Unconference: Room for Open Space

September 22nd, 2009 3 comments

Conference and trade show organizers tend to be conservative in terms of content issues. I rarely see any major events breaking from the traditional model of pre-set agenda, presentations, 5 minutes q&a, maybe with an occasional “birds of a feather” session, or hospitality event. But I’ve tried to keep tabs on the Open Space Technology movement, commonly referred to as “unconference.” A couple of great sites are available to give you an overview on this meeting structure: Open Space World includes a great collection overview information and links about the Open Space community. Unconference.net is more Read more…

A Project That’s Going Well and Does Some Good

September 17th, 2009 No comments

I’m working on an awards program for a specific sector of the security market and it’s going very well. I’ve done awards programs before, but never one this extensive or ambitious–they’re presenting over 30 different awards. The client knows the market well, saw and opening and leapt in, in spite of the recession. They’ve created a great buzz and hundreds of companies have submitted paid nominations. When I talk to people outside of the industry, I always get a funny look about awards programs–people assume that these are cynical productions. The thing is, the people who receive these awards really appreciate them. I’ve seen men cry at these things. Many people work very hard with very little recognition. Getting a group of colleagues together to salute good work isn’t such a bad thing.

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Professional Standards for Virtual Events

August 29th, 2009 No comments

I was interested to see that VirtualEdge announced the creation of a new Virtual Edge Institute education program, dedicated to “advancing the development and adoption of virtual event and meeting technology and best practices for collaboration and marketing.” Michael Doyle at VirtualEdge has a lot of great experience in this area. A great certification program could be created, which would allow us to add an acronym on a business card–maybe CVMP (Certified Virtual Meeting Professional)? It would be nice to see, eventually, established standards and best practices for a wide range of virtual and hybrid events. It would be nice just to see everyone using the same vocabulary.

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The Big $ocial: Forrester Media Projections

July 16th, 2009 No comments

This great post from Brian Solis gives a good breakdown of Forrester’s five year forecast on interactive advertising spending. While the bulk of this revenue comes from search, the highest compound annual growth rate is in social media, at 34% and increasing to over $3 billion by 2014. As we’ve argued frequently in these posts, event media is (or must become) social media. Thus we take a bit of warmth in this cold winter of our recession.
In terms of scale and innovation, B2C marketers are way out on the cutting edge of creating a social media marketing experience, and this Mashable post about the same Forrester Read more…

A Universe of Free Social Media Tools

June 19th, 2009 1 comment

I’m endless fascinated by opportunities to integrate free social media tools into events. Junta42 features an excellent slide presentation on the 10 Best Kept Secrets of Social Media by Scott Abel, which was part of his presentation at Web Content 2009. Without any audio, some pages are a little opaque, but a quick scan should give you a handful of new ideas (blow it up to full screen size to read the small copy): Read more…

When Does Event Co-Location Work?

June 12th, 2009 6 comments

This is a story about two trade shows, and the slippery subject of industry alignment. I spent Wednesday this week at Medical Design & Manufacturing East, a Canon Communications production at the Javits Center. At least I think I did. The trade show floor is a Balkanized map of several events including East Pack, Atlantic Design & Manufacturing, Automation Technology Expo, and Green Manufacturing Expo. As you move about the floor, you pass from show to show, sometimes without knowing it. The exhibitors I spoke with were not concerned about, and some were not even aware of, the patchwork configuration of this event. In this case the event is big enough to mitigate any confusion. Automation technology professionals might wander into the Medical Design event, Read more…

Keys to the Kingdom

June 1st, 2009 No comments

Last year I picked up a copy of PHP & MySQL Web Development, and began the painful process of slogging through 5-10 pages a day (it’s over 800 pages long). I’m not a software developer, and sometimes people ask why I subject myself to a phone book’s worth of techno-jargon. Why don’t I just hire a developer to do the work I need? In fact I do hire developers. But unless I understand the nuts and bolts of the technology, It’s like trying to write a novel knowing only half the letters and nothing of grammar.

Relational database management has to be the beating heart of any B2B media model. And TCP/IP has to be Read more…

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What I’ve Been Working On

May 15th, 2009 No comments

I‘ve tried hard to make B2BPresence at least a weekly part of my work. However, I’ve recently been very busy launching a new concept for business events at my company, Cnxtd Media Corp. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows of my fascination with all forms of “hybrid events.” Hybrid events combine both live and webcast components, occur in real time, and involve direct person-to-person contact.

I’ve felt, for a long time, that there are inefficiencies in the traditional trade show/conference model that can be remedied through a judicious use of technology (nothing cutting edge) and a business Read more…

More Recession-Resistant B2B Opps: Appointment Events

April 29th, 2009 No comments

A discussion about new models for B2B event would be incomplete without a look at appointment events. I’ve seen an up-trending in two appointment formats: 1. The pure play appointment event. At these events, sponsors pay for, and are guaranteed a certain number of one-on-one meetings with potential clients. 2. The speed-networking approach, where an attendee and sponsor are brought together at a pre-existing event by the organizers.
1. The pure play appointment event: Min’s B2B recently ran an interesting article on appointment events, featuring Questex’s Mclean Events. As with the executive roundtables, this format is well-suited for tough Read more…

Important Events About the Future of Events

April 20th, 2009 No comments

Just as there are many songs about singers and many books about writers, there are many conferences about producing events. I recently came across an event that actually understands the current digital evolution in event media: VirtualEdge 2009 has assembled an impressive program of event producers and technology leaders in a program that emphasizes business imperatives over technological flash.

I spoke with the event producer. Michael Doyle is a B2B veteran with experience in both print and event media. VirtualEdge 2009 reflects the coming transformation in event media. Especially impressive is a slate of speakers that includes Nielsen, Ziff Davis, and United Business Media. These are companies that are on the front lines of B2B event media evolution. The concurrent technology showcase has a unique format, with individual meeting rooms with interactive demonstrations. They’re developing the audience for this event as a community, Read more…