Over the past few months I’ve attended or spoken at more than a half dozen events and meetings. All different and very worthwhile. As a communications person, I was fascinated by the pervasive presence of technology…everywhere and with everyone. We’ve come to expect that event organizers will employ the latest and greatest technology to deliver a powerful experience. What’s changed now is the impressive array of technology that is also in the hands (literally) of the attendees and how smartly and creatively they are using it to enhance their meeting experience. This convergence of technology is definitely changing the event experience for everyone…organizers, attendees, speakers and content providers.

Hank Wasiak

Video, livestreaming, i-reporting, laptops, tweet streams, blackberries, i-phones, i-pads, podcasts, videographers are everywhere. In some ways the energy and buzz around all of this activity and technology creates mini events within the events. For me, these were all positive experiences that generated energy, enabled new forms of engagement and added spontaneity to the events I attended.  There was one experience in which I was involved that is particularly interesting and worth sharing.

For two of the events I was fortunate be one of about thirty bloggers invited to “cover” the event as part of what was called The Bloggers’ Hub”….a private social media press club. We had great seats, full access to everything at the event, and all the power and broadband internet connectivity we needed.  (Well, most of the time…we did crash it a few times). We had free reign and were encouraged to be active and free flowing.  None of us really knew what to expect.

It turned out to be a very positive and productive experience for the bloggers, our audiences, the speakers, attendees and the organizers. The open and diverse mix of people created a “bloggers’ hub effect” with some very tangible benefits, Here are few:

Bloggers Hub Benefits:

• Facilitates a friendly, open platform for bloggers to provide real time updates, commentary and coverage of the speeches, presentations and other content. These are simultaneously shared with everyone at the event and over the internet and archived for later use.
• Serves as a micro-community of a diverse group of bloggers connecting around a common interest…live reporting and disseminating information of significance from the event…on the spot content creation.
• Creates an environment of mutually supportive and connected energy that feeds on itself. A special “vibe” that brings a new collective dynamic to a usually solitary writing process.
• Provides a “streaming commentary” on topics and discussions as they happen and invites real time response and interaction from each blogger (and their audiences) which in turn fuels better reporting and writing.
• Links a network of “Trust Agents” to apply leverage to content being presented and discussed among the attendees. We created our own mini “Archimedes Effect” at the event.
• Provides a sustainable linked in platform for follow up commentary, analysis and networking that lives well beyond the event itself….in some cases for months.

Technology is changing the way people see and experience just about everything, including meetings and events. Technology driven change presents opportunity and challenge. The opportunity to engage people in meeting experiences that are more interactive, participatory, shared and sustainable. The challenge is to remember that it is great ideas, substance and powerful content that make technology meaningful and valuable.

As many of you know Experient concluded its 2009 e4 Conference on Wednesday, 8/5 with a free live webcast of the panel discussion “Technology and the Future of Meetings.” Great news  — if you missed the live version of this event, a free archive of the webcast is available for post event viewing.  To access it click here.

Approximately 300 ppl were present in the live audience for the event and another 216 participated virtually. The Experient  official hashtag #e4chat drew 44 active Twitter users, some onsite at the event and the rest participating from cyberspace.  To view a recap of that entire chat transcript please click here.

The session featured the following oustanding panelists:

• Stephen Nold (Moderator) – Advon Technologies
• Nicole Buraglio – Hanley Wood Exhibitions
• Mike Immerwahr – Microsoft
• RD Whitney – Tarsus Online Media

(L to R) Mike Immerwahr, Nicole Buraglio, RD Whitney, Stephen Nold

For a recap of the discussion during this session about social media as well as the rest of the conference please visit my personal blog, McCurry’s Corner and view the article entitled “The New Business Culture.” There really were some terrific insights about the future of technology presented.

Adrian Mabry posting on "Tweetdeck"

A remarkable aspect of this event was the fluidity of dialogue exchanged between the live and cyber audience via Twitter.  It felt like those folks tweeting from afar were right there in the room with us.  The panel fielded questions from the live audience, but more significantly they responded to the cyber participants as well.  This is the essence and spirit of a hybrid event!!

Face2Face Meetings are so important to the culture of doing business, but it is crystal clear to me that social media will play a critical role in enhancing the reach and value of these events for months and years to come. Please make sure you watch the archive version of the webcast.  You don’t want to miss it and we would love your feedback!

Question — In your opinion what is the next step to raising the bar in creating educational content that is viewable both live and from cyberspace?  I look forward to your comments.

Data, reports, e-mail, blogs, websites, conference calls, voicemail, projects, news releases, reports, data, data, data: information. Chaotic and overwhelming, and made even more so as we toss in a few additional factors: past, present and future. Now that you may be experiencing an anxiety spike and your fingers are itching to check your e-mail, you should take this moment to stop and breathe.

We are fortunate to have a lot of information available to us, and if not readily available, we at least have the means to gather the information. However, in trying to keep up, we find that there is more information than we can possibly process, there is information from questionable sources or there is conflicting information. Regarding information – we’re at an impasse.

How do we stop the madness? We don’t. We just need to learn how to navigate through it with knowledge, purpose, finesse and confidence.

Knowledge: Know your organization, your industry, your procedures, your markets and most important – your decision factors and processes. In today’s world, information can be cherry-picked, similar to entering a grocery store. You need to know your options and your needs so that you can select your ingredients for a fantastic meal. You would not walk out with everything in the grocery store simply because it was too overwhelming to know what you wanted– at least, we would hope not. That would be a logistical challenge, to say the least.

Purpose: As mentioned earlier, know your decision factors and processes. When you establish a purpose for the information you are seeking to gather, you will find that you naturally filter through a lot of unnecessary data and information. Start with the following questions: What questions do I want answered? How will I apply those answers once I have them? Will they make a difference in what I do or how I do it? What data do I need to answer those questions (this comes from knowing the influencing factors tied to your organization, industry, markets, et cetera)? Remember that while there may seemingly be infinite information at your fingertips, you only have finite resources: time, money and human capital. Allocate your resources accordingly and purposefully so that you can maximize the business results, rather than maximizing the amount of information you have stored – somewhere.

Finesse: Finesse, or the appearance of finesse, in the data world is only achieved when you have knowledge and purpose and find that you are no longer caving to a knee-jerk reaction for information or throwing darts into space, hoping you hit or find something that will help you. Realize that information is a tool – not the answer. What you do with the information is the answer to your question or problem.

Confidence: We find ourselves at a moment in time where jurors are afraid to make decisions because sufficient DNA evidence was not collected or there could be a statistical error of 0.5%. In general, they don’t feel comfortable making any decision until they KNOW everything, beyond doubt – not even reasonable doubt. We have shows like CSI to thank for this. The same is happening in the business world today. Most professionals feel uncomfortable making significant decisions when there’s another piece of information that could be gathered or when the data is before them, but does not clearly delineate the answer they were hoping to find. You must have confidence in yourself as a professional, and sufficient knowledge about your organization and business environment, to know when additional information is futile to the decision at hand.

Having information is only valuable if you utilize it to create value. This may be reflected in realized efficiency, improved service and product design and delivery or even the multi-million dollar market swing. It’s a tool. Select and use the tool appropriately. Although obvious, throwing a toolbox at a nail won’t be as wise as simply using a hammer. Gather data so that your magic tool box is full, but be smart enough to look at the final project or task at hand in order to select the right tool.

From the generational perspective: Younger generations aren’t so much better at multi-tasking as they are about tuning out the noise and focusing only on what is important to them at any given moment. Their ability to change gears quickly is the trick. So, if you’re trying to keep up by monitoring all information and communication tools at once, you’re going to tire yourself out very quickly.