “Digital” world. This generation is today’s 20 year old and those in theirearly 30’s, and they are becoming the majority of our industry clients as well as our workforce,gradually taking major decision and leadership positions and reshaping the way conferences,meetings and events will take place.As the “Baby Boomer” generation is now entering retirement and “Generation X” is occupyingmore senior positions, the main decisions and expectation settings about how meetings, eventsand conferences will be conducted are in the hands of that generation Y professionals, that do not understandhow could people communicate without mobile phones and why people still use fax machines if you have E-mails. Organisations that which to continue and conduct business in our industry need to be very aware of whatgeneration Y common expectations are.Gone are the days where you could say things like, “I’m not into social media”, or “I’m not that technologicallyknowledgeable”, you need to wake up and answer your instant message, and get yourself a smart phone whileyou at it, instead of that brick with digits you call phone. If you cannot understand that today’s meetings and events require free Wi-Fi connection as default from anyvenue, and that your attendees require a free charging station for their tablets and Smartphones, so they cancommunicate and comment on your event using social media you will not be in business for long. To help youcope with that I recommend that you read this Autumn issue and perhaps come and visit us in the “future eventsexperience” (Booth O-200) at EIBTM this November.Adi Ben Nesher

4 THE MEETINGS INNOVATOR - AUTUMN ISSUE 2012

TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

The research project I developed at theconclusion of a master in conference andevents management focuses on technologiesin events. Specifically, it is the analysis of theuse of new technologies to facilitate andenhance the audience experience at events,from the point of view of professionals. Now more than ever it is fundamental to doresearch in the events industry and develop asubstantial knowledge and awareness of thisfast-developing world. Events are a relativelynew area to be studied, and it is in constantevolution and innovation, also thanks to

technology, that nowadays has a key role.Clearly, technology is changing and improvingmany aspects of events: this is a main reason

to carry on the research, exploring much moreabout events and their evolution and keepingpace with the latest innovations able toreshape the whole events experiences. Furtherresearch in the industry can benefit eventsorganisers who desire to find ways to save timeand money, as well as improve productivityand make the whole work more effective,satisfying the audience and improvingexperiences. Then, the industry is stronglyaffected by the presence of Generation Y inevents, another reason why further research isrequired. The presence of this fast-growing

workforce in events is influencing the industry,and the need to adjust events to this newgeneration of attendees is strong. This

THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EVENTSBy Chiara Lainati


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHaudience is particularly demanding, and sincetechnology has been all around them for yearsand they have been using it constantly, theyexpect a wider use of technology andappreciate the latest cutting-edge tools. In order to gather information about thecurrent vision and use of technology in events,diverse professionals in the industry wereinterviewed for the project. This group includedprofessionals based in the UK, USA and France.The group includes an international meetingstechnology speaker and consultant, an eventsand project planner and social mediamanager, a technology expert and consultantfor meeting planners, an event managerspecifically involved in cultural/arts festivals, ameetings and conferences organiser, anevents organiser and sponsorship managerand two corporate events organisers. Despite their differences, they all recognisedand agreed that each phase of an eventrequires specific technological tools, alsoaccording to the purpose and target ofpeople to reach. Events organisers can makefull use of several tools to save time andmoney, improve their productivity, managetheir team more efficiently and approach theaudience more effectively. The pre-event phase is essential to get to knowthe audience, build relationships and marketthe event, steps than can be mainly done,according to the interviewees, using e-mailsand social media. E-mails allow eventsorganisers to send information and invitations,but also exchange enquiries and ideas. Thesame is possible with social media, with Twitterseen as the most effective to spread news,keep in touch with customers and deal withtheir requests. In general, all the popular social

media seem to play a leading role in theindustry. Their use gives a great opportunity ofvisibility for events, the development of the pre-event built-up and the marketing of the event,but also the chance of a larger engagementof the audience in all the phases. Moreover,another tool that emerged as something thatevents organisers cannot work without is theon-line registration systems, which nowadaysrepresents one of the easiest way to effectivelymanage audiences and facilitate the wholeprocess of registration.During events the range of technologiesavailable to use is massive, with literallythousands of tools for any needs. Hereattendees come to benefit from the wholeexperience, desiring a great learningexperience, while networking and beinginvolved. Some examples can be audio visualequipment, clearly one of the basic elementsto include in events, while more particularideas, such as 3D projection mapping,augmented reality or digital graffiti walls canbe fully entertaining but are less used,according to the interviewees. On site,attendees can be helped and guided byusing digital signage, but they can also makeuse of the greener e-posters. Voting padssystems are often used especially inconferences and meetings, even though nowmore often events organisers are replacingthem with mobile apps, cheaper options withthe same functionality. As regards the post-event phase, theevaluation of the event with the purpose ofimproving the future ones is essential, so thatcoming events can be strategically planned,making content choices and improving theoverall experience. Gather feedbacks and


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH opinions from the attendees improves thatevaluation. Technology can facilitate this

process, even though some professionals stillintegrate paper forms. The interviewees’preference goes to on-line survey systems, asthe most effective method to collectfeedbacks, followed by mobile apps and e-mails to keep in touch with attendees. These are just some examples to explain theirwide utility in the events’ environment, butdespite the key roles of newtechnologies in the industry, not allevents organisers seem to bekeen to increase their eventsvalue using technology. Thoseevents organisers who are stillmore reluctant in the use oftechnology should start making amore extensive use oftechnological tools and investmore, even though the currenteconomic situation certainly slowsdown the development.Technologies can be veryexpensive tools; however, they

should be carefully considered andintegrated, given the increased value of the

actual events and the long-term effectsof their use.In this environment of fast-pacedevolution of the whole concept ofevents, professionals need to shape anin-depth knowledge of technology,getting an extensive awareness of whattools are available, and need to keepconstantly up-to-date. This can help forthe correct use of those tools in theproper contexts and their success. Ifused properly, the real value oftechnology can be perceived and itcan either facilitate or enhance the

audience experience greatly. By using theright tools, events organisers can add a truevalue to their events and can also beprepared in the eyes of their customers,suggesting them the best solutions. Eventsorganisers can build their knowledge in variousways and in different environments, likeattending trade shows and association

meetings, networking with experts intechnology and consulting tech-specialists.Moreover, they can use social media, but alsosubscribe industry newsletters, read specialisedwebsites, blogs and trade magazines articles. As regards events organisers’ teams, trainingsessions would give them the chance toimprove their knowledge about technology forevents and apply it in their work environment.In this way, an aware and stimulated staffwould certainly work more efficiently andevents organisers could manage the teammore effectively for better results.As emerged, a percentage of attendees stillseem not to be familiar with technologies orkeen to learn about them, due to the elderage or the field of work that in certain casesdoes not involve the use of technology. Giventhis lack of knowledge and interest, attendees

should be trained so that they can beintroduced to the world of new technologies:in this way it would be easier for them to learnand appreciate the qualities of those tools andunderstand how they shape and improve allthe events industry.


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

http://www.psav.com/

THE MEETINGS INNOVATOR - AUTUMN ISSUE 20128

Peter Vlachos is Principal Lecturer at the University of Greenwich

Business School, where he is head of the London Centre for Events

Management

It was the start of academic term a few weeksago. As is customary, I asked a group of mystudents how their summer had been. Manyhad been busy working in the Olympic Gamesin London in a variety of capacities, withhundreds involved in paid work experience viaseveral innovative partnerships we hadarranged with Olympic suppliers. I asked this group of final year eventsmanagement students whether we could wehave delivered the Olympics if computers hadnot been around? The lecture hall

immediately fell silent in curious disbelief. Wasthis some kind of trick question, or a start ofterm joke? Clearly, if I read correctly the bodylanguage of the students, my question was

TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHDigital Natives:HOW THE NEXT GENERATION OF EVENTSMANAGERS IS USING TECHNOLOGY

By Peter Vlachos

Peter Vlachos, Director, London Centre for Events Management


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHbordering on the ludicrous. Well, I continued,think about it. The Olympics have beenaround longer than computers, how do youthink they were organised back then? After afew moments a hand went up at the veryback of the room and a young lady in the classoffered: “I guess they just got on with it, didn’tthey?”

Indeed, even in the modern era Olympics, themajority of Olympics Games have beenorganised, schedules maintained, stadia builtand so on, all long before the advent andwidespread use of computers. In fact, it was

the Montréal Olympics of 1976 that were thefirst Games to benefit from computerization onthe wider scale. A hugely successful Games,though given the legacy of debt left behind

we might wonder whether their accountingdepartment had received their computers yet!As the student at the back of the lecture hallhad correctly grasped, computers and digitaltechnology are tools to an end, not areplacement for management skills. I am fondof telling my students that if you can’t work outa budget, an event layout plan, or a marketingmix with a pencil and a blank piece of paperthen you really don’t know what you’re talkingabout. This said, however, there is no denying thatdigital technology, computers, social media,hand-held devices and the like are incrediblypowerful tools that events managers have attheir disposal which allow them potentially towork more efficiently and effectively.So how is the new generation of events

managers soon to be emerging out of ouruniversity using digital technology, and whatdoes it mean for the events industry?My first observation is that this coming

“This new digitally equipped generationhis new digitally equipped generationwill not wait long for a response from awill not wait long for a response from asupplier, it is far too easy just to go on-supplier, it is far too easy just to go on-line and find another”line and find another”


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCHgeneration of events managers, like those tofollow, are ‘digital natives’. By this I mean thatfor them, as well as their counterpart clientsand suppliers, digital technology, social media,WI-FI and cloud computing are a natural partof their living and working environment. Digitaltechnology for them is just “there” and alwayshas been “there”. They do not really worry orcare about how it works and why it works, theysimply take digital technology as a given. Inthe same way as people of my generationtook the telephone as a given whilst for our

grandparents it seemed like a near-miraculousdevice of baffling complexity, so too does thecurrent generation take digital technology asa given.The speed and ubiquitous nature of digitalmedia means that the new generation willenjoy a speed of communications withcolleagues, clients and suppliers hithertounprecedented. This new digitally equippedgeneration will not wait long for a response

from a supplier, it is far too easy just to go on-line and find another.There is of course a downside to the “alwayson” nature of digital technology, namely theconstant intrusion of work life into private life.However these categories, too, are changing.I am currently conducting research into the lifepatterns of creative industry workers. Theblurring of personal/private life has long beenthe norm in the arts and entertainment sectors.Digital technology now means that workersacross all industries will experience this

‘blurring’ as well, oftenby choice, butperhaps not always so.Speaking of beingubiquitous, I did aninformal poll in one mypost-graduate eventsmanagement classesrecently. The classcontains a mix ofstudents quite literallyfrom around theworld. It turned out100% of the studentsused Facebook on aregular basis andaround 40% were on

LinkedIN. These kinds of statistics show not onlyhow incredibly wide-spread social media havebecome globally in the younger generation,but also how digital media are no longer theexclusive domain of the West. Along with being globally connected comesthe business imperative of being globallyaware. To this end we offer both to our under-graduate and post-graduate eventsmanagement students courses on cross-

cultural communications and internationalbusiness skills e.g. leadership, negotiation, timemanagement.How the new generation of events managers

are using digital technology is also of interest.I see two trends. On the one hand, thetechnology is being used in a veryindividualistic way. By this I mean for examplethat young people have their personal ids onFacebook etc and ‘attach’ themselves towhatever pages, sites etc are of interest tothem. As we know from the marketingperspective, such attachments are easy tomake but just as easy to break. Thus the futurechallenge becomes how to retainrelationships, especially with clients, in an erawhere with a couple of clicks the electronic linkcan be severed.Concurrently, young people are using socialmedia to create project communicationshubs. However whilst these hubs clearlyfacilitate quick, two-way communications,they seem to do a less effective job insupporting the exchange of more detailedinformation and documentation. Somestudents do use ‘cloud’ computing and I

expect this will become increasingly prevalent,however at the moment it seems emailcontinues to be the fallback mode of detailedinformation exchange.The media communications theorist MarshalMcLuhan in the 1960s popularised the phrase‘the medium is the message’. By this he meantthat the media we use define and control howwe understand the world. Nowhere can wesee this more clearly than in the spread ofdigital technology. The means for exchanginginformation has become nearly inexhaustible.The real challenge is the search for creativecontent. Speaking of creativity, the issues of licensingand copyright are increasingly difficult toexplain to the younger generation. Digitaltechnology through ease of downloading, filesharing, sampling and self-publishing havetransformed the business model for creative

content. There is a danger however thatoversupply of content may be damaging trueoriginality.The benefits of digital technology are clearand the younger generation of eventsmanagers are keen to use the technology andwill continue to push its boundaries.


TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

“the future challenge becomes how to“the future challenge becomes how toretain relationships, especially withretain relationships, especially withclients, in an era where with a coupleclients, in an era where with a coupleof clicks the electronic link can beof clicks the electronic link can besevered”severed”

“the new generation will enjoy a speed“the new generation will enjoy a speedof communications with colleagues,of communications with colleagues,clients and suppliers hithertoclients and suppliers hithertounprecedented”unprecedented”

Http://www.newtonstrand.com

12

The second Meetings Innovator summit inLondon took place at The London Centre forEvents Management, University of Greenwichon the 22nd of October. Peter Vlachos, Paul Cook and Shuli Golovinskiwere the three key speakers at the event.Peter talked about “Technologies fit forGeneration Y, as a delegates and newprofessional workforce in the meetings and

events industry “. As principal lecturer andhead of the London Centre for EventsManagement, Peter shared his vastexperience about generation Y and itsexpectations as future event specialists anddelegates regarding technology used inmeetings and events. The results of a studyconducted by the University of Greenwichhaving event students as subjects showed anincreased interest in the number of owned

devises that have Internet. Interestinglyenough students though said that they woulduse more technologies in the way they dobusiness at the same time they said that stillprefer face-to-face meetings.The role and benefits of hybrid events havestarted being acknowledged more lately andtherefore, more hybrid events have startedbeing organised. Paul Cook who is the CEO of

Planet Planit but also an evangelist ofhybrid events shared his experienceabout the subject. Being previouslyinvolved as face-to-face participant,remote participant, speaker and remotespeaker at various hybrid events, Paulemphasised the importance of having abrilliant moderator that would involveremote participants and make them feelpart of the event, developing a relevantcontent for both remote and face-to-face participants and making sure thereis sufficient space for the A/V set up.The third key speaker, Shuli Golovinskitalked about “How to improve yourevent bottom line and gain new businessutilising meetings and Events

technologies“. CEO of Newtonstrand andauthor of the book “Event 3.0 – HowGeneration Y and Z re-shaping the eventsindustry“, Shuli is an innovator promotingalternatives that make use of differenttechnologies for the meetings and eventsindustry. Therefore using ePosters instead ofbanners or asking delegates' opinions duringan event by only having them scan a barcodeand showing them the results in a matter of


The 2nd London Meetings Innovator SummitBy Corina Ghioca

Peter Vlachos, Director, London Centre for Events Management

EVENT REVIEW

http://themeetingsinnovator.com

13

seconds on the screens can come as moreunconventional, innovative and sustainablemethods in comparison to traditional and lessefficient methods. These types of methodswere also linked to a high return on investmentfor companies.Delegates had the chance to participate togroup discussions on key industry topicsfacilitated by experts where they could sharetheir knowledge and get ideas from theircolleagues in the industry. The subjects wererelated to: Mobile applications for Eventplanners, Social media usage for meetings andevents, new innovative events and meetingstechnology, Gamification and mobile eventgaming, Hybrid and virtual events and onlineevent marketing. Moreover, delegates hadthe chance to pre-schedule one-to-onemeetings through the structured

Chance2Meet networking system making surethat they could meet with people they mostwanted to talk to during the event and providethem with genuine future businessconnections.

The event was organized bythe Meetings Innovator inpartnership with The LondonCentre for EventsManagement, University ofGreenwich having aspurpose helping industryprofessionals to betterunderstand the industry'sneeds in regards to presentand future technologies.

Shuli Golovinski, CEONewtonstrand innovations

EVENT REVIEW



TECHNOLOGY REVIEWTo Hybrid or Not To HybridYour Event by Paul CookPaul is the Managing director of Planet Planit, and was instru-

mental in the experimentation event, Event Camp Europe in 2011,

and an evangelist of hybrid events. He has been involved as a

remote participant, a face to face participant, a speaker and a

remote speaker at various hybrid events

Whether you decide to hold a hybrid or a non-hybrid event is always going to come down toreviewing your event objectives. I remember some years ago that I wasquestioned on the objectives of the event Iwas due to run. At the time the questionstopped me in my tracks as to be honest Ihadn’t completely considered all theobjectives. But, today I am so grateful for that invaluableadvice and it is something that I always referback to. It is pretty much a guiding principle forevent planners everywhere.So when new technology and new style eventscome along I know from experience that therecan be a tendency to get caught up in all theexcitement and forget (inadvertently) the keybasic principle of remembering just what theevent objectives are. A hybrid event in bringing together both faceto face and remote participants for a sharedexperience in real time creates a lot of energy,planning, challenges and moments ofbrilliance for event planners. And for manyevent planners, hybrid events can appear tobe the latest craze. They can also appear tobe more time consuming and more expensive(general perceptions – I have found). My view is that hybrid events have their place

in the event industry landscape alongsidetraditional face to face events and virtualevents. They are certainly not going to replacethese other event types but just add to the mix. So rather than hold a hybrid event becauseyou think you should I would urge you to goback to the basic rule of what is your event allabout, what are the event objectives? As much as new technology and ideas comealong and sweep people away I believe thatnegative perception works just as swiftly indismissing ideas before they are tried.

In a similar way to social media beingaccepted as more than a passing fad, I seeevent professionals in all sectors; whether asvenue suppliers, event suppliers or planners willneed to understand the impact andopportunity that is provided via extending thereach of an audience through hybrid events. If you are an event professional are you going

Paul Cook , Managing director. Planet Planit

“Hybrid events are here to stay andthey already have an impact on theevents landscape “


TECHNOLOGY REVIEWto wait until hybrid events are accepted asbeing ‘the norm’ or are you going to putyourself ahead of your competition by seekingout the new skills/processes that are requiredin running a truly successful hybrid event? Not all events have to be hybrid and that issomething that will come as a relief to someevent professionals but for those that want todevelop their skills and become even morevaluable to their clients then the opportunityand challenge of hybrid events is calling you. Hybrid events are here to stay and theyalready have an impact on the eventslandscape and that is set to become onlystronger given the key issues facing all sorts oforganizations on the need for keep costs aslow as possible, maximizing return oninvestment and of course not developing acarbon footprint the size of the Sahara.

Reviewing your event objectives will soonmake it clear as to how a hybrid event will helpor hinder your objectives. In fact it is only by knowing what the objectivesare that you will be able to brief all suppliersand staff correctly and the only way you willbe able to ensure that the description of yourevent is not ambiguous as you market yourevent to potential delegates. Yes the latest desire may be for you to hold ahybrid event to keep up with fellowcompetitors but make sure you understandwhat the benefits and challenges will be andsee how they fit with your event objectives. If itworks then great but if a hybrid event doesn’tthen that’s ok as well. Just make sure you know the answer to “whatare your event objectives?” and you will knowfor sure what type of event format you need.


By Tobi Beresford

Toby is a startup founder based in Google Campus, London, UK. He

is a founder of Leaderboarded which you can use to create your

own dynamic leaderboard. In the past he developed social games

on Facebook for big brands, community software for small groups

and enterprise web apps for massive corporations.

Gen Y is anyone born after 1980 and grew upwith video games and the internet. They’venever known a world without modern technol-ogy.A recent MTV workplace survey found thatGen Y expected their jobs to reflect their so-cial, fun lifestyle. They treasured autonomy andflexibility. At our events we all too often see the mis-match between expectation and reality. GenY’ers who expect a social, fun experience willquickly tune out and turn to digital devices totune in to what’s happening with their friendsonline.This ‘digital distraction’ isn’t just confined toGen Y’ers. Many who should know better, findthemselves down a rabbit warren of interestingtwitter posts and people before they knowwhere they are.For event organisers, Gen Y expectations pres-ent both a problem and an opportunity. Acontent program designed for previous gener-ations, a speaker at the front and a couple ofcoffee breaks, might not resonate, but thatgives the chance to do something new.What are the options for a self respectingevent organiser?Some have turned to gamification, the art ofapplying game mechanics and thinking to realworld problems.

Harsha McArdell at MediaTel playground, anevent for the media barons of the advertisingindustry, found one solution in the form of an

event leaderboard. With the help of Leader-boarded.com, she created a leaderboardthat tracked twitter activity on the event hash-tag #mediatel. The leaderboard captured the interest of GenY’ers at the event (photo above), who be-haved exactly as she hoped – tweeting more,sharing photos of themselves on the leader-board with their online social networks.The question for us to ask is, why did it work?And then, how can we use similar gamificationtechniques at our own events?The answer, explains Gabe Zichermann, authorof ‘Gamification by Design’ and the world’sleading ‘Gamification Guru’, comes down to“Fun, Feedback and Friends”

Gen Y’ers are looking for something Fun thatengages their attention. They expect constantand frequent Feedback. Finally, they want ex-periences which helps them engage with theirFriends.In video games, feedback is most often seenthrough accumulation of ‘points’: as I do anactivity, I see my points increase, and so I knowI am doing the right thing.

How can we use Gamification to increase Gen Yengagement at our events?

Toby Beresford, Founder , Leaderboarded.com

16

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS


Imagine the travails of a Gen Y’er accustomedto instant feedback on every action, dumpedinto a stuffy corporate environment, where theonly real feedback they get is a one hour an-nual performance review!That’s why companies like Work.com andYammer have added ‘badge’ giving to theirsoftware so that managers and peers can reg-ularly praise colleagues by awarding them avirtual badge. This mutual, frequent, back slap-ping may seem facile but it is no different inGen Y’s mind from a ‘well done’ or ‘thank you’.Something that is easy to say when we’re all inthe same place, but often gets left out in in-creasingly digital workplaces.So points, badges and leaderboards – thebuilding blocks of gamified experiences – are

now available to be used at events. But howshould we use them?This is where a good understanding of gamifi-cation is required. Points without reward aremeaningless. Badges without scarcity aren’tworth having. And a leaderboard that is easyto game (cheat at) will quickly turn everyoneoff.Successful gamification starts with an under-standing of your audience – who are they,how do they like to behave, how can we facil-itate and encourage them?Rewards are going to be important to yourgamified event but they don’t need to cost

much to work well. Gamification designersthink in terms of SAPS – Status Access PowerStuff.Status is about being singled out, over andabove our peers. At an event that might meanputting their name in lights on the big screen.The Oscars aren’t much more than the opinionof other film execs, they don’t bring the winnermuch more than an enamelled statue, butthey are venerated by millions worldwide.

Access is summed up by the VIP room at anightclub. Yes, it’s just a cordoned off area, butwe’d like to get in there nonetheless. For yourevent that might be giving the top tweeters onthe leaderboard access to the media coffeearea.

Power is generally thought of as ‘power overothers’ – customer support software providerLithium gives frequent contributors the ability toedit the contributions of others.

Stuff is, to some extent, our last resort. The iPador £25 book token for winning the day. Butthese incentives do work.

A gamified audience might necessitate an en-tirely different structure. Take the hackathon forexample. A hackathon is a game-like confer-ence designed to appeal to talented pro-grammers frustrated at the lack of creativeopportunity in their day job. Participants mustuse the sponsoring organisation’s software tocreate an innovative solution to the problemset. The eventual winner gets a ‘badge’ andbragging rights over their peers.“Speed networking” sessions alternatively ap-peal to newbies who arrive an event without alist of existing contacts they plan to catch upwith. The points in this case are simply the num-ber of business cards they can accumulate ina short space of time. Gamification then isn’t a one size fits all for-mula, it’s a set of techniques that you canapply to delight your own audience.

17

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

Gen Y’ers take photos of themselves on the Leaderboardat a recent event and then share on Facebook.

COME IN POSTER WALLS –YOUR TIME IS UPBy Chris Goodman

You can often tell how on track an organisa-tion is with its sustainability agenda. Simply raisethe topic during conversation with a responsi-ble party, watch the body language, andmake what you will of either the brag-list or thepre-rehearsed diatribe. An even more interest-ing angle is to raise the subject with a servicepartner to that organisation or industry, partic-ularly if their future business opportunities are

likely to be adversely affected by it. Take a conversation I had with a contact ofmine who works in printing and has for manyyears produced thousands of posters for con-ferences and trade shows. His response was tospeak about his company’s strategy for newbusiness penetration in to other sectors, mov-ing swiftly on to football! He dodged the ques-tion, basically.

To be fair, I don’t blame him. As the events in-dustry increases its corporate social responsibil-ity awareness there are a number of keylong-term target areas of concern, howeverit’s where the short-term differences can beapplied that will kick start these initiatives.

Take the tried and trusted poster walls, for ex-ample. In sectors such as science, biomed &medical they are omnipresent and seen bymany a frequent attendee as part of the day.However, if you scratch beneath the surfaceand look at just what goes in to facilitatingthese areas, it strikes a negative on the tick-sheet. From a sustainability perspective thereare the printing costs for the posters themselves

and also those of the atten-dees printing off summaries.Also factor in the cost per-spective of hiring the largespace required and settingthe area up.

Sustainability and innovationare two hot topics that havethe ability to complementeach other well on a numberof levels. Take the standardsrequired of the events indus-try under the much dis-cussed BS8901 legislation. It’shere, and it requires us all tothink and act more with re-gards to minimising the neg-ative social, economic andenvironmental effects per-

taining from our activities as a whole. We donot need to spend to save, nor do we need tochannel more time and logistics towards alter-natives. It’s all about establishing best practiceboth internally and externally, not to mentionquantitative and qualitative benchmarkingopportunities that will enable us to establishand implement the right strategy.


Traditional poster hall in a medical conference

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW


No more was this highlighted during March’sCONFEX exhibition at Excel in which a numberof us spend an insightful afternoon in the com-pany of the MPI. On the agenda were a seriesof intriguing presentations on a variety of sus-tainability topics attended by professionalsfrom across the industry. It brought home howseriously the subject is being addressed andduring an individual table discussion we sharedideas as to how it can be achieved both lo-cally and globally. Technology was discussed,but did not seem to be so universally under-stood. Returning back to the posters themselves,what of the producers? Currently they will pro-duce and submit artwork and will sometimeshave a staff member on site to attempt todraw attention to the poster, as if they were ex-hibiting. At the end of the event they can onlybase their experience on the responses theygenerate thereafter and even if they aremeeting people during the day, they can onlyestimate their success rate at best. Providingan electronic solution such as E-Posters inwhich they can be told accurately how manyviews they have received and how many en-quiries it has generated can only be good,right? If it was my event I would be using thatinformation to cement my relationships withthese organisations and where appropriate toup-sell the more successful to exhibiting orsponsorship tiers for the next one. On the subject of sponsors, I feel an increasingtrend amongst them is to encourage innova-tion and to have their brands associated withit, which opens up doors of its own thus makingthe implementation of electronic alternativesa no-brainier. Having their brand seen to beencouraging such initiatives within their targetevent spaces will to some degree assist themwith their own, providing the opportunity foryou to increase existing and/or build commer-cial relationships with new solution providersand sponsors. In May of this year I attended IMEX over in

Frankfurt and spent the best part of three daysmeeting a variety of professionals across the in-dustry. I was also given the opportunity to hosta campfire session in which a group of us dis-cussed the need for technology to makedeeper industry in-roads and I was impressedwith just how switched on more people are be-coming to the concept as a whole. It’s also noaccident that the “technology area” at theback of the event was busy all three days, ar-guably one of the successful areas of the exhi-bition considering its location. The E-Posters themselves don’t just look reallygood, they also considerably reduce the

space required, the LED screens energy con-sumption is low (as are the accompanying pro-duction costs) and they offer an easy to usefacility to browse through. As innovation andsustainability continue to walk hand in handwe will all surely watch with interest as the in-dustry evolves further towards it.

E-Poster solution in use

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW


As a direct result of last year’s success, EIBTM25 will deliver an enhanced Future EventsExperience with new elements and additionalcontributors to the area. The innovative featurearea on the show floor will provide adedicated space where exhibitors and buyerscan experience and interact with the latest incutting-edge technology and events servicesavailable in the market.

In partnership with Newtonstrand andEventskills, the Future Events Experience willincorporate innovative speaker presentations,a live demonstration area showcasingpioneering technology and a number ofnetworking and education opportunities for allattendees. A full list of events taking place in

the Future Events Experience can be found atwww.eibtm.com/future

Graeme Barnett, Exhibition Director of EIBTMcommented, “There is no doubt thattechnology within the meetings industry and infact across all industries is progressing at anexponential rate. As the world’s leading eventfor the meetings and events industry, it is of

primary importance that we not only ensurewe are offering the latest in technologicalinnovations for our own show but also that weare helping all of our attendees learn aboutthe latest products and trends so that they canutilise these when driving their own businessesforward.”

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND -EIBTM 25 SET TO DELIVER ENHANCED FUTURE EVENTS EXPERIENCE AREA

The “Chance2Speak stage” Full educational schedule between 27th to 29th from 10:30 AM to 16:30 PM

WHAT TO SEE AT EIBTM 2012

“The Future Events Experience is designed toprovide a platform which will directly allowvisitors to interact and experience differenttechnology and innovative services that theycan use for their next event, conference ormeeting.” concluded Barnett.The Future Events Experience will incorporatethe ‘Experts Clinic’ this year. The new drop inclinic will provide a platform for all attendeesto meet with experts in meetings and eventstechnology. The experts will be available toconsult attendees on all event technologyrelated subjects.Attendees can also benefit from the ‘Ask theExperts’ panel, which will take place onWednesday 28th November, 10:30-11:30,facilitated by Corbin Ball, CEO of Corbin BallAssociates. Attendees will have theopportunity to speak with leading events andmeeting technology experts about the latestinnovation and trends as well as how to utiliseit best in future conferences, meetings orevents.

Newtonstrand’s Chance2Speak platform willalso return for the EIBTM Future EventsExperience. This innovative platform providesdelegates with the opportunity to become aspeaker at EIBTM with a 20-30-minute time slotto share their views on a topic of their choice.To apply for a Chance2Speak slot, visitwww.eibtm.com/chance2speak


Be sure to attend the “Experts Panel” moderated by Corbin Ball The future events experience area on Wednesday the 28th at 10:30 AM


experience Mobile

our latest product from the most loving event software company on

earth

how do we love you? let us count the ways:

scan to learn more

design & publish your own mobile app

create as many mobile apps as you want

one low price per mobile app

drag-n-drop your event data to mobile

happy attendees that love you

Learn more about etouches by visiting:

experiencei MobileMo

soft

experience

o t

o

enc

e

e ce

h

ie

l l

Mo

ou

mpeart

e comarng

wsoftvin he most loodu

tod est prest p latour lat

bileMo

y on ane compent ving evom oduct fr

e low do who ou? let us count te yve lo

y me as man ny moeatcr

lish ydesign & pub

he w

heart

ou? let us count t

ou wbile apps as yy mo

bile appwn moour olish y

ys: ahe w

antou w

bile app

scan t en moro learscan t

endees ty atthapp

our evop yag-n-drdr

w price per moone lo

oue yvhat loendees t

o moa tent datour ev

bile appw price per mo

bile

n morearL hes bouce about etn mor y visiting:hes b

Partnering with EIBTM to run the Future EventsExperience area for the second time,Newtonstrand Innovations Limited continue toshowcase their revolutionary ideas andsolutions for the ever-changing meetings Newtonstrand provide innovative technologysolutions to help you create the most powerfuland interactive meeting “experience” foryour delegates. Solutions include digitalposter displays, LiVESTUDiO eventbroadcasting, structurednetworking with Chance2Meet,post-event virtual solutions,interactive voting andspeaker-audiencetechnology as wellas Chance2Speak- allowingdelegates to havetheir say during yournext event. Get yourdelegates involved at yournext event and ensure itssuccess!Newtonstrand Product rangeincludes:Chance2Meet: Turn your next event into avibrant business networking platform for yourdelegates using structured networking. Allowyour delegates to make genuine businessconnections for the future.

Chance2Speak: For attendee generatedcontent at your event - allow your eventdelegates to stand up and have their say…used extensively at EIBTM at the Future EventsExperience areaChance2Vote: Increase your speaker-audience interactivity. Let them influence…Chance2Ask: Increase the speaker-audience

interaction by allowing audience membersto ask questions to the speaker without

interfering with the rest of the listenersproviding a more productive flowE-Posters: An interactive, on-line,

collaborative platform forevent participants,

offering opportunitiesto share knowledgeand interact prior to,

and during the actualevent

LiVESTUDiO: Turn your eventfloor to a full live broadcasting

TV station! E-Exhibition Extend the life of

exhibitions and conferences throughpost-event on-demand virtual engagement

E-Event Continually generates revenue fromyour conference and extends your marketingreach even months after the actual event

HTTP://WWW.NEWTONSTRAND.COM


INVITEINVITETOTO

NETWORKNETWORKEIBTM STAND O200

27TH NOVEMBER AT 16:30Newtonstrand Innovations Limited invites the “MeetingsInnovator” readers to attend the “welcome networkingreception” at the Future events experience area ,Meet and network with other professionals

and have a chance to meet newprofessional contacts and

friends




24

For the second year Event Skills (formally partof SyncPartners), have partnered with ReedExhibitions to produce the “future eventsexperience” area. This year the areaeducational aspect will be enhanced by thesponsored “expert clinic” section whereindustry top companies and experts will deliverhalf an hour training and productdemonstration sessions in a very open andfriendly atmosphere.Event skills are a global training companyspecialising in technology training formeetings, conferences and eventprofessionals.

Event skills have set their aims to:Provide meeting and event professionals•with knowledge and understanding of howto utilise different relevant technologies Provide tools and hands-on experience in•event and meeting technologies Enable event and meeting professionals•have better engagements with eventtechnology suppliers and provide bettervalue for their delegates using technologyLead attendees in the journey to discover•the advantages of incorporatingtechnology into events, as well as takingaway the working knowledge and skillsrequired to find the best technologiesavailable

Event skills have designed their coursesaccording to the accelerated learningdiscipline in order to create the best learningexperience for the delegates. The courses arevery hands-on and interactive to ensurelearners get a heightened learning experienceversus a traditional seminar/classroom stylestructure. There are some “traditional” learningparts of the programme but in general theypromise an increased level of group activitywhere learners can interact with andexperience technologies for their projectneeds. This means that all modules aredesigned and developed specifically forprofessionals and meeting planners in theevents industry ensuring that no training is toogeneral. All content delivered will be relevant,important and essential for the success andROI of future events. In addition Classes arekept at 15-20 delegates provide an enhancedlearning environment and experienceoutcome. So each learner will have theopportunity to learn and use differenttechnologies to feel confident when discussingand negotiating technologies with suppliersand sponsors; and bringing them to their nextevent.


Events & Technologies , Simplified

Come and attend 1/2 hour trainingsessions running 3 times a day at the“FUTURE EVENT EXPERIENCE”

Stand O200


FINALLY GET INFORMED, UP TO SPEED AND COMFORTABLE WITH THE TECHNOLOGIES SHAPING TODAY’S EVENTS.

C

N E X T S E S S I O N S W I L L B E H E L D I N L O N D O N , P A R I S , B R U S S E L S A N D A M S T E R D A M

h

echnology

THEWITH GETYFINALLLY

OGIECHNOLTE THEORMEDFIN GET

SHAPINGSOGIE SPEEDOTUP, ORMED

echnoTechnology

EVENTS’YAAYODT SHAPINGORFOMC AND SPEED

, logyy,

.S EVENTABLETTABLEOR

MAA N D

, SA R IPB E H E L D I N

SE X T N

T E R D A MSM

SE LS SR UBO N D O NLB E H E L D I N

W I L LSI O NS SE

, O N D O N

W I L L

S P E C I A L R A T E

s a l e s @ e v e n t s k i l l s . c o mF o r e x a c t d a t e s a n d v e n u e s p l e a s e c o n t a c t o u r s a l e s t e a m a t

S’P C O F O R SS P E C I A L R A T Ew w w . e v e n t s k i l l s . c o m

s a l e s @ e v e n t s k i l l s . c o mF o r e x a c t d a t e s a n d v e n u e s p l e a s e c o n t a c t o u r s a l e s t e a m a t

E N D I N G M O R E T H A N 3 P A R T I C I P A N TSSw w w . e v e n t s k i l l s . c o m

+ 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 3 1 5 0 0 7 7 9 o r a t - s a l e s @ e v e n t s k i l l s . c o mF o r e x a c t d a t e s a n d v e n u e s p l e a s e c o n t a c t o u r s a l e s t e a m a t

E N D I N G M O R E T H A N 3 P A R T I C I P A N Tw w w . e v e n t s k i l l s . c o m

+ 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 3 1 5 0 0 7 7 9F o r e x a c t d a t e s a n d v e n u e s p l e a s e c o n t a c t o u r s a l e s t e a m a t

SE N D I N G M O R E T H A N 3 P A R T I C I P A N T

+ 4 4 ( 0 ) 2 0 3 1 5 0 0 7 7 9F o r e x a c t d a t e s a n d v e n u e s p l e a s e c o n t a c t o u r s a l e s t e a m a t


WE ARE LOOKING FOR CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS AND SPEAKERSWE ARE LOOKING FOR CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS AND SPEAKERSThe Meetings Innovator is an industry source of knowledge and education regardinginnovation and technology for events via a quarterly publication and regular city events(summits). Essential for meeting planners, the Meetings Innovator keeps the industry up-to-date about how the format of events is changing and what technologies are contributing tothose changes.We are keen to involve all industry experts to allow them to “take the stage” and share theirknowledge about relevant technologies and significant industry changes to the summitparticipants. The events will take place in the local language, so we are looking for bothEnglish and non-English speakers (eg Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch etc). In return,we will provide you with exposure at our summits and in our quarterly magazine (sent to 25,000industry professionals), as well as providing you with a platform to promote your ideas, interestsand opinions.If you are interested in taking part and speaking at one of the summits to share your expertknowledge with the industry, please contact us on [email protected]

WE HAVE MOVED TO OUR NEW OFFICESOur new Address is:58 South Molton Street, London, W1K 5SLPhone: +44(0)2081232391E-Mail: [email protected]

CONTACT US

AVERY HILL . GREENWICH . MEDWAY

Our Business School offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in:

� Events management� Marketing� Public relations� Tourism

The School’s London Centre for Events Management provides research and consultancy to the events industry.

A

placeto studyplaceatOur Business School offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in:

� Events management� Marketing� Public relations� Tourism

The School’s London Centre for Events Management provides research and consultancy to the events industry.

placeto studyplace

E-mail [email protected] or visit www.gre.ac.uk/business

The Global Meetings & Events Exhibition27 – 29 November, 2012Fira Gran Via, Barcelona, Spain

CELEBRATING

3100International

exhibitors

FIVE STARbusiness

opportunities

Venues

Hotels

Eventservices

NEW: The EIBTM Forum

Tailored Hosted Buyer® programmes

Destinations

Technology

Businesstravel

suppliers

Professional education

Networking and connections

Keep up to date

New technology

Industry trends

NEW: Business travel

NEW INSPIRATION

EIBTM is the must attend show of the year with global suppliers from every sector of the meetings, events and business travel industry. Attend EIBTM and maximise your time and connections through the power of face-to-face meetings.

Organised ByFind us on:

EIBTM is part of Reed Travel Exhibitions’ Global IBTM Events Portfolio:

Register as a visitor or apply to be a Hosted Buyer® today www.eibtm.com/mi

One global event, unlimited opportunities

Documents

The Meetings innovator Autumn 2012 issue