The BusyEvent Blog

• Heading home after 3 successful days in Dallas. Looking forward to afternoon meetings and then, it's LA for a week! #eventprofs #

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• Changing the Equation for Organizers and Attendees – http://j.mp/cqhdWk <-> #mpi #iaee #cemaonline #eventprofs #tradeshow #
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• The Startup Success podcast w/ CEO David Schenberg – @BeLinker new features, enhancements and 'client wins': http://j.mp/cE6eHa #eventprofs #
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• I liked a YouTube video — Events Asia 2010 – Flying Lanterns – 1 http://youtu.be/UAfu99jcO9c?a #

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Tapping Into The Secret Conversation at Your Event – It seems almost quaint these days, what with smart phones and all the other tools used to stay connected, that a simple web page could be so powerful.

But sometimes what’s old is new again.

Recently, CEO David Schenberg was interviewed by Plannerwire for the popular “Keeping Your Ear to the Web” column.  In it, the discussion centered around the ‘Secret Conversation’ going on at every event.

“Monitoring the Twitterverse around your event in real time lets you hear what people are saying about your event,” says David Schenberg, CEO of BusyEvent. His company works with clients to integrate Twitter, among other social media platforms and online applications, into their events. “This provides you an opportunity to respond and adjust while the show is in progress. This proactive approach will win you huge points with your attendees and other stakeholders.”

And now, a good idea has some metrics behind it.  Jordan Schwartz of Pathable recently published an article on the “Data Analysis of Twitter at Events”.  In it, he concludes that “Many people are tweeting about things relevant to an event. Prior to the event, they’re asking questions, requesting meet-ups and advertising their attendance and at the event itself, they are discussing the active talks and providing timely information about what’s happening at the event itself.”

While some have taken the path of creating a social network around an event, we believe that the critical element is connecting people with products, information and each other prior to, during and after the event.  Utilizing tools like the Event Bookmarking platform and tapping into the ‘Secret Conversation’, brings value by helping everyone access their personal and professional networks, creating opportunity and a reason to return next year!

An Example of How to Integrate Twitter, Into an Event

As an events management company, we are focused on making every BusyEvent as ROI-rich as possible.

The question our event producer and meeting planner clients always ask is “What can BusyEvent do to help me communicate more effectively with every participant in a meaningful and targeted way and in real time?”

Which is, in essence, the same question event participants (attendees, sponsors, vendors and speakers) have been asking, “How can I be part of the conversation, meet the people I need to meet and get from the event what I’m looking for?”

As part of our Event Bookmarking system, we are including a Twitter-capability that provides everyone with the ability to efficiently and quickly communicate with each other and doing so without changing their innate behaviors.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario:

During online registration, registrants are asked for their Twitter name (not their password) and are given the option to “follow” the event’s Twitter account.  The opt-in capability gives registrants the control they need and the BusyEvent registration system handles all of the requests seamlessly through the Twitter API.

Pre-event, organizers heavily promote “Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NAMEOFEVENT”.  They send out “here’s who just registered” messages, “here’s who’s been added to speak”, “special discounts for the first 100 people to Tweet us with [[message]]”, “only 5 rooms left at the event price of $xxx at the [[hotel]]”, “be sure to complete your PURLs”, etc…

Once onsite, the “follow us on Twitter” message is EVERYWHERE; on the check in kiosk screens, on the schedule section of every badge, on the event staff shirts and the ‘swag bags’, on the sponsor signage, etc….

By integrating Twitter, we create a private communiations channel that secures the conversation to the approved group.  In this private channel, people can blast messages to anyone ‘following and being followed’ in the approved group in an ongoing conversation.  And, this private channel isn’t restricted to people attending the event; it can also extend to the virtual participant.

For those that can’t attend, but want to keep up with the event and were approved to do so, we can integrate the Twitter stream with a live video stream to provide a ‘you are there’ experience (we saw this at DEMO using Facebook’s real-time chat feature).  In the future, virtual attendance could be a revenue stream, as well.

For those that are attending and want to participate in a casual way, we can integrate Twitter with the BusyEvent Digital Signage System, and sniff the Tweets in this private channel, projecting those messages and that conversation broadly for attendees to view.

By Tweeting things like “checkin on Level 3 is still open”, “open bar from 7-8pm sponsored by [[name of sponsor]]”, “keynote by [[speaker]] is starting in the Grand Ballroom”, event managers are able to effectively and quickly communicate with every participant in a way that improves the overall event, in real-time.

To comunicate with each participant, Twitter can be integrated with the BusyEvent Communications Profile System to micro-target certain sub-groups of people, or even individuals, for highly personalized messaging like “Come to Booth 123 for more information on our e-waste program” targeted at CIO’s,  or, “Mr. Jones, your boss is trying to find you!”

The opportunities are endless and the above examples are just a few ways that organizers can integrate  Twitter into the BusyEvent system pre and during the event.

Once the event concludes, and to extend the effectiveness of the event into a person’s “real life”, Tweets can be sent to remind participants to visit their PURLs (where attendees can go to download presentations, see who ‘bookmarked’ them, learn more about the people they met, etc…. ), lost-and-found information, targeted sponsors/speaker messaging based on the sessions the person attended (not that they were signed up for, but those they actually attended), etc…

If it gets to be too much, the participant simply ‘opts-out’ and obviously, over time, the messaging from the producer diminishes until they spin up their event for the next year.

The best part of all is that now the organizers can be included in the conversation and take actions immediately, rather than waiting for things to bubble over, causing them to be in reactionary mode.
Plus, the organizers also are able to more evenly deploy their resources and proactively communicate what’s going on.

In all, Twitter is becoming a permanent element of the way we run events and combined with the BusyEvent Communications Tools, is an invaluable and cost-effective channel to connect event attendees, get them involved in the event, improve their overall experience and create a real-time communications channel for organizers.