The art of letting go

When I read about event trends there is a lot of talk about co-creation, audience involvement, peer-to-peer sessions, whitespace, unconference sessions, sharing of ideas and so on. 

I wonder: how do we all feel about this trend? For sure it sounds great to have visitors and exhibitors a say in the way the event evolves, but how about the goals and strategies of the organizers? Are they ready to share their ideas about growth, development, content and formats? It will be hard to let go of the driver’s seat….

However, if the meetings industry does not give more stakeholders a voice in its development, it might end up empty handed. It is not about the brands we create, but about the opinion others have about our brands. An opinion that used to be hidden in post-event surveys, and now is shared on social media for all to see. Real-time, as the event takes place. It’s up to the event to turn this into a true conversation – and embrace the invitation to build the future …. together.

Just this week the company that I work for, RAI Amsterdam, started to let go – a little bit.

We started a blog on our website that will enable a lot of RAI employees (chef, event supervisor, sales manager, marketeer, CEO , and more) to share their own thoughts on aspects of the meetings industry. A brave idea that will, hopefully, turn out to be a multi-facetted view of the world of events. Written from an organizer/venue perspective maybe, but always with an open invitation to all stakeholders to join in our conversation. And co-create.

Scary? Maybe. Interesting? For sure. New discussions? I hope so. To be honest…I can’t wait!

(I kicked off the series, my first official blogpost can be found here: http://bit.ly/1LmpZ8P . About trends, what else? :-) )

Fusion – old and new

This week my father published a book. An old fashioned one, with paper pages, a nice cover and a great introduction.

It’s in Dutch, and shares some observations about today’s Dutch society. My dad was/is a sociologist and has written more books in his lifetime – real studies, big issues, true problems. 

Not to be compared to the things I sometimes scribble – everybody has their own talent.

But here’s the thing – my dad was born in 1928. And even though he is well in his eighties, he still has a sharp mind and the wish to share his thoughts on paper – and with his family, children, grandchildren and friends. He has interesting views to share with us. From a different perspective, with a unique life experience, and with a different idea about the things we don’t think twice about anymore – such as tweeting, blogging, giving our data to apps  and stuff. 

In the conversations we have, we are teaching and learning at the same time.

That triggered something for me. Even though in the meetings industry we are talking a lot about the different generations we need to cater for – are we incorporating the ones that have left the active workforce? Or can we forget about them?

What are we doing to keep older generations involved in our meetings? Obviously, people who are getting older might not want to join in face to face meetings across the world anymore. But hey, even my dad learned to use a computer when he was well in his retirement…  so I feel that connections are not the issue here. Then what can we do to keep all involved? 

Some ideas…

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Communicate all options we offer to all stakeholders – emphasizing the options to keep in touch online.

Invite our older members and visitors to stay in touch. Involvement in the community via skype or hangouts, and by starting discussions on our facebook or linkedin profiles that ask for the “old”views. For many of our younger members these views can trigger even bigger innovations.

Match young and old (former) attendees  online – the conversation of a mix of generations will be of value to all and mentorship can work both ways. We all have  different skills and the fusion of these keeps the conversation going.

Think about new services, such as one day or one session passes for the face to face or online event. Or a subscription to an edited summary of the event – online and in print. Or think about special memberships.

Think about new ways for peer to peer sessions, inviting older members to give short lectures from the comfort of their homes – and why not a keynote? Or introduce interview lectures where the questions are crowdsourced online beforehand in the community.

Celebrate the history of your event!  And let it live even longer – with a fusion of all stakeholders. Young, old, and older. 

Fusion. The best recipe for innovation.

Just imagine…

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Just imagine …there are no conferences, tradeshows, exhibitions and corporate events. A blank page.

I know, it’s hard, but you can do it.

Then imagine you are sitting at home, thinking about your work, the subjects you really care about, the friends you have made over the years, the people you met in other countries, during your education, school, neighbors, family… What would it be like to invite all or some of them to meet, mingle and work towards a common goal?

How would you combine the experience, knowledge and ideas they share or have hidden in the back of their minds? How would you make sure that they would all have a great time AND learn and grow? What could they come up with?

Just imagine. At first chaos, and then some sort of order? Or the other way around? Groups and smaller groups evolve naturally, or a need of leaders to step up? Will you group people as you have met them, or mix business contacts with childhood friends? Or your older relatives with the neighbors children? Maybe just see what they come up with themselves?

Will they meet face to face, or online? In a building or on the beach? Will they show and tell, or just talking and discovering shared hobbies and experiences? Maybe playing a game….

How will you all get the most of it?  

And THEN realize there ARE conferences, tradeshows, exhibitions and corporate events. Are they different from your imagination? Somehow I have a feeling, that you will have thought of something out of the ordinary, something that you haven’t tried before. A new mix of people and settings.

Then it is time to start a change.Turn a page. And now’s time to do it. A new year, new ideas and lots of imagination.

Happy innovating!

Evolutionairy Road

These days it seems almost impossible to take things slow. We are following trends and new ideas like greyhounds, hoping to be the first to catch on to the latest app, the breaking news, the next big thing. Always on the go.

I must be getting old, but I have the feeling we do not allow ourselves the time to focus anymore. To slow down. To see clearly where we are going, and still look at the scenery along the way. Allowing for distractions, even. Because these might just add new thoughts and meaning to whatever goal we have in mind. Allowing a little bit of trial and error.

Hah! That reminds me of our road trip to Italy this summer. Our car broke down three (!) times on our way from Amsterdam to Ancona, but we had the best view of the Adriatic see. And some quality time to reflect :-)

Well , I am planning to stop and use my breaks a little more from now on.  Smell the flowers, see the sky, so to speak. How?

Using event  research in a more relaxed manner. Sure I know my goals and the objectives, and I will still deliver on time. But hey, if I spend a few extra  hours to look at reports more closely, add new angles or combinations, I might stumble upon an idea that is worth investigating. Small and slow. The dirt road just might  be the connection we were looking for.

Using social media in a better way. Planning time during the weekend to really read those blogs. Think about their content, see who can benefit from them, and pass them on. Not just retweet, but making it personal. Adding thoughts, asking feedback. More with less.  

Using event technology more based on personal need. To use as a reference after the event, for instance. Allowing myself to follow sessions as I see fit, ignoring networking tools once in a while and just enjoying the conversation. Or the white space. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love event tech, but not when it dictates the way I should connect. And, especially, the pace I should do it in. Even at events, it is worth to take it slow now and then. One great conversation might teach me more than a quick scan of the entire room...

So there you have it. Relax! And allow yourself a few mistakes. With the speed that we are going now, there is plenty of time to  adjust. Happy travels!

Exhibitions say more than a thousand words

First of all: I am really proud of the research we (my company and partners) just concluded. It is a study under Gen X and Y visitors of trade shows and exhibitions. We wanted to know what makes them tick. What do exhibitions and trade fairs mean to them?

I have to say, even though we all belong to one generation or another and can predict  some of the answers, the results  were pretty amazing. We matched the answers with overall generational trends and studies, and this gave some interesting points of view. If you want to check out the research, you can do so here: Gen X & Y research

So what is my point in this post? 

Well…as I was reading through the results of the study, one thing really struck me.

A thing that I wasn’t aware of or did not think about before. A simple thing, really.  Just the word: exhibition. What does it say? What does it mean to you? What image or feeling, which sentiment comes to mind?

An exhibition or an event? Searching on images gives an idea.

As it turned out:

Gen Y sees a possibly  outdated product. Just in the label “ exhibition” or “trade fair”.

Hm. Do they have a point?  Truth is, no matter how much we engage in renewing and reinventing the product, the overall word has stayed the same. We added hybrid components, apps, interactive features, show-and-tells, talks, peer-to-peer sessions, experiences, surprises, communities, a whole new live look, feel and world……but still call it an exhibition. Or a trade fair. 

The content might have changed, the label did not. 

As a result our potential Gen Y visitors have an old idea about a new product. Wow, that IS something to think about.

So I am wondering…should we include the terminology in our reinvention package? Add a new vocabulary to reflect the new meeting architecture and exhibition design?

Anyway, food for thought . Should we  give "trade fairs" and "exhibitions" a new image, a new interpretation? Or do we need to come up with new brands to make sure that generations to come will find excitement and learning in events that we used  to call trade fairs? 

What are the words that sum up an exhibition?

I bet we can come up with more than a thousand!

(meeting) ( architecture ) inspiration

Recently  two museums caught my eye and reinforced the vision that to really innovate and improve meetings and events we need to look outside our own profession. How are other venues engaging with their visitors, their audience? What are they telling them, how are they making their stay a pleasure?  

First there was the intriguing Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, which shows art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.  Although an interesting collection, it was the building itself that spoke to me most. With a large green vertical garden enriching the exterior and a garden with great variety of plants and  noises leading into the entrance, it made a perfect harmony of inside/outside (not to mention that it really is a “green” building). What an experience, just walking to the entrance.

Inside we were “greeted” by a permanent installation called “The River”, words flowing down a pathway, making you want to explore its source. It brings you to the permanent collection that lies on the same pathway, with larger and smaller exhibits on each side, eventually bringing you back to “The River” on your way out.  

Lessons: connecting inside/outside, flow, engagement, a double “wow” in the entrance (and exit), visible sustainability. This museum would make a great model for a meeting layout. Just think about it. I know I am!

The second was the great building of MAS in Antwerp, Museum aan de Stroom (which means it is situated at the river). It has 10 floors, the top one being an observation deck that is open to everyone: you don’t have to buy a ticket to get a great view. Every floor tells a story about the city and its inhabitants and shows a new view of the city itself through huge windows, as you go up floor after floor.

The exhibitions on each floor have the same pattern: a small entrance room with a unique experience (no, I am not telling what they are!) brings you into the actual collection, with  more detail on your mobile phone if you want to. On your way out there is an invitation to participate in an activity connecting you to the story. It brings an element of surprise and familiarity at the same time, and gives a great topic for your conversation as you go to the next floor. 

One floor has its collection open to all visitors: it houses the public depots and gives the non-paying visitors and idea of what the museum is all about. Sharing a bit of the history of the city and its collections with everyone, and probably convincing some to go and see the rest of the collection after all.

Lessons: connecting inside/outside, engagement, interaction, wow factor, use of tech, segmentation, ease, rest, sharing. How would this translate to a tradeshow? Just think about it. I know I am!

Main lesson learned? Go visit a (new) museum. Anywhere. It will teach you.

I am eager  to see what our Amsterdam Rijksmuseum will be like when they re-open in spring next year. I’ve seen images of a small plane on the top floor, and a very crisp new logo – can’t wait!

A day in the life……

Making a case for role-rotation. An all-day role rotation. On every platform.

For better hybrid events.

We all heard about job rotation. In a company, people from cleaning and sales, procurement and security, catering and traffic – you name it - change responsibilities for a day and get a better understanding of the challenges, perks, needs and gains of  a certain role within an organization.

How would this translate to events? Given the fact that we have organizers AND delegates in the same “company”? And, to make it even more challenging: given the fact that we have participants online?

I know that organizers participate in events as delegates and that delegates can be caterers in their day-to-day job – but that is not what I mean. I mean a deliberate change of roles for a day. For a specific new stakeholder group: the hybrid event organizers. 

Do we really know how a virtual delegate spends its “event day”? 

The thing is: we don’t see them at the event. So how can we “get” their involvement? I think that there is still a gap we need to close.

How can we close it? By stepping in the shoes of our virtual attendees. Totally. Change places. Learn about their knowledge of programs and tech. Their workload and anticipation. Their knowledge and expectations about virtual events…and invite them to step into our shoes.

So if you would participate virtually instead of organize.. realistically? Take it from someone who’s been there:

- you are working partly during the event and missing some sessions

- you often do not know beforehand which platform you will be required to have

- you will miss the first moments because of tech hick-ups – yours.

- you will not know beforehand which gaming aspect is used and what you need to do for it. ( Let alone how much time you are required to spend on it)

- you will not know beforehand who else is participating and how to get to know them

Would that change your perspective?  Working away and stopping to dowload programs, finding a way to follow a schedule that requires an all day involvement in between meetings and lunch?  Would it make you design "light" hybrids?  

I'd love to hear....

Electric dreams

We’ll always be together, however far it seems. We’ll always be together, together in electric dreams.  –   

This oldie keeps creeping into my mind lately.  Maybe a sign that I have been attending too many hybrid events as a virtual attendee? (or a sign that I have a longing for 80’s songs, plus the tons of make-up and big plastic earrings that went with them)

Actually it is wishful thinking. Even though organizers are making a lot of effort to include virtual attendees in a face to face event, we are still lacking in contact. We are not together.

2 things that I might help:

Better timing: Give us enough time to plan and prepare. Often a virtual ticket is offered at the last moment.  As an afterthought or on purpose?  I understand that you want people in real life in the real conference room, but when a virtual ticket is presented a few days  before the event, I cannot plan a day for it. Least of all connect with other (real live) attendees before the event.  It leaves me with only bits of content and a few new tweeps to follow,  and you with a lack of ROI –we both lose.

More tools: give us the chance to network, let us connect through Hangouts or Skype .… I would love to see a Hangout Corner at an event, where the f2f delegates can get to meet the virtual ones. Surely we could try something here? Add to all your learning lounges?

Just imagine: an event where ALL  delegates are visually present in the room. Looking at each other, and knowing that they are part of the same audience. No more awkward pauses after the speaker asks : “any questions from the virtual audience?” …not knowing if they are present at all.

As a virtual attendee I know how to be engaged . Now I need to be seen.  For now, it is an electric dream.

Engaging all senses – virtually

Hybrid visitors, virtual participans, online attendees… is seems that more and more events are in need of connecting  their audiences in other ways than classic face to face encounters.

A new kind of events in need of a new kind of meeting perception?

Sure.  

Not in the least because an online attendee has a different experience of an event: some of the senses that “make” the event are lost. What about smell, taste, touch? Is a virtual attendee resticted to vision and hearing?  Are we missing out?

Some days ago I participated in a brainstorm about the senses for virtual attendees. A brainstorm that was mainly virtual in itself: we used Google Hangouts to connect  event professionals from different countries .The summary is on youtube and blogs, but there was one discussion in particular that  sparked my imagination.

We were talking about the loss of some senses for virtual attendees and came up with the “Virtual Handshake”. A way to make you feel welcome in the event.  Anyone used someting like that before? A toolkit with components of all senses, partly  send to you via oldfashioned mail, to give you an extra “feel”of  an event?

Message in a bottle?

Just imagine. You are attending an event online, and you have your “Virtual handshake”. The kit has a pen of the venue, napkin, USB,  maybe some Catalist Ranch style goodies or so,  all stuff that an attendee uses at the venue. 

And then the kit has an online  part as well; including an instruction how to get the screen the way you want it, how to give speakers a virtual handshake (would love to see some alternatives to the smileys ), how to engage with the other attendees (explain Hangouts!!), choice of break music, suggestions for snacks and drinks…… all sent to you well before the event starts.  

How would that change your participation? Feel more included and make you stay online longer? Give a sense of belonging? Have a better experience?  Engage all senses?

Would love to try it one out some time!

Happy Event!

Last week my son turned 11. An event that was impossible to think lightly about since he had been talking about it non-stop for weeks. In the old days I could get away with a movie, games with friends, an Indian tent, cakes and give-aways. A parents we were pretty much able to dictate the time, duration, and the number of friends that could be invited. Even though it was his party, he was not in charge.

Hm. Sounds like the way some events are run, to be honest. Leaving the main stakeholders out of control and taking a risk in alienating attendees and exhibitors. Enforcing “old ways” on a new group.

So what did we do differently this year? Well, we started listening. And to my amazement I was listening to a natural born marketeer and organizer. Thinking about the different age groups in his audience, keeping budget and timing in mind, researching his options before making decisions, consulting with stakeholders about content and venue, and – thankfully – reporting back to his main sponsor. In the end he decided on two separate smaller events, one for family and one for his friends, one with a set program and one as an unconference .

For his family event he stayed traditional but innovated in food: no big birthday cake but small, homemade cupcakes and treats that would give all their personal favorite. Even more choice with simple Chinese take-out on a festive table. All were consulted. And then there were games and quizzes to keep all engaged. And they were, with no exception staying to the end of the party.

For the friends event he tried a more unconventional approach . He kept the idea of his guests choosing their own food (this time choice in pizzas and savory snacks) and had already consulted them on the movie (which was good old Gremlins). After that there was white space..  Oh did I mention that the format of this second party was a sleepover? Plenty of time on their hands and no program. That had me worried, I have to say. As it turned out, for no reason. They sat and talked about their ideas, knew who was good in games, who could find the best bloopers online, who could think of the best battle to reenact – and kept themselves engaged with different “sessions” and “presenters” until 11 AM the next morning ( oh and they slept a little, too).

Hah. Did he learn me a lesson or two…. I would have made a big birthday cake and lots of food, would have had no program for his family birthday, but would have insisted on a schedule for his sleepover (including a movie from this year, not the 80’s.. ).

And yes, I know I am only talking about a kids party and this can in no way compare to a professional real live event but hey, any gathering can teach me about the way we can improve events. With engagement, involvement, simplicity, focus. Involving stakeholders, consulting with them, and embracing the changes that they bring –  any event can be a party. Happy Event!

How would YOU like to feel special ?

This August we were in Italy, with our ten year old son. We were in Tuscany and planned to visit some of the great cities and works of art. I was a bit worried about that. I am a former  art historian and can be in churches and museums all day, but my son likes to run, hike, swim, game, and do all kinds of activities that do not include old buildings (unless there is a tower to climb).

He is a child of the 21^st century, fully online, used to the  internet, You Tube, building games… His school lessons are crammed  with digital images, TV and online quizzes, and I guess it won’t be long until he is on Facebook or something similar.

 But there we were, looking at a beautiful fresco in one of the Sienese churches, and he said: “Is this a famous old picture? Because you know, if this picture is really that special, and this is the only place where you can really see it and almost touch it, and I am the one looking at it, IT MAKES ME FEEL SPECIAL, TOO.”

Wow. Just like that he nailed a key ingredient of the meetings industry for me. Feeling special. I never thought of it from that perspective.

Feeling special. More so, knowing that the encounter you have, looking at a real thing or talking to a real person, or having a real experience, cannot be duplicated in exactly the same way. No matter how many copies you make. It is in the here and now, and totally involves the personal experience of the attendee. An experience, by the way, that does not need to be “original” all the time (which was another key takeaway for me, looking at my son). After all, we all like to do the same thing, sometimes. It does not mean that the experience is less genuine.

So when do your attendees feel special? With a keynote speech and personality  that leaves them with a personal goal and an upbeat attitude? With a balanced meal that gives them brainfood for thought AND a satisfied stomach? With an open discussion that gets their adrenaline going and  truly connects with other attendees? With an app for their event that starts when they leave their front door?

And when do your  hybrid attendees feel special? With a programme inside the physical meeting that allows them an experience that truly connects them? With pop up international Google + hangout discussions  that suit their schedule and timezone? With a virtual emcee that acknowledges their questions and gets the answers?

Making people feel special. Core business for venues, suppliers, planners, exhibitors and organizers. Feeling special inspires involvement, engagement, learning, ROI. Getting the most out of an event.

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The rest of our trip to Italy we sort of alternated between the swimming pool , hikes and works of art. He made numerous photos with his Nintendo DSi and tried to capture all the main sights digitally. In that respect, he did not care about being original himself. And that was OK. The main attraction were the real things, the “live events”. Because they made him feel special.