Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

I was reading through an article by Rachel Wimberly over at TSNN.com about a Denver convention of teachers and their use of Wifi.  The event I am speaking of is at the Colorado Convention Center in my part of the world.  The convention is the International Society for Technology In Education or ISTE.  The article references Smart City a company that we have featured on here before and a company that is well known in the Wifi space for conventions and trade shows. I think that what we see in a convention like ITSE is going to be the wave of the future for conferences.  What TSNN writes is:

Of the 18,000 attendees who showed up for the event, 16,500 of them were online at any given time. Donella Evoniuk, ISTE’s senior director of conference services, said the event has offered free Wi-Fi since 2001, and they have worked with Smart City for several years to ensure the attendees’ demand to be online is met.

I am in the world of social media so it may be that the events that I mostly attend and the ones I am invited to speak at may be more technically minded and may involve more attendees online, but I do think this is a trend that will continue in all conferences and trade shows.  The article goes on to state:

Smart City has worked with ISTE on several shows, but Evoniuk said when a preshow survey indicated more than 80 percent of attendees intended to bring their laptops to the show, as well as 50 percent planned to bring both a cell phone and a laptop to the event, they knew demand was going to be unusually high. On top of that, ISTE promoted active back channel communications through live Twitter feeds and the ISTE 2010 Blog Roll, she added.

This is only going to be more of the norm.  I am constantly wondering what the “connectivity” is going to be like when I attend events.  With the new social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook having the success that they are and the participation we are seeing in the realm of those social sites, we can assume that everyone wants to be connected.  There are plenty of new technologies that are being developed for conference and convention attendees in mind that are integrating connectivity in the wifi space that we will see become more prevalent at conventions as well.  The article seems to make it sound as if this is a new idea, but in reality, this is slowly becoming the norm.

I was having a discussion with a colleague the other day about using email marketing as a way to get the word out and help get information to a customer.  I am still a child of email myself and I check that usually before I get my coffee in the morning.  A recent study reported by Mashable indicates that the next generation may be checking Facebook before they have their coffee, but I for one stick with the basics and go through email.

I continue to receive email updates from conferences and trade shows I have attended but for the most part, they smaller shows only send out a few updates a year and those are usually centered around events such as a call for speakers, or a sale of early bird tickets or other bigger announcements.  I think that is a poor use of email and newsletters.  Email is a great way to get up to speed year round and keep things fresh in the minds of your attendees, exhibitors and sponsors.  It is a great tool for helping you garner more sponsors in fact if they think you will be promoting them all year.

There are many email services out there and none of them are head and shoulders about their competitors.  I like to see a company that provides good analytics and one that allows you to customize your emails easily.  I know that some of the companies out there even have the ability to integrate with your blog and other social networks which is a nice touch.  Are you using email as a way to market your event?  How many emails is too many versus how many are too little.  I like to think that once a month I should be seeing your event show up on my radar and as we get close to your event you should get out as many as one per week.  What has worked for you in the past?

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?

This is a question every conference, trade show, meeting and convention planner needs to ask themselves when getting ready to make that pitch to a prospective sponsor.  Why do they want to give you money to be a part of your show?  If the answer is not obvious, perhaps you need to be prepared to make it more obvious.

Many companies out there are hurting right now in this economy so they are beginning to tighten the belts of the budgets in the marketing and sales area and your convention may be the first place they want to cut.  Are they making a mistake? Probably, if they have the opportunity to make a sale or two by being a sponsor of your event.  You need to provide them with the information about quality leads, about why their brand needs to be aligned with your event and the return on their sponsorship investment.  If you can provide a good reason why they should be sponsoring your event then it should be an easy enough sale.

When going to the sales call, map out why each particular sponsor should be a part of your event.  Make it easy for them to understand and make sure you provide all the information they need to sell it on their end.  If you can make it easy for them to sell, your sale will be much easier.  I have found a number of sponsors for events just because I have made it easy for them to get approval to spend the money.  If you make it an easy job for all, then we all want the easy job to be on our plate.

If you would like to be a sponsor here on our blog or on the Conventions.net site I can provide many reasons for you to want to be a part of our sites.  Contact me.

[photo via fifa4fans.de]

If the answer to this is no, you are missing out on a great opportunity to promote, publicize or market your event, trade show or convention. Flickr makes it possible to store your photographs online and they allow you to actually share those photos with the people that matter to you.  You can share your photos on your blog, or even on the Facebook page that seems not to get enough attention from you.  Flickr is also a database that can be searched for people that are perhaps looking for information related to your event.

Flickr allows you to upload photos that can then be tagged and labeled.  If you have an annual event and want people to see photographs from other years or if you want to make those photographs part of your sales pitch or sales brochure, it makes it easy to store them for future use.

In addition to being able to share your own photos, you can actually have other account holders’ photos fed via RSS directly onto your site as they tag those photos with your hashtag.  Hashtags are more than just a way for people to follow your event online, they are a way to identify your event in social networking sites like Flickr.  If you have not yet signed up for an account on Flickr I suggest you gt one and in addition to signing up for a free account today, I would also recommend that you sign up for a Pro account.  This will give you a little more flexibility in your use of the system.

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!

I love to follow along on Twitter for people that are live tweeting events.  Live tweeting refers to attendees at conventions and trade shows that send out Tweets during the event to let their followers know of great nuggets of information.  Many events are getting great exposure as a result of Twitter and it helps spread the word that the event is well attended.

I was following along with an conference called the Cause Marketing Forum which was taking place in Chicago.  One of the speakers was a friend and client of mine and I was curious how the event was going.  I was able to call up the hashtag of #CMF10 and see what everyone was saying about his session and about the conference overall.  He was also tweeting out information from other panels and sessions that he attended.  I was able to get some good quotes and some good ideas about what was happening in Chicago while I was in Denver.

This is a great way to get some further exposure to your event.  I suggest all of the meeting planners out there have an acronym and the year for their event publicized as a hashtag for your event website or somewhere in your materials when promoting the event.  With the explosion of smart phones at events and how people are communicating, it will be a normal procedure to get updates sent directly to the Twitter stream and ways to get the word out about what is going on at your event.

I can actually attend an event and see what is going on across the country at another convention at the same time.  Technology is making it possible to be at two or more conferences at one time!  If you want to hear what is happening at an event but can’t make it across country to attend, try following along on Twitter.  If you want to see some of the tweets we send out at Conventions.net, you can follow us on Twitter too!  We will tweet some info about events and use hashtags as we do it.

[Photo via Hashtag.org]

The Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta is truly unique: approximately 200 acres of facilities capable of expertly hosting your convention, conference, retreat, and trade show, as well as sporting events and pretty much any kind of special event you could imagine. 3.9 million square feet with 1.4 million square feet of prime exhibit space can accommodate anything!  Add to that 12 exhibit halls 106 meeting rooms, and 2 ballrooms, and there is nothing this venue can’t hold!

Besides, the Georgia World Congress Center is complemented by the Georgia Dome (think SPORTS!) and Centennial Olympic Park.  All together, these facilities make the finest venue for anything in the world .

The venue is right in the middle of downtown Atlanta, making it convenient to almost anything and everything you and your attendees might want to visit after hours or during breaks.  Your speakers and exhibitors will have access to the venue’s many amenities, including WiFi.

Oh, and not only is the Georgia World Congress Center the 4th largest convention center in the world; it’s also one of the most popular!

This is a green venue, as well.

The Georgia World Congress Center is also very much into social media; interested potential customers can find it on Twitter and Facebook, as well as Linkedin.

If you are seeking a venue for your conference/convention/retreat/trade show/etc, seek no further than downtown Atlanta, Georgia, and the Georgia World Congress Center!

There are two conference centers at Louisiana’s Wildwood Resort, so no matter what the size of your convention/trade show/retreat/conference, this venue can accommodate you easily and well.

There are superb facilities here – anything and everything your speakers, organizers, and attendees could possibly need, from food and furniture to wifi and electronics.

This venue is also a hotel, so your attendees can stay on-site.  I think this is always the best way.

At the resort’s W.J. Brown Conference Center, your large conference will be housed in surroundings that look like a grand old country lodge.  Don’t be fooled, however; the amenities are as modern as can be found anywhere in the world.

If you are planning a smaller conference, the Junior Conference Center can accommodate smaller groups of up to 50 attendees: perfect for corporate events or retreats, special occasions, or just simply a smaller convention.

After the day’s meetings and seminars are over, your attendees can take advantage of the fantastic fishing, swimming, golf, or just simply relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery.

Oh, and if you want your conference to be catered, this venue can offer your attendees a little bit of everything, from a fish fry to an elegant prime rib dinner.

WILDWOOD RESORT
129 WILDWOOD DRIVE
ZWOLLE, LOUISIANA 71486
(800) 341-3668
(800) 450-5103
www.wildwood-resort.com

And, at the end of the day, your attendees will find that their beds are fantastic in every possible way.

Washington D.C.’s Renaissance Hotel, in the heart of downtown and convenient to almost everything in the district, is a very popular venue for conventions, conferences, trade shows, meetings, and retreats. With over 64,000 square feet of meeting space, including 36 meeting rooms and a Grand Ballroom with more than 19,000999 square feet and a seating capacity of 2,500, and all the exhibition space you could possibly need, what else is necessary?

All of the meeting rooms and public areas are wired, as are the guest rooms.

The venue offers complete AV and teleconferencing capabilities, and the hotel furnishes an event services manager, on duty 24 hours.

Computers and printers, copy and fax services are also available at the Renaissance.

Got packages?  This venue can take care of those, too, whether they’re coming in or going out.

The hotel can also furnish your conference people with walkie talkies.

As for location, downtown D.C. is as handy as it gets.  The Renaissance is next door to the Washington Convention Center and only a few blocks from the Metro. The Renaissance also offers complementary use of the vida Fitness Center and aura Spa.

The Renaissance is a Marriott, and you can use your rewards here.

The hotel is smoke-free, and no animals are allowed except for service animals.

Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel
• 999 Ninth Street NW
• Washington, DC 20001 US
• Phone: 1 202 898 9000
• Fax: 1 202 289 0947
• Sales: 1 202 898 9000