Convention Insider (Conventions.net)

One of the things I do quite a bit is speak at conferences around the country.  I use speaking as a way to help promote my business because I am seen as an expert or a thought leader by presenting on topics within my industry. I try to help promote my speaking at events by sending out a number of messages on Twitter and letting my community on Facebook know where I will be speaking, and I generally try to get people to know where I will be and where they can find me.  It is good business to promote yourself through speaking.

What I don’t see often enough is speakers that promote the shows that they are asked to speak at on a large scale.  It is a win win situation when asked to speak at a conference.  You get the chance to be seen as the expert and the conference gets your content to provide to their attendees.  The latter part of that statement is the most important, the attendees to the event.  You can help the conference by getting people in the seats.  Many would argue that is is a responsibility to help the show organizer to get people to come to the show if you will be there speaking.  If you are not selling yourself and the conference you are not promoting well.

If you have a website advertise the upcoming show on space that tells your community about the conference.  When commenting on blogs about your topic, tell people where they can go to register for the event. Have a Slideshare account?  Make sure you upload your power point presentation.  All of this can help your presentation and help the event where you are speaking.  Bottom line is if you are asked to speak, do your part to help promote the conference to make it a success.  If the show is seen as a success and you helped make it work, you will be asked back for future conferences to be seen as the expert in your field.  It is good business.

Photo via Daveness_98

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?

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!