Please enjoy the following guest post from our friend Sarah Vinning with the National Conference Center, who hosted Event Camp DC earlier this month!
Seven. It’s the total number of Event Camp conferences that have been held in the past year.
The Event Camp series is a concept that first started with Jessica Levin, a meeting planner, and a few friends on Twitter who had the idea to host a bar camp for event professionals in New York City. Its intention was to offer meeting and event professionals an opportunity to come together in an unstructured format without a pre-planned agenda and “just be,” as Levin describes it.
The main selling point behind every Event Camp is that each one is different in its own unique way.
Conference organizers make decisions such as venue selection, conference format, if there’s a virtual component and the content (unless the organizers follow the peer conference concept in which attendees determine what happens).
“I’ve been to one, they’re all the same,” is not applicable to these conferences. Over the first weekend in November, there were two Event Camp conferences held over the same dates across the globe – Event Camp Vancouver and Event Camp East Coast (also referred to as Event Camp DC due to The National Conference Center’s proximity to the Nation’s Capital).
Event Camp East Coast was a genuine peer conference where the attendees reveal in a round table discussion their area of expertise, what they want to learn during the conference and how they hope to get there. The purpose of a conference like this is to ensure attendees learn what they intended to get out of the conference.
On the first night of Event Camp East Coast, we wrote topics we were interested in learning based on our own interests and expertise. Then, the conference committee established an agenda that was posted on GoogleDocs that night. Sessions included improv for eventprofs, exploring why some events sell out and others don’t, online community management, hybrid events and the impact on attendance and face to face shyness epidemic – making events warming.
For Event Camp Vancouver, the conference ball-game was another story. Their agenda was established prior to the conference and posted on their website, which can be an easier sell for someone when approaching their supervisor about attending. It also helps them set personal expectations prior to arriving.
Vancouver had a virtual component like Event Camp Twin Cities did for attendees who couldn’t attend. The pre-determined sessions at Event Camp Vancouver included the future of hybrid, what does fair trade mean and how do we find it in our sourcing, room for thought, think before you eat, defining yourself and your brand in the age of social media.
Throughout the entire conference, attendees played Get Your Green On, a gaming app based on sustainability that was initially built for GMIC’s 2011 conference; the app presents attendees with green challenges and they can earn as many points as possible by performing different acts of green.
The Room for Thought at Event Camp Vancouver, a green space designed for participants to have a place to reflect and rejuvenate. Photo provided courtesy of Greenscape Design & Decor.
The sessions in Vancouver and in D.C. had differences but prove for an interesting case study.
Session topics at Vancouver were pre-determined while those at D.C. were created on-site, yet there was clear overlap: brain-friendly food for meetings, where we’re going with hybrid and the future as well as improv.
With unique organizers for both Event Camps and unmatched conference formats, it’s fascinating to see perhaps we’re all influencing each other through social media in the #eventprofs community and as a result, we’re interested in similar topics within the industry.
To find out more about Event Camp conferences, visit EventCamp.org.
Remember how we asked you to submit your predictions for the future of the meetings industry? Many of you did, and boy are you a creative and forward looking bunch!
View the top 5 predictions for the future of the meetings industry, and then vote for your favorite predictions! Be sure to ask your colleagues to do the same!
What do you think about the predictions? Which do you think will happen in the future?
Want the inside scoop on how our music video came to be? You’re in the right place!
ConventionPlanit.com Co-Founder and Principal Katherine Markham, CHME is the mastermind behind the concept and idea of the video.
She was inspired when she learned about a talented singing group called Buffalo Stance, who are based in her hometown of New York City.
The totally awesome Buffalo Stance
The group is named after the “Buffalo Stance” song from the 1980s…and appropriately, the all female vocal group sings a lot of 80s music!
“We thought it would be fun to rewrite the lyrics to a popular song and sing it in the video,” Markham said. “We chose ‘Flashdance,’ which has a strong, dramatic style that really captured the excitement we wanted to convey.”
She then got to work writing the script for the video and lining up the production team.
Markham asked meetings industry veteran Roman Holton, who runs a video and filmmaking company called Ascension Media, to shoot and produce the video.
“When she called with the idea I said, ‘It may not be as easy as you think,’” Holton recalled. “But she persevered, so we got the crew together that would do the job for her.”
Some familiar faces from the meetings industry were sprinkled into the video. Can you spot them?
Bob Gilbert, President & CEO of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), offered the association’s offices to shoot the video. Gilbert also appears in several scenes in the video.
Windy Christner, CMP, Senior Director, Meetings & Expositions for the American Pharmacists Association, played the role of a “new age” fortuneteller
Association Vision President Al Rickard, CAE, played the office receptionist
Association professional Sallie Hyman appeared as an office visitor and as an office employee
“The whole video conveyed the idea of how much easier it is today for meeting planners than it was 25 years ago, thanks to technology such as ConventionPlanit.com,” Markham explained.
Have you been involved in a video production? What was your favorite part?
The predictions will be put to the vote by your peers, and the grand prize winner will receive a trip for two to Cancun, courtesy of the JW Marriott Cancun and Continental Airlines!
Do you remember what the meetings industry was like 25 years ago?
Can you imagine an industry without iPads and virtual meetings?
Let us take you on a journey back to the 1980s with this just-released music video, which pokes fun at some of the challenges of meeting planning before the invention of time-saving tools like online search directories.
At the end of the video, meeting professionals are invited to predict what the meetings industry will look like 25 years from now.
The winner will receive a deluxe three-night stay for two at the Five-Diamond J.W. Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa, including a $400 resort credit to be used during the stay. Continental Airlines will provide roundtrip air for two.
We also want to hear what you have to say about the video – add your comments to our YouTube Channel, or comment on this post below!
Well, another PCMA Convening Leaders comes to a close, and your “always ready to learn” ConventionPlanit.com blogger has departed with a whole new vocabulary.
Now augmenting the standard vernacular such as City-wide meetings, Conference Education, Face-to-face, Tradeshow Trends, Talking Heads and Moderating Panels are terms such as 365 Community Sites, Collaborative Learning, Co-Location, Deconstructed Meetings, Virtual Environments, 3D Immersive Platforms and Hybrid Events.
Thank you PCMA for following through on your commitment to continually provide educational opportunities in a variety of interactive and innovative ways!
As any good blogger does, I’ve been reading some of the other Online Conversation around Convening Leaders. I thought that a posting by Jeff Hurt summed up the spirit of this year’s meeting – which added its first Virtual Environment to the standard face-to-face format:
“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, except when…It is live-streamed, tweeted, flipped, tagged or posted as a status update.”
Greetings from Las Vegas where the PCMA co-location with Virtual Edge Summit began yesterday.
The Joint Plenary was moderated by Michael Doyle of Virtual Edge Institute and discussed how “Virtual and Hybrid Meetings Deliver More Value.”
Rather than jeopardize the integrity of face to face events, it’s been proven that these new concepts enhance them.
Panelist Kara Wilson, VP of Marketing for Unified Communications, Cisco, shared a story about being pulled over while connected to a video conference call (via the laptop in her passenger seat). These new technological concepts really are changing our lives!
This tract will continue today and will cover topics such as virtual technologies, digital events, social media and 3D immersive worlds.
Speaking of new initiatives, one of the most popular ways attendees have been starting their morning has been by visiting the “Learning Lounge”.
This concept is an industry first and provides a unique method of experiencing face-to-face and online education with networking.
Along with the Continental Breakfast stations, there was a “big buffet” of 20 to 30 learning options including peer-to-peer discussions, 6 theaters offering continuous 15-minute TED style presentations, the Social Media Expert Bar, the Supplier Showdown and the PCMA365 Livestreaming Studio. This combination of Bagels and “bite-sized” educational content gets the metabolism started while nourishing the mind!
The PCMA 2012 Kick Off Luncheon was sponsored by ConventionPlanit.com member, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau along with the San Diego Convention Center Corporation.
This marked the official end of PCMA 2011 Convening Leaders while the Virtual Edge Summit continues through today.
Earlier this month in Shreveport, Louisiana, the first ever Small Market Meetings Conference took place.
Planners engaged in conversations with properties nationwide from 2nd and 3rd tier cities – which is the foundation behind the conference! The reverse trade show approach was welcomed by both the planners and industry – giving them 6 minute appointments to engage in conversations they might not have the chance to in a traditional tradeshow format!.
Of course, one of the hot topics today is Social Media – and we had the opportunity to listen to Lesley Kyle, a Senior Event Manager at the Society of Plastics Engineers. Lesley shared her organization’s experience using social networking to enhance attendance and awareness of their meetings and annual conference.
She asked “Is Social Media a Fad?” – after watching presentation, I am sure to say that it is not going away!
Using social sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, Lesley and the Society of Plastics Engineers have been able to spread messages about their organizations and bring in the Gen X and Gen Y members that they had been seeking.
Some tips for success in social marketing that Lesley offered to planners:
1. Find Free Labor – often times you can find a college student searching for an internship to gain professional experience. Use them for free guidance as you build your social presence on the web.
2. Start with one site get a strategy, get comfortable with social media, and then move on to another form of social media… Basically, don’t bite off more than you can chew!
3. Be consistent with your message.
4. Create a bi-weekly or weekly plan of messaging.
5. Monitor your content, monitor your sites and be respectful.
If you want to hear more from Lesley Kyle, check out this video from her presentation at the show!
I’ve participated in a number of webinars lately, and wanted to share some tips that I’ve accumulated from both my positive and negative experiences. Hope you find them helpful – and feel free to share your own thoughts!
-Establish a Twitter hash tag prior to webinar and include hash tag with dial/login instructions. While attendees may converse via the virtual meeting chat platform, if your audience is accustomed to Twitter, this is most likely where they will opt to connect. Be sure to have an organizer monitor comments for feedback, questions and technical assistance.
-Strong preparation should not be overlooked. By the time attendees sign into the platform, technical glitches are worked out and introductions are made, the time for information sharing is short but vital. Practice your speech to ensure you have enough time to present the information. Thorough presentation slides can assist with this.
-Traditional face-to-face presentation best practices still apply. You’re not off the hook just because attendees cannot see your face. Content must be engaging and informative just as much, if not more so than if in person.
-Since presentation slides are the sole visual for the webinar, these must present the information in a clear, concise manner. Remember, presentation slides can be posted as a resource after the event. Attendees will appreciate thorough and entertaining slides that are consistent with the flow of the presentation.
-Familiarize yourself with the webinar software. Utilize the attendee mute button while the presenter is speaking. There’s nothing worse than an attendee placing a call on hold and disrupting the presentation with hold music, or hearing typing or phones ringing in the background!
-Leave adequate time for questions. Whether you choose to answer questions along the way or at the end of a presentation, it’s vital for a successful webinar to include the audience’s comments and questions.
What do you think should be added to this list? Share your own experiences and ideas!
Affordable Meetings National Day 2 – keynote speaker Scott Klososky takes control of the audience with engaging and useful social media tips and tricks.
If you weren’t lucky enough to attend, we’ve got some of the highlights for you (we took lots of notes) -
Live Q&A: Screens posting Twitter feeds for an educational session are becoming popular, but Klososky’s method, we felt, was more effective. Attendees text messaged questions to a specific number and code, which would then appear on the presentation screens. Klososky flipped his presentation to view and answer the live questions in between segments.
We felt this was more effective because:
The internet at the convention center could not control the posting speed (which was slow, of course, considering the large number of people using the server)
Attendees could interact specifically with one another; Tweeting questions to a general hash tag for an event can become confusing if it is used by too many attendees. What if attendees are tweeting to the same hash from several educational sessions? It is difficult for attendees and presenter to quickly interact with one another.
Social Media is the most democratic form of communication: Klososky noted that never before have users had so much control over the information we receive. If we don’t find something interesting or important, we don’t share it. The media has lost control over the information we receive and deem valuable. The media has no choice but to embrace the new, democratic communication we have, and create thorough content to compete.
Useful Websites: Klososky shared some very useful websites for our industry. Here are a couple –
Addictomatic.com: enter your event name, company name, etc. to see what people are saying on social media websites. Very helpful from the brand control standpoint as well as from the user standpoint.
Namechk: Enter a username or vanity URL into the search field, and the site pans virtually every social networking and bookmarking site checking for availability. Even if you don’t use all of the sites, it is a good idea to reserve your usernames just in case.
A survey taken on the floor the first two days found planners looking for new ideas and new partnerships. To quote one association planner,
“In order to be successful, we look at our exhibitors not just as exhibitors, but as business partners.”
Face to face interaction with business partners at the expo is an important way to foster connections.
After ASAE has concluded, planners can solidify these new relationships by using ConventionPlanit.com as a web portal to our varied portfolio of suppliers.
Technology, especially social networking, are important components to the meetings industry, but can be made much more successful through new face to face connections!
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