Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

I just recently purchased a new smart phone and I am trying to change from the Blackberry I had to the new Droid X. I am not afforded the luxury of having the iPhone as I am not with their carrier.  I know that many of you also struggle with the technology as it comes out and I know that most users have no idea the capabilities of their phones.  This makes our smart phones for dumb users as I like to tell my wife.  The problem is that the technology is growing faster and faster and we have no way to keep up with what is available in most phones.  We have somewhat of the problem with the Go Go Gadget syndrome, never knowing what is going to pop out next.

I know that most organizers of events are now looking to become more mobile as the technology grows and as we become more sophisticated with using it.  Are you “mobile” yet?  That is the question I get from a number of vendors and suppliers of mobile applications out there.  We are seeing the number of iPhone apps being very difficult to review let alone, even count at this point in the game.  They are growing at a pace nobody can seem to keep up with.  We have the mobile applications section of Conventions.net and I encourage you to take a look at that page and familiarize yourself with what is available.  I have the new Android phone and that also has an applications store and we are now into complete overload as it relates to the application market.  We are now entering into the mobile world and we are seeing many new applications that are related to the event and conventions and conference world.  Are you mobile?  If you are mobile what is your favorite mobile applications?  If you are a mobile applications builder and you have an application for the convention industry please let me know about it!

I recently attended a “hybrid convention” and I will talk more about that when I recap my attendance at the latest TS2 show in Boston.  The show as a great success and I want to absorb all that went on there but I wanted to quickly get the information out here on location based software.  Location based software or what is used in “geo-location” is all the rage in the mobile community and the geo-location community.  What is geo-location based software?  This is software that pinpoints your location using cell sites or global positioning sites.  I can locate where I am using my mobile phone.  This has lead to the software like what is being used now by the early adopters and the technology world.  What are the applications that are being used?  The two main applications are Gowalla and the one I am using called Foursquare.

Foursquare was recently mentioned at the TS2 show by Jim Rooney the head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, someone that we have featured here before as a forward thinking leader in our industry.  Jim is responsible for helping run, along with his great staff of people, the Boston Convention Center.  He mentioned that he is looking into the location based applications as a new technology they are interested in implementing at the MCCA.  This can only mean that many of the leaders in the space are also looking to use the new software and its applications.  If you want to look into this as a way for you to make your convention or trade show better, we can help.

The catch to the title of this post is ironic.  I am attending some interviews of some key figures and players in the industry at the TS2 conference but I am not actually in Boston.  I am in the comfort of my own office from Colorado.  I did the same thing yesterday as the crew in the Boston Convention Center put together an online stream of the convention floor called #InZone.  That is the hashtag that is being used on Twitter and across the online world.  You can follow along with what is happening on Twitter and online if you choose.  The link for that may change and be inoperable but if you see it today you may still have time.

The online presence is being sponsored by the folks over at The Expo Group and my friend Dana Freker Doody is helping put that on.  It is how I heard of its existence.  She reached out to her community and told all of us that it existed. The other sponsors to the event include the MCCA, 3DMedia, Emilie Barta, CORT, IEP, and Digitell.  All of them put this together to make it a great experience.  I will talk about this more and perhaps even get an interview after the show is over with Dana Doody about the post show recap.

Editor:  The following is a post that I received as an email from one of our employees at Conventions.net.  I had to post it because it is a classic example of what cool stuff happens between companies and their employees.

I don’t usually write reviews but I want everyone to know how happy I am with Quality Logo Products! I’m getting married soon and I knew I wanted to have some wine glasses personalized with our wedding date and names, so I spent some time researching different promotional products stores. Most of the websites I went to had glasses but they all seemed overpriced or their setup charges were cost prohibitive. I was honestly about to give up when I stumbled upon a coupon code for Quality Logo Products and decided to check them out.
I found some wine glasses I liked right away and got excited when I saw they were in my price range. While I was trying to estimate how much 200 glasses would cost me with shipping, I noticed there was a button that said “Live Help” under the picture of the glasses. I clicked on it because I figured it would be easier for me to just talk to someone from Quality Logo Products, and I’m SO glad I did! My rep, Anthony, was so friendly and he helped me estimate my shipping costs within a couple of minutes. He also gave me other favor suggestions based on the budget I gave him, which was very helpful because that’s how I found the bride and groom stress balls I ended up ordering with the glasses. I saved about $20 with the coupon I found, which also helped! Anthony made me feel at ease with the whole transaction and there was never a point when I was kept out of the loop. He let me see electronic proofs to make sure my wedding info was the way I wanted it, he sent me email updates to let me know when my favors shipped and to let me know my tracking number, and he always emailed me back if I had a question. I can’t imagine what my experience would have been like if I hadn’t found Quality Logo Products!
I just know that our wine glasses and cute stress balls are going to be a huge hit at the reception. The quality is amazing. Much to my surprise, thanks to the special packaging Quality Logo Products uses, not a single wine glass arrived broken – they were all still intact. I can’t wait to give them out! I couldn’t even tell you how many other online stores I searched for wedding favor ideas before I found Quality Logo Products, but I know I’ll never go anywhere else again. I’ve already recommended them to everyone I know and I will continue to do so. Don’t bother with the other promotional products sites: go to QualityLogoProducts.com right now if you know what’s good for you!

In early 2007, I remember sitting in a bar in Austin, Texas and finding all of my friends on Twitter.  I had less than 100 people I was following then and I could remember seeing in real time what they were doing and what they were reading or watching on television or what bar they were buying drinks at in town.  It was very easy to follow along and it was a real cocktail party at that time.  Fast forward now a few years and my personal Twitter account has more than 11,000 followers and I am trying to follow along myself with more than 8,000 people.  Obviously, I cannot follow along with that many people in the real world of Twitter now but I have a good chance to talking with a few of them during the day.

We here at Conventions.net have been on Twitter for a while now and we are integrating other areas of social media here with our blog too.  I think Facebook is soon to be in the offering of places you can have conversations with us.  I will let you know when we get that up and running.  For now, you can follow along with our tweets at the Conventions.net Twitter page.  We will be updating with you what we are doing, will be sending updates about blog postings, and what new and interesting things we find on the Internet.  We are also working on making sure you know the latest news, and of course, we love chatting with you.  Feel free to follow along with us there and we will talk to you soon…or is it Tweet with you soon?

With the recent crisis occurring in the Gulf of Mexico with the BP oil spill disaster, it is tough to make it through an entire conversation without that becoming a topic of interest to most anyone that is up on the news.  This made me think of what trade shows and conventions think of the spill and what they are doing when someone asks them about their water conservation.  It made me think back to the Tools of the TRADEshow newsletter and a tips and tricks article on how to conserve water.  I tend to keep everything and the newsletter is a great source of info.

The newsletter article mentioned a tip that resonated with me being from Colorado and how we sometimes get into conditions of drought.  We often go into a plan B way of dealing with water conservation here, like lawn watering conservation and landscaping tactics to conserve water.  Businesses also get into the swing with conserving water by doing things a little different.  Is your trade show conserving water?  Here is a tip that I saw in the newsletter that I thought was a simple way to contribute to water conservation.

Serve water at meals only by request, rather than pre-filling hundreds of glasses. Meeting Strategies Worldwide estimates that if you avoid pre-filling water glasses at banquet lunches for 2,200 people for three days, you can save 520 gallons of water!

That sounds like not a lot of water but it can mean a small contribution to the water supply, and if we all did a little something to help conserve water, we would be doing our part for the environment and the event industry!  If you want to get more tips like this from the Conventions.net newsletter, I suggest you go to the Conventions.net site and enter your info in the eNewsletter signup to receive it via email.  It takes only a short time and you can get many tips and articles about how your can make your event or trade show and convention a better experience for all.

I am considered as a techno-geek or a geeky person that loves technology.  I tend to get my hands on a number or applications or get asked to help many companies test their latest in offerings for social networks or beta test their latest software.  I love to see how things are changing and the trends of the future as it relates to how we use technology.  This is why when I talk about the title of this post I tend to be really passionate.  The world of mobile is a game changer for all of us.  It doesn’t matter what industry you are in and it doesn’t matter what demographic you come from, smart phones are changing the way we do business.

This is why we are Conventions.net are staying ahead of the curve and changing with the technology.  We are now offering a way for all of the trade show and convention industry people to stay on top of the latest mobile trends and the latest in game changing technology.  Is your company staying on top of the latest in mobile apps or are they lacking in that department?  You can find out by pouring through the applications for iPhones on Conventions.net.  I’ll recap the site information about the applications here:

Conventions.net has compiled a comprehensive list of Trade Show Industry iPhone Apps, Meetings Industry iphone Apps, and Event Industry iphone Apps on the web. You no longer need to scour the web or Apple’s iTunes store to find the best Applications for your next Trade Show, Conference, Meeting or Event. For additional information, or to download one of the Apps below just click its icon.

I recognize a number of the applications mentioned on the site by logo alone and I can assure you that the iPhone is not the only place you can find some of these technologies.  I know that applications are also available on the Blackberry and other smart phones so take a look not only on your iPhone if you are one of those users, but also make sure to see if the application is compatible with your brand of phone.  Chances are it is available or will be available shortly on all the other makes and models.

If you are a company that develops iPhone applications and/or a company that has developed an iPhone application and would like to see your application added to the Conventions.net page, please contact us so we can add it to the list of applications.  If you are a power user and do not see an application that we should be including please let us know.  We aim to be the go to guide for all things iPhone and the mobile market in the Trade Show, Conventions and Meetings industry!

This is the question that everyone should be able to answer in your organization when it comes time to prepare for your event.  If you have people from your organization working in your booth, they need to know why every attendee should show up to your booth.  Is your trade show booth standing out in the crowd? Do you have something new that everyone wants to see?  Perhaps you have the coolest giveaway?  These are just a few of the ideas that would make people want to show up to your trade show booth.

We are in some very competitive times as it relates to business.  There are only so many customers out there in each industry and all of them are looking to get the best product or service for the best deal.  So why should they be doing business with your company7.  That same thing spills over to your trade show booth.  Why should I be visiting your booth?

We have many experts here at Conventions.net in our marketplace that can help you stand out in the crowd, be it a cool exhibit booth, some great promotional products or perhaps it is as simple as getting the right personnel to handle the booth from the presentation side.  All of these can be found on our site.  The question you also need to ask yourself is whether you can afford for people NOT to show up to your booth at the next trade show or convention?

[photo courtesy of UOregon Conference Services]

I am a huge fan of the Starwood Hotels and their resorts.  The latest Starwood Hotels and Resorts experience I had was out in Hawaii, so you can imagine how much that rated on my enjoyment meter.  If you get a chance to stay at the Moana Surfrider it is a one in a lifetime experience.  I also had an opportunity to look over Starwood’s latest campaign to help meeting and conference planners and at the same time give to charity.

The graphic above provides some for the information about their latest offer.  As you can see from the graphic they have also teamed up with PepsiCo on their campaign.  A deeper look into their offer also provides some details:

Starwood Hotels & Resorts and PepsiCo have teamed up to provide more value for your meeting experience. Plus, Starwood is giving you an opportunity to give back to your community. For every meeting booked your company will be entered to win one of four $50,000 charitable grants to be donated to your favorite local cause.

Book by July 31, 2010, and hold your meeting by December 31, 2010. This offer includes:

• - 4% Credit to master
• - Complimentary PepsiCo food and beverage break
• - Up to 100,000 Starpoints^® signing bonus
• - Sweepstakes for one of four $50,000 charitable grants
  

PepsiCo is becoming a driving force in the world of cause marketing and they are leading the way for other companies to participate.  This is a great initiative they are putting together with Starwood Hotels and Resorts.  If you book your meeting or conference with them, let them know that the folks here at Conventions.net sent you, and give them a thumbs up from us.

As you can see from our last couple of months we have been showcasing many of the convention centers around the country and letting you know their offerings and how they might fit into your convention plan. No matter if you are planning a large event or a smaller conference, we want to be seen as the place to come for information. You can find all of the information on any city or center just by looking at the categories we have here, or perhaps making sure to visit Conventions.net for the latest information on any of our locations we have featured there.

I wanted to get back to some of the nuts and bolts of actually going through the planning of a convention, trade show or conference. I have been busy with a few of my own shows, one in Las Vegas in 2009 at BlogWorld & New Media Expo, followed very quickly by the Social Media Business Summit in Hawaii at the [re]Think Hawaii event, and most recently I have been working on the Modern Media Man Summit in Atlanta which will take place in September, 2010.  It seems I have a few plates in the air and have been doing many jobs over the last couple of years.  I am sure this will continue as I think it is a great way to gain experience doing a number of different jobs in different locations.

This week I am going to start talking about some of the things that go on behind the doors or events.  These are the things that might not be the glamorous things that occur and it might not be the things that we like to showcase as owners of events or conference directors or exhibit booth salespersons.  I have met a number of interesting people along the way and want to talk about a few of those as well so stay tuned while I start my brain dump of all the things that go into what I see as convention planning!

[photo via Retronaut]