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....

The ROI of 5000 tweets

Once in a while I need a momentum to reflect on time spent, and to see if it was time spent well.

So there it is: almost 5000 tweets, not much for some, a lot for others.

How did I do on spending my time? And why did I start tweeting in the first place? Have to say, that ROI was not top of mind at first. Experimenting and learning was…

I started in the second half of 2009 wanting to find out if there were any conference and exhibition people out there, people I might know. Had no idea what to expect. Well, there were not many in the Netherlands but as soon as I found out how to search and navigate and who to follow things went their own way.

Investment:

Only time, but lots of it. There is no way I can say that it only took minutes. Evenings spent reading, looking at hashtags, following conversations, looking up links and searching for old and new friends. I did not document the spent time that well but at least an hour every single day might be right. Maybe more. And much more, if you count the time reading blogs and links.

Return:

A network of great people around the globe that are working in the events industry, sharing their ideas and views, giving an insight into their worlds and bringing up topics that are worth discussing in tweetchats or blogs. A world of knowledge that unfolds and presents itself, only if you are willing to participate. Communicate. And share as well.

Learning of events related initiatives, new events, organizers, networks, research, reports, all the trends in the meetings industry on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes by just asking. Often in a tweetchat.

New friends and a better understanding of old ones, finding it easier to start conversations with complete strangers.

Re-connecting in other networks by linking my tweets

The phrase “just do it” for a non sportsperson finally making sense: the start of this blog, encouraged by @jenisefryatt, and the start of a tweetchat for #euventprofs. The results are not always encouraging (last chats were pretty low on people) but the fact that you can just start something and see where it goes was a great revelation. Know what you want and see if it works. Just do it, dare to fail. And that is a pretty big lesson.

So was it worth it?   Personally? Oh yes. Professionally? Oh yes. Ready for my next 5000!

Show and tell –a junior conference?

guess what David´s talk was about...

To start with: in The Netherlands there is no such thing as “show and tell” that American schools have; we are not taught to speak in public. So when we do, it is a big occasion. It is a once- in –a-year kind of thing.

The past few weeks all children in my son’s class (he is 11) we assigned a “spreekbeurt”, a Dutch word that literally means a “turn to speak”.

The rules for this class assignment were simple: talk in front of the class for 15 minutes, chose a subject that is a bit more complicated that “my cat”, have five research questions that include some history of the subject,  make a visual presentation in Powerpoint, and use your own words,  preferably refraining from written notecards (as we Dutch would call, spiekbriefjes).

I could not shake the idea that for them it was comparable to speaking at a conference.  Being a bit anxious,  checking your facts over and over again, trying out  several versions of your Powerpoint (best stay safe, there might not be a good connection for a Prezi). And then, at last, standing in front of your peers, connecting with them.

The funny thing is, as my son returned from school with his remarks about the presentations, he sounded like the content of some of the conference blogs I read:

Do not read your Powerpoint sentence by sentence: it kills your story. And try to use as little text as possible.

If you are not teaching your peers anything new,  you are merely filling time. Be critical.

No matter how nervous you are, own your story and tell it form the heart: authenticity works and your passion will shine through.

Do not stand still. Move around and engage all of your audience by asking questions during your talk; do not forget the people in the back of the room.

Have humor, make a joke, wake up tour audience every five minutes or so: their attention span is not that big and they will remember that they laughed.

It’s all about experience: If you talk about ”911” and you know an ambulance driver, let him drive it to the school and show the real thing.

Engage your audience: share your story, don’t just tell it. Encourage questions and ask them.

Give a speaker immediate feedback and share it with the group : learning points are not just  for the speaker.

Nice tips, thank you class 7b! Sounds like good advice for me, too. I wish I could be more often in this classroom, I would probably  pick up some great tips for my day-to-day work routine as well. I wonder what we would learn if we could let them stage  a trade show J

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!

A social media thank you (with a cool project)

No really, seriously. In the old days a researcher like me would sit at a desk, read reports, conduct market surveys, make some calls,  flip though telephone books full of conferences and events, and check real phonebooks and directories for companies and contact persons. I still have them. The books that contain all doctors who might be interested in bidding for a conference with us.

Then for years I googled the world, subscribed to databases that gave the extra edge and used my own data for the necessary link to my venue. Oh and made some calls. Still at the same desk, by the way.

Until social media. The search for knowledge became a personal conversation, the sharing of information an international chat, and making friends just a Hangout away.. really. I do not make “some” calls anymore. I am in a continuous conversation. Wow. And this conversation inspires, challenges, surprises and irritates me. Great. Keeps me on edge. Gives a new angle to data. And opens up new ways of collaboration. Lots of them.

Example:  the other week I co-organized a Google Hangout brainstorm with and joined by an international group of event professionals, all contributing to research questions and sharing insights that we all can use.

Isn’t that something – a  shared project that combined great conversations with a test of Google Hangouts for use in hybrid events. We reported results the same day via YouTube, but the whole experience gave me energy to last much longer . I’ll be writing some short posts on the outcomes, by the way. Giving it back to the collective, and hopefully leading to new conversations.  Which I will be having at my desk, by the way. Not everything changed. Just a lot.

Curious about the brainstorm? Ruud Janssen, Babs Nijdam and Gerrit Heijkoop were the initial collaborators, and we were joined by 27 event professionals, most of them on line. Check the results out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feIIUTcCiQg

What’s next? I don't know but love to find out :-)

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!