27 | EIBTM Show Daily 1

Tuesday 1st December

TECHNOLOGY

Ruud Janssen Soon attendees Preparing who

and Sam Smith spread will demand
interactive events
to network with
and being informed
the (tech) word and reject organisers in order to have Tomorrow:
Ruud is a marketing entrepreneur and founder of that stuff them meaningful EIBTM 2009
The New Objective Collective. Sam is a technology in chairs for 5-6 encounters WorldWide
consultant and editor. They were both panellists hours per day is the next step Technology
of the EIBTM WorldWide Technology Watch and to listen to speakers in networking Watch
will be discussing “top technologies for your 2010
shopping list, without breaking the budget” during Winner
the Technology Hour*. They know about trends, Budgets are tight and technology companies often have to convince
clients to spend their money on “fancy gadgets”. Is this realistic in
Presentation
marketing and technology. It made sense to have a today’s economic situation? & Drinks
word with them.
Sam: If I were an event organiser Ruud: If it is possible to spread the Reception
*Today at 13:00, Conference Room 4.2 considering the latest event tech- message, retain it more effectively
nology, I would concentrate on the and to reach and influence a larger When?
Wednesday
value that these tools provide for audience, any organisation will have 2nd December
me. What new things can I do with to first seriously review the needs 14.05 14.30
this tool and what can I stop doing? of their audience and then change
How will it change my attendee the way they communicate. Budgets Where?
experience? What are my event’s are a reflection of communication Conference Centre Room, 4.2
biggest challenges and how does needs. The question is: in a world of
this tool help solve them? Then I abundant communication, do you Pathable, this year’s winner will
would formulate my strategy and have the skills and tools to provide present a short overview of their
only then would I consider the vari- a platform for effective dialogue? winning technology product for
ous technology options. If you start the meetings industry followed
with the technology, you increase by a drinks reception.The pre-
your odds of ending up with the sentation will be held just after
wrong tool. the Technology Hour.
Pathable has won a free stand
Our industry is generally not very tech-savvy. Why should meeting How should our industry react to the rise of virtual events? Resist to exhibit at the MPI Technology
planners need to put some “bytes” into their work? them? Embrace them? Village @ EIBTM
Sam: The way people are consuming Ruud: The fad of collecting and Ruud: Serving the virtual attendee
information is changing. People are caching personal contacts and URL’s, Stand P145
getting used to having two-way documents and presentations is hit-
First analyse your has become a fact of life. You can do
it reactively or proactively but you
interactive experiences with their ting an all time high. The need to needs and define can certainly not ignore that this
digital media. For example, CNN.com have a meaningful dialogue instead your strategy: new audience is on the rise. Through
allows you to watch the news, read of broadcasting to like-minded sets
If you start with technology you can contribute, audit,
the news, report the news, [and] of people is a need that emerges
the technology,
view, record or be virtually present SoftCongres
upload your photos or videos of the
news. The news is no longer some-
out of the abundance of (micro)
blogs, sites and newsfeeds.
you increase your
at any respectable event that takes
their subject matter seriously. Can
launches
thing you consume - it is something
odds of ending up an association afford not to engage tool to
that you create. And social media
has accelerated people’s comfort Serving the virtual with the wrong tool
their virtual audience?
count event
with two-way experiences. Soon
attendees will demand interactive
attendee has become attendees
events and reject organisers that a fact of life How many people came? How
Could recommend one technological innovation which can offer a many are in room A? How
stuff them in chairs for 5-6 hours
very high ROI? many passed by the sponsor
per day to listen to speakers.
Sam: I would pick virtual meetings and hybrid events, which cut costs, area? These questions can be
Networking is an obsession but the coffee break is still the only build communities and include more people in events than ever before. answered by myCounter, a new
way to network at many meetings. How does technology help in As an example, Cisco cut their event expenses by 90% by hosting a vir- tool by SoftCongres to count
networking? tual meeting. And 35% of their attendees reported that they would like the number of people in events.
to attend a face-to-face event in the future. Another benefit is using The service consists of a physi-
Sam: Better networking starts with Ruud: Preparing who to network the hybrid format as a complement to a face-to-face event to include cal counting tool which works
understanding the attendee’s net- with and being informed in order more people. ITU’s Telecom World had 40,000 participants onsite and with two cameras and spots the
working objectives, creating activities to have meaningful encounters and broadcast the conference to over 100,000 people. But virtual events are movement of people. The infor-
that correspond to those objectives conversations is the next step in not right for all meetings. Forbes recently published a report for which mation is then processed by a
and providing tools that help them networking. Getting prepared, se- they interviewed 750 executives that agreed that virtual events are best central computer with an error
answer important questions about lecting and following up on which for “presenting data” and “information dissemination.” In all other cases, tolerance of between 2% and
others: Who else is here? What do dialogues you have engaged in is face-to-face meetings were the best solution. 4%. This solution allows users
they look like? What do I have in exactly what technology will help us to quantify the flow of people
common with them? How can I con- do. The devices change, the connec- (their direction of movement),
nect with them during and after tion volume and reach grows, and the time they stay in each place
the event? Services like Pathable, technology enables us to separate and the occupancy of each hall.
Spotme, and Badge2Match help the quality conversations from the
attendees answer those questions. gibberish. Stand: P285