This week we had a tweetchat with European event professionals. It is a small chat we just started, but already it has given me lots of food for thought.
We were talking about scares for the events industry and @triqle mentioned seeing a “larger and larger 'imagination gap' between tech possibilities & planners”, which triggered something that I have been chewing on for a while. Are we all on the same page when it comes to event technology and social media? Or at least reading the same chapter of the same book? I wonder…
Early October I participated in a meeting with European association executives. During one of the discussion sessions we formed groups to talk about social media.
I was prepared to have in depth discussions about the use of various platforms, tech needed for specific issues, mobile and hybrid solutions, but found myself talking with quite a few associations who were just beginning to find out about new technological possibilities, never saw a tweet and not sure about the impact of a Facebook page. Never had the need for an app for their event, but in a way feeling that they should investigate. What if their members expected this?
Well, they do. Most of them. Soon.
Even though it seems that we are all using roughly the same new technologies (and I am not an early adaptor in most of them), in fact we are not. Planners, associations, exhibitors, event organizers and their visitors all have very different skills and needs when it comes to event technology, mobile platforms and social media. New segments in visitor needs, new ways to deliver content, a whole new chapter… and a need to see that we are probably not all on the same page.
It is time to address the "information and imagination gap" and start segmenting: I would love to see events where the same content could be custom made to appeal to all delegates: in classic conference setting, in unconference rooms, as a game, online, in an app, streaming… it would be really something if event technology could be tailor made for each delegate: content and community as you like it.
And if you don’t know where to start find a tech interpreter: the only way to make sure that to bridge the imagination gap, we should at least be reading the same book. With a sequel, of course.
