Let’s pretend that you are putting together an All-Employee Meeting. What do you think your attendees will prefer: 4 hours of PowerPoint or an Adventure?
I would go with adventure 10 times out of 10.
Boston Scientific chose adventure, too. They skipped the General Session that would have stuffed 5,000 employees into chairs to listen to PowerPoint presentations. Instead, they created an Expo environment – in the spirit of the Shanghai Expo – where employees could engage with the company, its products and people in many different ways.
Watch the video to see how it turned out. Then, put your PowerPoint down and get started creating your own Adventure.
Each year 3M spends over a billion dollars on R&D. One Billion dollars! They have thousands of people working on solutions to new problems, refining existing products and just creating mad science.
Event Camp Twin Cities is an innovation lab for the meetings industry. A tiny one. The event is about sharing ideas and building relationships first and foremost. We generate awareness for new ideas, create new product trials for our partners and showcase thought leaders – or crazy people that want to test new ideas!
Event Camp Twin Cities-Large
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We don’t have a billion dollars or a million dollars or a hundred thousand dollars. Event Camp Twin Cities is put together with duct tape, bailing wire, a little inegnuity and a truck load of passion. Our financial and in-kind partners and volunteers are the backbone of this event.
When Ray Hansen and I created this event – our premise was simple. Let’s create a safe space for people to try things that they can’t (or won’t) try in their own events. Let’s find thought leaders that don’t know that they are thought leaders and give them space to share their ideas. Let’s use social media and hybrid technology in ways that most people dream about (or blog about). Let’s get as many people involved as possible. If we can do all of that – hopefully – we will inspire people to go try something that they learned about at our event.
The First Event
In 2010, we showed our attendees Learning Journals, Pecha-Kucha, Business Games, Mass Collaboration, Story Slam, Glenn Thayer’s New General Session Model, alternative seating, etc. Most people had never heard of these concepts. Then, we wrapped the event in a hybrid experience that was unlike anything most people had ever seen. We had 550 people online and they stayed all day.
The event was a wild success. Here are some press articles that do an excellent job of painting a picture of what happened in 2010 and what this event is about:
While all of that press was great and made me feel good, do you know what really got me excited?
It was the blog posts, emails and phone calls from people that said - “we are trying _________ because we learned about it at Event Camp Twin Cities. Thank you.”
The Next Event Camp Twin Cities (August 25-26, 2011)
Event Camp Twin Cities will be special again this year. We are putting together a great program with over 20 content sessions loaded with fresh ideas, strategies and case studies. The event will take place in nine physical sites – all at once and all integrated. Those locations are Minneapolis, Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Toronto, St. Louis, Vancouver, Silicon Valley and two in the headquarters of two corporations. And, we are integrating a series of gaming challenges that are tied directly to the event content.
Never underestimate what a small group of committed people can do with duct tape, bailing wire, a little inegnuity and a truck load of passion. We are creating mad event science at Event Camp Twin Cities. It’s going to be a great event. It’s one that you won’t want to miss.
Have you heard about the new IML Connector? It was announced in February 2010 and has been repeatedly delayed in coming to market.
Well, it is almost here.
Last month, IML demonstrated the Connector at an MPI Minnesota chapter meeting. Luckily, I happen to be there.
What is the IML Connector?
The IML Connector is one of these one-size-fits-all super-whiz bangs for meetings and events. The centerpiece is a handheld device with a keyboard. It’s size and shape reminded me of the original Blackberry.
Here are list of things that it can do:
Audience Response Voting
Text to Screen Q&A via keyboard
Microphone queue
Simultaneous interpretation
Portable PA
Multiple Audio Channels
Smart Card capability
I think that’s an impressive list of capabilities. When you consider that most of the other mobile guys are busy creating a more expensive way to show you an agenda on a 3 inch screen that people over 50 can’t read – I give these guys credit for going in a new direction.
Here’s what impressed me
The microphone on this device is really something else. Attendees were holding it 6-18 inches away from their mouth (see picture above) and it worked perfectly to pick up their voice and project it through the house sound. (Note this demonstration was for 200 people over lunch). I thought this piece was really cool.
Also, I liked how people could text in the comments. Attendees used the keyboard to type in questions. The questions/comments were shown to the panel on a confidence monitor. Then, the panel could answer the questions as they saw fit. This seemed to work really well. After a few questions were answered – more people caught on and started sending in questions.
What I didn’t see
I am really interested in seeing how the multiple audio channels executes. I have some projects where it would be cool to project presentations from multiple rooms in a single lounge. Then, we would want to give the attendees in the lounges these devices to “listen in” on what is happening in the other rooms. I think this would be an awesome application of the technology. We will have to wait and see on this one.
Here’s where they need to continue working
The microphone can give some wicked feedback if used incorrectly. Speakers and the A/V techs in the room will need to be trained on how to “coach attendees” to use these microphones. In our MPI session, it wasn’t until the 3rd person spoke that someone pointed out that they were holding the microphone to close to their mouth.
Is this product really available?
So far there are less than 100 of these devices in the US market. They are all being used for demos. IML is doing it’s first “paid” in May 2011. So, this is probably something to take a look at for late 2011 or 2012.
Bottom Line
While most of the mobile providers are zigging these guys are zagging. I liked how these guys are trying to combine the three most common interactive capabilities (ARS, Q&A, Text Q&A) into a single solution.
Have you seen this device in action? Do we want another device at our events? Or should we be striving to include all of these capabilities in our mobile phones?
If your annual education conference attracts only 20% of your members what are you doing for the other 80%? How do you create and deliver education for them? How do you bring your community together?
Meeting Professionals International is making some bold moves in 2011 to tackle some of these challenges. Have a look at what they are doing at their annual world education conference and let me know what you think.
Rolling Out the Hive
The Hive is designed to be the hub of digital buzz for MPI’s 2011 WEC (see sketch above). It’s a physical space in the global village. The Hive combines the cyber cafe, info desk, interview studio, device recharge point, twitter wall, social media aggregator, lounge and a stage (for quick tech lessons) all in one place. The idea is to give attendees multiple ways to connect to the people, content and ideas at WEC. Digital Rookies can connect with Digital Allstars. Groups can hold tweetups. It will be so much more than a cool place to recharge your phone and hangout.
Transforming MPI Website into a Virtual Hub
In another bold move, the MPI website will become a funnel for all social media during the conference. It will aggregate the tweets, photos, videos, blog posts, etc into a single place. In addition, sessions will be streamed live to the MPI website. Some content will be free and others will be available to members only. The rest will be uploaded into MPI’s on demand program. This is a major shift from 2009′s $300 virtual access pass experiment and a good evolution.
Crossing the Pond
The UK chapter (a large european chapter) is working on an initiative to run a parallel event. They will get UK members together and have a viewing party. Some of the sessions from Orlando will be streamed live to the UK chapter’s viewing headquarters. If this comes together – it will be a first for MPI and could open the doors for other viewing pods in other regions with heavy membership around the world.
Bottom Line
If 80% of your members are not attending your annual conference, consider other ways to connect them with the people, ideas and content from your event. Meeting Professionals International is shifting to digital with a multi-pronged approach.
Does it seem like every post about social media in events talks about Facebook and Twitter? Do you feel like your creativity is being constrained, because so many people are talking about the same 3-4 solutions?
See how Asics used videos and location based tracking to help family and friends at home cheer on their marathoners. This is really cool stuff. Fans record videos and leave messages for runners. Then as the runners go past a checkpoint, the videos and messages play on large screens. Read more
What happens if I think that the ice sculpture and chocolate fountain at your event are off the hook? How do I tell my facebook friends and my twitter buddies?
I have to pull out my phone, take a picture, enter a short message and upload it. I miss valuable networking time at your event – plus my iphone will probably autocorrect what I type into some gibberish.
In my opinion, the greatest challenge to spreading the use of social media at events is getting people to express themselves digitally without having to use a laptop or handheld device.
What would happen if you could give people a simple way to “like” something in the real world without having to use a laptop or mobile device?
Here are three videos of how events are using RFID and Social Media to allow attendees to express themselves digitally.
Coca-Cola and the Like Machine
Liking Renault at the NLRAI Autoshow
Rock Concert in Belgium
Why is this the next big thing?
There are four reasons why I think this technology will be the next big thing for social media in events.
(1) Ease of Use for Attendees – It is so simple to swipe a wristband or badge against a touchpoint that automatically updates your status. You take the technology complexity out of the experience.
(2) Awareness – If your brand or event is new and lacking widspread awareness, this is the perfect way to tap into the Digital word of mouth power of social media.
(3) Data – You get data about what people like at your event. Plus, you can collect data on what was shared with others and clicked on. When you combine this data with other landing page, registration for newsletters, etc. data to see how it contributed to driving people into your marketing funnel.
(4) Widespread application – This technology will work for the galas, weddings, conferences, tradeshows, national sales meetings, association conferences, parties, etc.
Bottom Line
In my opinion, allowing people to express themselves digitally without the need for a device is the next evolution in the integration of social media in events.
Now you know where I stand. What do you think? What’s the next big thing for social media in events – if this isn’t it?
When you get ready to start planning your next meeting, is your plan to make an incremental change or take a giant leap?
My guess is incremental change. And, I bet you then go look for new ideas that you can include in your event. Right now you might be excited about QR codes, mobile apps. and social media.
I have a question for you.
What would it mean to your organization if you could multiply the value of your meetings and events?
Picture of KFC Ultimate Value Box
Think about that question for a minute.
How would your attendees feel if you sent them home with 3X the educational value for the same cost/effort? How would your leadership teams feel if you could generate 3X the output from annual top management meetings for the same cost/effort? How would your sponsors feel if you could send them home with 3X the qualified leads for the same cost/effort? How would your employees feel if you included them in 3X the important decisions affecting the future of your company?
I bet your stakeholders would be ecstatic, if you delivered a giant leap in meeting performance. And I bet they would throw you a ticker tape parade and put your name in lights.
The Big Question
Here’s the big question: How do you do it? Which part of your meetings need rethinking in order to multiply the value?
This is a tough one. If you talk to 1,000 people, you will get 1,000 different answers.
Some Answers
Maarten Vanneste, author of Meeting Architecture, created a tool called the Meeting Support Matrix that offers a super-simple way to look at what you are doing in your event, identify gaps and make adjustments in your strategy. This 3X3 matrix allows you to look at your event across time and by “core” objective. (Download)
At BizBash’s Rethink Forum, Mary Boone and Flemming Fog talked about starting with objectives and then using group processes with technology to deliver results. They shared several examples. (Learn More)
Bottom Line
Ask yourself these questions: (A) what would it mean to your organization, if you could multiply the value of events? (B) How would you measure it? (C) Where would you invest time and energy in rethinking your meetings? (D) For those of you that are already doing this – what is working and where are you running into challenges?
What would happen if you transformed your event with a game? Would it inspire creativity, problem solving and innovation among your attendees? Would it energize everyone? Or would it be so stressful that it wouldn’t be worth the effort?
This week, the Green Meetings Industry Council used gaming to transform their learning and communication platform. GMIC designed an interactive and collaborative game that created incentives for attendees to (A) apply the learning from the conference in real time, (B) support sponsors and exhibitors and (C) share the key messages of GMIC via social media with the rest of the world.
The Game & Leaderboard
The objective of the game was to earn the most points. Points were awarded by doing the following:
> Share insights from the event via Twitter or Blogging
> Visit Exhibitor booths in the Exhibit area
> Attend Educational Sessions
> Complete a Group Case Study project that helped integrate all of the learning.
The Leaderboard kept track of the points earned in a pseudo real-time way. Some of the points were recorded digitally. While other items, like the case studies, had to be manually scored and entered into the system. You could check the leaderboard anytime by logging into a mobile application and seeing where your team stood.
Teams
GMIC pre-loaded Team profiles into the system to help get teams started. Then each team self-formed and added members to their team roster in the game. As a virtual participant, I couldn’t see who was on which team. So I had to get some feedback on teams from Twitter. Greg Ruby (@gregruby) and Brian Hunt (@brianhunt04) told me that Team Oak was the best. So, I accepted their invitation to join Team Oak. Brian and Greg were right – we were good.
The Technology: iPad Apps & Mobile Apps
The system that kept all of this together was an iPad app and a mobile app made by QuickMobile. Each team was given an ipad that had the official team app on it. This app allowed the team to do a lot of different types of data entry and engagement activities.
As a remote participant – I had a mobile app that helped me see how Team Oak was doing. I couldn’t enter any data into the system, but I could follow along with my team. This gave me access to the leaderboard and the case study as well as various other items – like a list of attendees.
Note: If you did use the iPad application, please tell me about your experience in the comment section below. I would be interested in hearing how it worked for you and your teams.
Virtual Participation
Myself, Tahira Endean (@tahiracreates, Vancouver), Brandt Krueger (@brandtkrueger, Minneapolis), Sanne Jolles (@sanne_j, Amsterdam), Katherine Manfredi (@kmanfredi, Florida) and various others were active virtual participants. In one form or another, we were able to join teams and participate in the group projects onsite.
I really appreciated this opportunity to be included in the group activity. It would have been very easy for the organizers to say no, because it really wasn’t part of the original plan. It turns out that GMIC literally embraced a message from Event Camp Twin Cities: “Experimentation is our get out of Jail Free Card…if we weren’t having tech hiccups then we wouldn’t be innovating.” With that as guiding motto – they were willing to let attendees create and push the boundaries.
Virtual View From Brandt Krueger's Office
Skyping in Virtual Team members
For Team Oak, we skyped in Brandt Krueger and myself into our team meetings to discuss the case and various strategies. Brandt Krueger skyped in via skype audio onto the team iPad. He was placed in the center of the table. I was video skyped in and took a seat around the circle. John Chen (@bigkid) and Greg Ruby (@gregruby) were gracious enough to help put it all together.
View of Team Oak from my Virtual Perspective
I liked the experience because I could observe the non-verbal communication from the other attendees that accompanied what they said. However, it was not always possible to hear all team members all of the time. Did I mention that we met at the bar?
Here is a video interview with some of my thoughts on being a virtual participant.
Tahira Endean (@tahiracreates) had an entirely different experience. They had problems getting skype to make a good connection. As a result, she used email and text chat to participate in the group. This made her experience dramatically different from my own. Also, it changed the way that the communication dynamics between her f2f team and remote participants.
The Case Study
The case study was brilliantly designed. It challenged us to practice: objective setting, destination analysis, pricing, business analysis, meeting architecture and establishing a measurement strategy. I really appreciated the multiple dimensions that were inside of the case study. Elizabeth Henderson (@ehenderson) did an amazing job.
The Debrief
In my opinion, one of the most important elements in a competitive game is the debrief. This is the part where you find out if you won or not – then figure out what you did wrong. One thing that struck me right off the bat – was Paul Salinger saying that he let us down on objective setting because none of us did it correctly. The irony is that I remember him asking several times on day 1 – do you all know how to do this? The entire room said we do. I guess we didn’t afterall.
Our team ended up second overall and third in the case study. While I was proud of our efforts, Team Magnolia rocked the case study. I would have been interested in hearing them talk about their proposal and get their take on some of the high points.
Total Engagement & Gamestorming
Inspiration for the game design came from the book Total Engagement by Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read. (http://www.totalengagement.org/) I haven’t read the book – but plan to pick it up soon.
Equally important, Paul Salinger opened and closed the gaming sessions by talking about Divergent thinking and Convergent thinking. I first learned about those elements of game design from the book Gamestorming. (http://www.gogamestorm.com/)
It’s Still About People
While the game was cool – one of my big take aways was the wonderful welcome and feeling of inclusion that I got from the organizers and attendees. They went way beyond the call of duty.
I would like to thank Paul Salinger (@psalinger), Midori Connolly (@greena_v), Mitchell Beer (@mitchellbeer), Holly Duckworth (@hduckworth), Elizabeth Henderson (@ehenderson), Greg Ruby (@gregruby), Roger Simons (@rog_simons), Brian Hunt (@Brianhunt04), John Chen (@BigKid), Gina Broel (@gbroel), Ian Lipton, Joseph Chan, Daniella from Team Oak, Team Oak, Lisa Kraus (@LisaKraus), Andrew Walker (@eco_efficient), Jill Drury (@jtdrury), Tahira Endean (@Tahiracreates), Heather Teegarden (@hteegarden) and many others for making me feel part of the GMIC Family. Your kindness exceeded my expectations 20 fold.
Bottom Line
Through my virtual window, I can confirm that this was a very cool event. The tight integration of the game into the event objectives helped make the gaming element a success. While the technology was slick – the real key in my mind was a good game design around the objectives and content of the event.
Tell me about your experience. What did you like most about the gaming elements? What would you like to see improved? Do you think this format could scale up to 1000 attendees and beyond?
Next week’s Green Meetings Industry Council Annual conference (Feb 20-23, 2011) sounds like it will be really cool. They are complimenting the traditional lecture model with an interactive and collaborative games model. From what I understand – the idea is to send attendees home prepared to think strategically about building sustainable events.
To execute this vision the GMIC team is getting everyone to work together to solve problems rather than just listen to speakers talk. The idea behind the event is that you will go home having looked at building sustainable events from several different perspectives. Not only will you have heard about the strategies – but you will have been able to practice them.
Since, I am not really doing this event justice – here are snippets of Paul Salinger and Midori Connolly talking about Game On.
How You Can Participate
[Register here] Obviously you can attend in person. The event is in Portland. For those of you that want to save your carbon footprint (and your greenbacks) there is a FREE virtual pass available. Since, this conference fits with my innovation wishes - I plan to attend online.
I will be looking at how the organizers are integrating the games, ipad applications and case studies into the event design. I will be happy to share what I learn with all of you.
Tell me about your own experiences (positive or negative) using games in learning. Are other conferences doing this? What is the reaction from the attendees – near term and long term?
What comes to mind when someone says – Learning Lounge?
For me, I think of a sterile library-like-space with few people, little noise and empty chairs. I’m extremely pleased to tell you that PCMA‘s Learning Lounge was anything but. It was noisy, engaging and full of life!
This experimental idea gave us a glimpse into the Future of Meetings. It showed us new ways to include and engage a large number of attendees. And, showed us how we could incorporate the back of stage into our event experiences.
Luckily I brought my Flip Camera and made a short video. Have a look.
5 things that I liked about the Learning Lounge:
The format gave approximately 100 additional attendees an opportunity to share ideas and expertise with their peers.
The open space allowed you to “sample” a bunch of ideas and move between theaters very quickly.
The interview studio sessions were recorded and broadcast on the internet allowing people at home to participate as well.
The use of 3D structures and décor created intimate spaces out of a huge open space.
Having the Learning Lounge right next to the general session helped people arrive early, network, learn and get excited before the general session started.
Bottom Line
PCMA’s Learning Lounge was a high-energy, high traffic space that gave a bunch of attendees an opportunity to participate in the event. This is an idea that you should consider for your next meeting or event.
Have you experienced anything like PCMA’s Learning Lounge before? Have you tried anything similar in your own events? And, if you were at PCMA last week – what did you think of the Learning Lounge?
PS. This is a perfect example of Wish #2 coming to life!
