The BusyEvent Blog

We’ve always admired people that follow their convictions – and sometimes their families – to far flung places in support of the bigger picture.  Especially when those people are smart, open-minded and excited to share their knowledge and contribute to the larger discussion.

Samuel J. Smith is one of those people and it’s why his is one of the blogs we look to for insights and inspiration.   And, the good news is he’s baaaaack from Switzerland, having recently moved to Minneapolis, so something as simple as a phone call doesn’t involve time-zone coordination.

Through his blog and participation in the twice weekly #eventprofs Twitter chat, Sam’s is one of the voices asking the pertinent questions, challenging event professionals to be better, think smarter and focus on value, ROI and universal usefulness.

Because he doesn’t get caught up in the “shiny object” syndrome (or as Warwick Davies puts it, “adopting what’s cool without creating a business case for it“), Sam’s Interactive Meeting Technology blog is a collection of some of the most insightful original thinking about the use of technology to create dialogue with delegates.

And that core capability of BeLinker is what Sam writes about in his latest blog post, Is Your Mingle Stick Poken Attendees in the BeLinker?

Without getting lost in how to use Twitter at your conference, or coming up with a list of conference ideas for business, Sam leverages his broad knowledge of the events industry, attendee trends and the way proprietary devices can be used at events to enhance simple, but meaningful, sponsorship revenue and business driving, goals.

It’s clear that event producers want tools that:

1. accomplish real business goals
2. are easy and fun to use and
3. have a bit of ‘cool factor’ too.

We’re also looking forward to the evolution of BusyEvent in an environment where people like Sam, Warwick and so many other event professionals are working on the real issues at the heart of the events industry.

10 Ways to Better, Cheaper, Faster and Greener Events in 2010 #eventprofs

For the events industry, 2010 will be a year of resolutions. It seems the harder times become, the more we resolve to do something about it. And like many New Year’s past, we already know what to do.  We just get complacent and forget. This year we don’t have that luxury.  The old way of operating an event, expo, congress or trade show will be left behind in the 00’s.  Skip the fad diets that promise to deliver quick results and quirky technologies that promise success. Here are our 10 best ways to make your events better, cheaper, faster and greener in 2010 and beyond:

1. Use technology, but only as a tool. There are several technologies that can help create better event communication and connectivity, but you must have a solid foundation of information.  It is this information that allows your attendees to come back and connect with people, products and ideas they found useful.  People vote with their eyes and mouse clicks and the sooner you can capture this information, the sooner your sponsors and vendors will pay you for the opportunity to connect with the right attendees using the right messages.
2. Knowledge is power. Events are all about information. How many came, who liked the speaker, is this room big enough?  What if you could get your data in real time to improve an event in progress?  For example, if a speaker is presenting three times and after the first time you get useful feedback, wouldn’t it be nice to make some adjustments before the other two presentations?  Your attendees decided to come to your event this year, reward them with the best event experience you can create.
3. A list is just a list. Since when did a list of names constitute qualified leads or interested people? Scrutinize any area of your event that does not return some level of qualification information.  Start by looking at how attendees connect with one another and see if there’s a way you can help facilitate those connections. Look at social networking tools. It’s the best place to see benefit from this emerging trend.
4. Eliminate paper and become smarter. The only brochure that tells you it’s being read is the one on-line. Going green is more than saving trees, budgets, and reducing carbon footprints.  Electronic materials are a critical component of the qualification process for expo vendors, speakers and sponsors.  Look for ways to make it easier to engage with your event without the bag of paper. On-line information tells us who, what and when which leads to why and how.
5. Events are no longer controlled by the event producer. Every attendee and exhibitor has a public voice (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) that can turn a small incident into a catastrophe or a nice event into the best conference ever. By being engaged and nurturing the communications going on in the background, you can encourage event participants to help sell and promote “their” event by owning a part of the conversation and creating a more meaningful experience.

6. Content is King. Virtual and web-based events are competing more than ever with live events. Work with the subject matter experts to deliver high-quality content and a unique event experience. Get the speakers involved early and make them part of the online conversation. Invite them to participate in the event social network and set up a method for them to meet-and-greet attendees. And most importantly, make sure you’ve spoken with and coordinated your speaker’s needs to eliminate the last-minute fire drill.
7. KISS (Keep it simple). People gravitate toward simple and easy things that are worth the effort. For example, many people have a LinkedIn or Facebook profile that they keep up to date. Tools that make use of existing information make it easier for people to participate. High levels of participation in social networking lead to better and successful events.
8. CFOs are your new marketing partner. If you can’t prove it, it won’t get funded. You should be able to communicate the types of return on investment created for each stakeholder group. Then align yourself with the venues, vendors, participants, exhibitors and attendees who are looking for the types of ROI you can provide. Solid partnerships based on shared expectations is a recipe for great success.
9. Monitoring other people’s costs. You’ve worked hard to cut costs and be frugal around your event, but what about the vendors? If 300 vendors in an expo are going to spend $300 to rent a piece of equipment that generates a list (and you know how we feel about lists) ask yourself what would $90,000 spent differently do to help the vendors and the event.  By eliminating paper brochures you run a greener meeting, but you also trim an average of $5,000 out of each vendor’s costs for design, printing, shipping, drayage and storage the average materials sent to a show. Multiplied by 300 vendors that’s $1,500,000 in savings in your event alone.
10. And now a word from the sponsors. Sponsors are the ones who make up the difference in dollars between the event you can afford and the one attendees want. Those sponsors want many of the same things as the other groups.  As you make better habits for gathering real time event information, the opportunity to turn that information into sponsor revenue is the next frontier.  Simply placing logos on signage isn’t going to get the sponsors to keep stepping up. They want more of a partnership with the event and a relationship with the attendees.  The more you know about your event, the better equipped you will be to offer sponsors the custom programs they desire.

What the Wiggles Can Teach Us #eventprofs #tradeshow #assnchat

Luckily, perhaps, my family escaped the “Wiggles” phenomenon.  But after reading what Max Kalehoff from MediaPost writes about his recent experience, it’s clear these entertainers “get it”, when it comes to how to successfully utilize social media – and the excitement of their fans – to help market their brand.

One of the unfortunate turnoffs of big entertainment acts is the accompanying rules that forbid audience recording or broadcasting. Such policies cast a negative tone even months before the event. Consider the ubiquitous “NO CAMERAS/VIDEO/RECORDER” warnings that boldly talk down to fans on Ticketmaster-issued tickets.

Which is why I was delighted by my family’s recent experience with The Wiggles, the hugely successful rock band for preschoolers, from Australia.

Our two-year-old son Julian is a passionate Wiggles fan, and has every single Wiggles concert and musical episode saved in our Netflix streaming queue. So when the band announced its arrival in the New York area, there was no way we weren’t going. I wasn’t losing sleep over The Wiggles, but Julian was.

My expectations were low, and driven lower by having to listen to them during the entire car ride to the show. We paid more than a few good dollars to hear a bunch of middle-aged men in neon, skintight shirts perform rock-n-roll versions of nursery rhymes — alongside Captain Feathersword, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog.

But once they came on stage, with thousands of preschoolers screaming with anticipation and joy, my feelings toward them changed. After introducing themselves — “Hello everyone, we’re Jeff, Murray, Anthony and Sam” — the first thing The Wiggles did was establish their policy on recording and broadcasting.

Unlike most other big commercial acts, they asked all the children and parents to please take as many photos and videos as they could — and to share them on the Internet, on places like YouTube. The more the kids and parents shared, the more others around the world be able to join in on the experience. After that policy establishment, cameras and camera-enabled mobile phones started going off everywhere.

That policy is smart. For one, it says that The Wiggles genuinely want to please their fans — to let them do what they want to do. Second, that policy encourages fans to further immerse themselves in the experience and become more loyal. Third, encouraging concert attendees to capture and share their experience with the world automatically turns their million of fans into an even more powerful, mega marketing machine. The more people who join in on the experience, the more enjoyable the whole act becomes.

The immediate result for us? My son walked out and soon purchased more Wiggles albums, and insisted I commit to taking the family to see them again in concert. This is all a self-fulfilling prophecy. Despite mesmerizing songs and performances, this policy helps explain why The Wiggles made an estimated $45 million dollars in 2007.

Without a doubt, The Wiggles can teach most dull marketers a thing or two on how to be successful: be authentic, let go and engage your fans. And don’t insult those fans with policies that forbid them from sharing the experience.

I Want To Thank The Academy . . . #eventprofs #assnchat #mpi

We’ve been nominated . . . by our peers!

How cool is that?!?!!

Here’s the email we just got from the Event Profs nominating committee:

Hi BusyEvent!

I first wanted to say congratulations for being nominated for the 2009 EventProfs Blog Awards – Best Education Blog!
- http://www.ready2spark.com/2009/09/nominees-have-been-announced.html

Thanks so much & best of luck!

More details to follow . . . let the ballot box stuffing begin!

think what we’re doing matters and that’s always nice.

Thanks Stephen!

Chuck Zettle asked a really good question today, on LinkedIn.  What got me to stop and read it was the title: Ahh, Linked in . . Oh, and Facebook . . . Plaxo? No wait Twitter! Um, Myspace? YouTube! Naymz, Xing – AHHHHH!!!! Seems a bit overwhelming – what works for you?

And below, our response:
Chuck . . . what a GREAT title, about fell off my chair!

As a general philosophy, we look at all of these as communications channels which have their own strengths. And, much like I’ve heard all of my life, “pick something and pour your energies into it”, we’ve done that with the tools we use.

So, since this discussion is occurring on LinkedIn, I’ll share with you what our company does related to our social media focus and why we’re following the path I’ll describe, below.

Regarding general communications and out reach, we have two blogs:
1 – www.busyevent.com/blog focuses almost exclusively on items specific to our company. New product rollouts, “we’re hiring” announcements, general ideas, etc…
2 – http://busyevent.blogspot.com focuses on the events industry in general, and our general observations about it, the people in it and other industry specific topics. There may be some overlap from our company blog, but we try to keep them separated.

In both instances, our blogs are the ‘official and professional’ voice of the company. It’s written in a particular tone and focuses on specific items.

Our general outreach tool is Twitter. It’s the short blasting communications system that also is used to RSS the blogs plus, we have a Picture Of The Day (POTD) typically photos from events we’re running or clients we’re working with or sometimes a picture of the sunset. It’s definitely a more ‘personal and personality’ driven communications channel and offers immediate feedback unlike the blogs do.

Taken together, these two tools form the core platform of our social media outreach. But, as you’ll note, this is ‘outreach’ based and that then leads us to the ‘bidirectional’ tools we use.

LIVE Video streams are occurring at almost every event we manage as well as in our offices and even while we’re traveling from place-to-place. Sometimes these are password secured but usually, we’re live streaming in the open. Because the streaming video service we use has a chat feature, it’s fun to be able to share an event and get immediate conversations going. For some events, we’ve had as many as 200 people ‘viewing’ at once and the conversations were amazing. We also use video streaming when we conduct training as well as just turning on the cams and letting people ‘peer’ into our world on an any day basis.

Another 2-way system that we utilize are our Wiffiti tools but they’re more focused on at-event interactions. As such, while it’s a bidirectional’ tool, it’s only exposed to the people that are at an event and therefore has a limited audience. Take it for a spin at: http://www.tinyurl.com/busyevent-wiffiti

Finally, because of our industry, we participate in a variety of events industry specific networks, the best being Julius Solaris’ Events group on LinkedIn. Generally, this is a ‘push’ communications system for us, although, we’ve had good luck getting involved with conversations that have legs and we’ve learned alot from them.

So, because there are so many social networking tools out there, it’s easy to get lost in the menagerie but since we’re focused on a few and then really ‘work’ them, we’ve seen good general results.

Our next steps, and we’re actually in the process of hiring for that position right now, is to engage a PR/Writer/Social Media Pro ( http://www.busyevent.com/blog/?p=81 ) to increase our frequency and validity and perhaps spread our wings a bit into traditional media while keeping the core focus on the tools listed above.

Panamedia Group, the parent company of the BusyEvent Event Management Platform, is hiring a freelance PR and Social Media Pro.

We’re looking for someone that has serious experience with social media.  That means, in addition to a “can do” attitude, you’ve got lots of “have done” experience for paying clients about real topics with the goal of driving their business forward.

Further, you’re comfortable with and knowledgeable about how to leverage viral campaigns, blogs, twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and all that other 2.0 stuff that was hot 2 years ago and is mainstream now.  You don’t have to be the genius behind the 25 Things meme, or the creator of lonelygirl15, but you need to know what those things are, why they were successful and what you can borrow from them to make your work with us a successful.

Your initial projects are going to be things like writing some copy for our web site, press releases, and some help with articles on our blog and serious placement in targeted press.  If you know what HARO is, are using it for your other clients and think you can use it for us . . . then, let’s talk!

We’ve got a bunch of people in our target demographic that read our blog and follow us on twitter, your job will be to help us expand that and turn some of them into people interested in our products. You’ll also help us brainstorm new ways to reach more people, and do even cooler things with the web, mobile, interactive, on demand, video streaming, etc…

This is a freelance, project-based job, you can work on your own but we will need you to come into our office when we start each project, and periodically after that. We do have a spare office, so you’re welcome to work here if you prefer. The usual carrots of “if this goes well, we’ll do more together” apply.

You can find out more about us at www.busyevent.com. We’re a startup, with offices in Maryland Heights, MO right below the best place for Gyros in St. Louis. We have solid funding, real income, and despite the economy a growing client base and a lot of interest in our products. We just need the right person to help up boost our marketing efforts while we’re busy making awesome software instead of twittering and posting to blogs.

Interested?  Send us a DM @BusyEvent or email hireme@pmgstl.com.

The Startup Success Podcast, this week, interviews BusyEvent CEO David Schenberg.

The conversation focuses on how we’re:

• disrupting the event management industry with unlimited use, flat-fee online event management tools,
• how “event management” has come to mean a lot more than big public events
• how to build a successful startup off the beaten Silicon Valley path and
• how BE-LINK is creating an inexpensive way to improve lead management and audience response while closing the ‘last foot gap’ between an attendees’ personal and professional network and the event itself.

You’ll recall a few weeks ago that we were selected to be part of the Microsoft BizSpark program.  As part of the ‘vetting process’,  this interview was conducted by Microsoft’s Global Manager for BizSpark Bob Walsh and Patrick Foley, Microsoft’s ISV Architect/Evangelist.

Listen to the Podcast and learn about how BusyEvent is changing the future of Events.

As you know, we’re always utilizing new tools that help people bring their ‘virtual’ lives alive at an event.

We’ve been developing a live-chat utility and have been testing most of the major systems out there and have just absolutely fallen in love with MEEBO.

It’s not something that you’ll see embedded in our onsite tools, but it sure is cool and we’re now using it on the BusyEvent web site (left column, below the news) as a tool to provide instant information to any client that is on our site and needs immediate information, NOW!

We’re also going to embed this type of tool in our client site admin pages so our clients will always have an open window to ask questions of the client support team, whenever that’s needed.

Plus, it’s got video…!

Be sure to drop by the web site and say hello…or in the parlance of the Web2.0 world, be sure to MEEBO-me!

Lisa asks: I’m doing a preconference email blast to a couple of hundred attendees. Instead of the usual introduction boilerplate, I’m open to new ideas. Basically anything goes as long as it fits within the boundaries of email marketing!

BusyEvent Answers: Lisa, I would encourage you to have some fun and reward those who like to network. Send them something they can bring to the show and come looking for you. One example I’ve seen is you send them a random puzzle piece and they bring it to you to see if it fits. If they do, you reach in your pocket and give them a prize.

Another involves a match n win with your product or service being featured. One person has to find their match in the crowd and once they find the match, they come together to you.You can control the number of matches and thus prizes, but the cool feature of this little game is you get a whole room of people meeting one another all talking about you! Make it something they stick to their badge or pin to their lanyard. The rest, as they say, is up to you.