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Technology Trends Transforming the Events, Exhibitions and Destination Industries

Corbin Ball, CSP, CMP

Corbin Ball Associates

© 2013 Corbin Ball Associates

Course Notes:www.corbinball.com/assets/

trends-myceb.pdf

Twitter: @corbinball

T

“Information technologies are doubling their power every year.”

-- Ray Kurzweil, Futurist

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• 0900-1030 Web tools for events• 1100-1230 Social media• 1230-1345 Lunch • 1345-1500 Mobile technology• 1530-1700 Mobile, Wrap-up, Q&A

Four Technology Trends:

1. Event management software has become web-based…

and is becoming faster, cheaper and easier to use!

Trends: Web-based Management

Benefits:• Accessible (24/7 anywhere)• Standard interface (browser)• Cross-platform (pc/Mac)• Limited IT support needed• Works better with other programs

(interoperability)• Development tools much cheaper and

faster• Total cost of ownership (‘freeconomics’)



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Web-based Event Management

• Event Web Sites

• Registration

• Housing/Travel

• Scheduling

• Exhibition Floor Plan & Sales Management

• Customer Relations Management (CRM)

• Project Management

Low Cost Web-based Event Management

Open source web sites:wordpress.comeventespresso.comjoomla.comtinyurl.com/aar7o7zohanah.com

Free web tools:amiando.comconstantcontact.comeventbrite.comfloorplangenie.com

Four Technology Trends:

2. Social media will transform how events are managed and marketed.

Social Publishing

Social Collaboration

Social Networking

Social Feedback

Blogs

YouTube Flickr

Twitter

SlideShare

Wikis

IM Crowd Sourcing

Facebook LinkedIn

TripAdvisor

Yelp

Google+

Pinterest

YOU

Website Pros:• Still central to your marketing effort (the new

yellow pages) • 85% market share, Nielsen

• Trackable

Web Cons:• Typically static

• Pull rather than push• No trusted base of comparison

The Marketing Landscape



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Email Pros:• Cheap• Trackable

Email Cons• Reduced open-rates and effectiveness

• Losing especially in the “under 35” age group • SPAM

• Inflexible• No trusted base of comparison


Social Media Pros:• Tools often free • Trackable

• The new “in box” for many• Trusted basis for decisions

Social Media Cons• Still evolving (the Wild West)• More difficult to get “eyeballs”



Social Media & Events Report, Amiando, August, 20131,500 event organizers Social Media & Events Report, Amiando, August, 2013

Hubspot, May, 2013

Outbound Marketing

• Telemarketing

• Tradeshows

• Direct mail

• Email blasts

• Print ads

• TV/radio ad

Inbound Marketing

• SEO

• Blogging

• Social Media

• RSS

• Free tools/trials

• Viral Videos



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• It’s about conversations and

communities

• It requires a new way of thinking.

• Asking vs. telling.

• Allows your audience to connect with you and with each other.

Social Media… In the beginning…

• Benchmark – set goals and measure progress

• Identify target audience (keywords?)

• Identify what you want them to do?

• Measure success

How to Measure Success

• Engagement

• Number of unique users

• Returning versus new readers

• Referring source statistics

• Links from other sites

• Google PageRank

• Conversation Index: The ratio of blog comments to blog posts (where applicable)

• Total time spent on the site

• Content views

• Traffic to web site

• Sales

Listening: Reputation Management

• Discover your online identity

– Research yourself, your firm or company and your area of

practice

– http://www.google.com/alerts

– Fix or edit any incorrect information about you or your

firm.

• If you find yourself quoted, mentioned or commented about

on a blog or article, use

comments area to respond –right away

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Setting Up Alerts – google.com/alerts The Importance of Listening

• The conversations

are happening

whether you are a

part of them or not.

• Opportunities await

those who listen.

• Enormous risks

await those who

don’t.



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Why do people participate in social

networks?

To express themselves.

To connect with or make friends.

To gain attention.

To gain status.

blogs.asaecenter.org/acronymemergeblog.comwordpress.comcorbinball.wordpress.comtechnorati.comyoutube.comslideshare.comflickr.com

Social Publishing

Social Publishing – Blogs

• A “web log” or online journal• Typically dated with most recent on top• Opportunity to leave comment• The mother of all social media

• 77% of businesses have acquired customer through a company blog.

• Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic. Hubspot 2013

Blogs: How

• Shorter is often better (250 words)• Weekly postings or more?• Write for scannability: use

bullets/lists/pics• Integrate video and audio• Link to bloggers/articles

97% more inbound links for companies that blog

434% more indexed pages for companies that blog

55% more website visitors

Hubspot, 2012

Social Publishing - Blogs



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• YouTube is second most used site in the world (after its owner Google)

• YouTube: 1 billion monthly users

• 60 hours/minute uploaded – more every month than the big 3 TV networks in their history.

Video Sharing – Why?

• Americans watch 3 hours of video every month.

• 78.5% of the U.S. Internet audience views videos online (13.5 billion videos – 45% increase since 2007).

• YouTube accounts for 71% of the videos viewed.

• Video is the most engaging medium available.

• Video search on YouTube accounts for 25% of all Google search queries.

• Google ranks videos highly.

• Use Google and Delicious to find video blogs that post interesting online videos and email them about your video.

• Email blogs that talk about your area.

• Post your video in applicable discussion boards and busy forums.

• Upload videos to Facebook

• Link it to your Twitter feed.

• If the video is newsworthy, send out a press release.

Video Sharing: How

Viral videos:• Take some time to create a compelling or entertaining

video.• Provide an element of surprise and humor.

Key elements; • Good title and thumbnail • Short• Timely• Not overly produced• Funny, sexy, quirky, shocking• Surprise ending

Video Sharing: How

Video Sharing: How

• Keep it short (average length is 3.5 minutes)• Tag it• Record in HD• The thumbnail is very important. Use the right

one (clear, eye-catching) • Use a catchy title (not: 393855277.mov)• Use the event # in the title.• Shoot video at the event• Encourage attendees to do so as well.



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Distributed Marketing Blog, April 2012

Piquora, June 2013

Pins on Pinterest last

thousands of times longer

than most posts on

Facebook or the average

tweet.

• Visual

• Easy to use

• Female focused

• Focused on aspirations, interest, hobbies

• Topic-based

• Collaboratively written websites

• Great for sharing and collaborating on documents

• A natural for planning meetings and other project management

Social Collaboration: Wikis



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www.shareflow.com

docs.google.com

Social Collaboration: Wikis

• Email overload – miss the important messages

• Interruptive

• SPAM filters

• No standard filing and retrieval protocol

• Conversations not threaded

• Document versions

www.facebook.comwww.linkedin.comwww.twitter.complus.google.com

Social Networking

• Largest social network (1.1 billion users – 1 in 7 on the planet!

• 500 billion minutes spent each month

• 25 billion content items each month.

Years to reach 50 million users:

38 Years

12 Years

5 Years

3 Years

9 Months: 100 million users

• Huge audience

• Multimedia – video, photos, apps

• Events, check-ins, deals

• Threaded conversation

• Robust advertising

• Real people with mostly symmetrical conversations



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• 225 million users in 200 countries

• Avg income $109K

• Avg age 37-52

• 80% of companies use LinkedIn for recruitment.

• Executives for all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.

• B2B

• Online resume

• Excellent search and research capabilities

• Micro blog - 140 characters maximum

• 500 million users

• 190 million tweets/day

• What are you doing????

• 60+% tweets mobile – natural for events

Hubspot 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report

Twitter tactics

• Use it as a pointing device to other web content.

• Shorten link with tinyurl, bit.ly, or ow.ly.

• Utilize the #: #sgmp #eventprofs

• Publish the event # well in advance.

• Promote across platforms.

• Invite attendees to share photos via Twitpic– use #hashtag for a chance to win

• Discovery – finding of like-minded people and topics of interest

• Tagged conversation

• Trends

• Brevity

• Becoming multimedia (Vine, TwitPics)

How do we get followers?

•Tweet good stuff!

– Timely announcements

– Links to interesting articles

–Program updates

–Action alerts

•Retweet others



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500 million registered users359 million active users

Google, May 2013

Social Review Sites

• www.tripadvisor.com

• www.yelp.com

• www.elitemeetings.com

Exhibitor Media Group Survey --7,945 marketing professionals subscribing to Exhibitor Magazine

How many hours per week do you spend on social media marketing?

Time Management

Do you use social media monitoring tools?

Social Media & Events Report, Amiando, August, 2013

Time management:

Social Media Aggregators

• tweetdeck.com• hootsuite.com• ping.fm• klout.com• trackur.com• salesforce.com/radian6



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Marketing Funnel

No trusted basis of comparison

Stop spamming me!

Trusted, relevant, personalized info.

Your logo is on my t-shirt

$$$ = Awareness

Noise makes it difficult to get

eyeballs

awareness consideration preference action loyalty awareness consideration preference action loyalty

Viral Videos

SocialNetworking

Blogs

Ratings and Reviews

Communities

Blogs

Podcasting

Support Forums

Wikis

Marketing Funnel

• #1 Rule: Do not sell directly!

• Establish a social media policy (w/clear objectives/metrics).

• Identify influencers.

• Listen before you launch.

• Integrate Social Media with SEO.

• Engage your audience.

• Engage your employees.

• Be honest and authentic.

• Be human (be a “Person”, not a “Company”).

Social Media Marketing Tips:Four Technology Trends:

3. Wi-Fi and broadband are becoming the lifeblood of events communication.

Trend 3A:

Mobile broadband demand will increase annually in high double-digit numbers for the next several years.

Mobile data use doubled in one year from 2012 to 2013.

Cisco, Feb 2013

Worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 13-fold over the next four years (to 134 exabytes

annually by 2017) !

Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2013



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Mobile Broadband Growth

Trend 3B:

Tablet computers and attendees using multiple mobile devices will greatly increase the demand for Wi-Fi at events.

Numbers of Devices Travels Carry into the Hotel

Average consumer has 3.6 devices –up from 1.4 in 2010 -- USA Today, June 2013

Tablets will overtake PC sales by late 2013. -- BetChemy Ventures, May 2013

9 out of 10 tablets sold are Wi-Fi only. -- Gigoam, March 2012

iPads use 400% more Wi-Fi data than mobile phones. -- Meraki, 2012

Mobile Wi-Fi access points:

86% compound annual growth rate through 2016 expected.

-- Infonetices, March 2012



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Trend 3C:

Attendees want and expect basic free Wi-Fi coverage at events and venues.

Synovate survey, 2011

6,300 people, 10 countries

“Free in-room Internet access ranked as the most desired guest-room amenity.”

“47 percent of respondents said a hotel must cater to their technology needs before they book it, with wireless access a top priority.”

Internet access is at the top of things most guests care about hotels:

Sarah Lacy,

Senior Editor, Technology Crunch

“Hotel Wi-Fi should be a right, not a luxury.”

Free Wi-Fi Hotels

Gadling, Dec. 2012

“Conference & event organizers welcome free Wi-Fi in Estonia (E-stonia).”



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Trend 3D:

Event apps and other uses requiring Wi-Fi and other bandwidth are exploding at events.

Trend 3E:

Facilities are not keeping up with the demand.

JD Powers survey

36% of business travelers stated that a poor Wi-Fi service influences their decision to stay with that particular hotel again.

� 60% of travelers in the US, Europe and Australia indicate they already have had a poor hotel downloading experience because the system was slow.

Ttnooz, Nov. 2011

Trend 3F:

The technology exists to provide very high density Wi-Fi to large groups in a small area.

During the London 2012 Olympics, BT hit 1 million users of Wi-Fi on its network for the first time ever, with a 19% increase on video.



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AT&T Park 2013 season:

An average of 30% of 41,503-seat capacity audience will be on the network at any time.

375 access points

Trend 3G:

Throttled free Wi-Fi is becoming the norm at many convention centers and hotels. Charges for premium service.

• Provide throttled internet (512kb/sec*) throughout the facility for free.*

• Charge for higher speeds, dedicated bandwidth or other services.

• Premium attendee access: US$10-12/day

• Premium exhibitor access: more

Proposed minimum standard:Smart City NetworkFree in public spaces

(256Kb D, 128Kb U)

• America's Center Convention Complex

• Henry B Gonzalez Convention Center

• Orange County Convention Center

• Anaheim Convention Center

• Hyatt Regency Santa Clara

• Phoenix Convention Center

• Cashman Center - Las Vegas

• Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil

Stadium

• David L. Lawrence Convention Center

• Charlotte Convention Center

• Kentucky Exposition Center

• Reliant Park

• Colorado Convention Center

• Kentucky International Convention Center

• Reno-Sparks Convention Center

• Dallas Convention Center

• Las Vegas Convention Center

• San Diego Convention Center

• Duke Energy Convention Center

• Long Beach Convention Center

• Santa Clara Convention Center

• Fort Worth Convention Center

• Los Angeles Convention Center

• Virginia Beach Convention Center

• George R. Brown Convention Center

• Miami Beach Convention Center

• Walter E. Washington Convention Center

• Greater Columbus Convention Center

• Minneapolis Convention Center

• Seattle Center

• Washington State Convention Center

Other facilities•Kansas City CC: 512 Kbs UD all areas

•Hong Kong CC: 512Kbs all areas

•Toronto CC: 512Kbs prefunction areas

•Vancouver CC: 512Kbs at café and main entrance

•Melbourne Convention Center: Free Wi-Fi throughout (256K)

•McCormick Place: exhibit hall, meeting rooms, public spaces (256K)

•Georgia World: common areas (lobby, restaurants)

•Boston Convention Center: Free Wi-Fi throughout

•Kuala Lumpur Convention Center: “Hotspots” throughout

•Atlantic City: Exhibit halls, prefunction, Boardwalk Hall

•Moscone (128-256K)

•Prague: Free throughout most hotels and CC

•UK: 200 venues including 4 convention centers (Liverpool CC, Birmingham CC,

Twickenham, Notigham CC) from ABPCO

•London: World’s largest free Wi-Fi network

HSIA Pricing Models



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Four Technology Trends

4. Mobile technology will transform events, exhibitions and venues. Cisco Visual Networking Index

Forecast, Feb. 2013

By the end of 2013:

More mobile devices on Earth than people!

Ericsson Mobility Report, June, 2013

1 billion smart phones in use.

2 billion by 2015!

SoftwareOperating Systems

MIT Tech Review - Dec. 12

Apple

Android

Mark

et

Sh

are

Global Personal Computing OS Shipments

750,000

700,000

Mobile app ‘crossing the chasm’ for events and tradeshows:



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• Agenda / program

• Alerts / messaging

• Appointments

• Area information

• Audience polling

• Brochures

• Conference program

• Conference video

Mobile apps for events and venues

• Exhibit guide

• Floor plans /mapping

• Lead exchange

• Meetings logistics

• Micropayments

• Networking

• Registration

• Session handouts

• Surveys

• Ticketing

� Enhanced feel and navigation

Web interface more basic

Native apps vs. HTML5?

� No internet access needed (even for very large events)

�More expensive

�More time needed

�Download required

No constant internet access needed for medium to small meetings

Less expensive

Much faster development

No download required.

“Swiss Army” meeting apps

alliancetech.comativsoftware.comcore-apps.comcrowdcompass.comdoubledutch.comeventkaddy.comgeniemobile.compurpleforge.comquickmobile.comsherpa-solutions.com

Low Cost/Free (DIY) Apps:

buzztouch.com biznessapps.comguidebookapp.comleebug.com

Venue Applications

• swiftmobile.com• emarketing360.com• swamicity.com• heathmanhotel.com

Lead exchange / contact management / ticketing

bartizan.comnewleads.combu.mpen.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Codeqrcode.kaywa.comitn-international.combloodhound.combluestonebd.comboothtag.comgoodwood.co.uk



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Surveys, polling, audience engagement

lobbypad.compolleverywhere.comquicktaplead.com

Course notes apps

ativsoftware.comnicemeeting.comtechnology4events.co.ukevenium.net (ConnexMe)

Social networking

qriousapp.com

shhmooze.compresdo.com

peoplehunt.me

sonar.me

pathable.com

Mobile social media

600 million mobile Facebook users -- Facebook news release, October 2012

23% LinkedIn visitors mobile-- AdWeek, August 2012

Way-finding / Augmented Reality

google.com/mobile/gogglesg.co/projectglasswifarer.comindooratlas.comwordlens.com



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Site inspection:

• evernote.com• speedtest.net• techspec.quickmobile.mobi

U.S. Technology Adoption Rates

Time from consumer availability to 10% penetration:

MIT Technology Today, May 2012

Tablet Sales Predictions

• Destination and venue sales• Interactive event programs• Interactive tradeshow guides• Attendee onsite assistance• Kiosks• Attendee engagement/polling• Lead exchange• Paperless binders

Event Tablet Uses: Paperless Conference Bindersdropbox.com

apple.com/iwork/pages/

apple.com/iwork (numbers)

bytesquared.com/product/office/ipad

paperportnotes.com

goodiware.com/goodreader.html

cloudon.com

asana.com

podio.com

cocoabox.com/penultimate

nuancemobilelife.com/apps/dragon-dictation



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Paperless Binders

3 steps:

A. PDF conversion

B. Cloud storage (optional)

C. PDF readers/annotators

Destination and center sales:

• tourismvancouver.com• heathmanhotel.com• logiclink.com• ipub.si• massconvention.com

Site inspection:

• evernote.com• speedtest.net• techspec.quickmobile.mobi

Resources:

Corbin’s Favorites Filecorbinball.com/bookmarks

Corbin’s Article Databasecorbinball.com/art

Corbin’s TechTalk Newslettercorbinball.com/techtalk

Course notes:

corbinball.com/assets/trends-myceb.pdf

©2013 Corbin Ball Associates

Contact Info:Web: corbinball.com

Blog: corbinball.wordpress.com

Facebook: facebook.com/corbin.ball

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/corbinball

Twitter: twitter.com/corbinball

Google+: goo.gl/zvMn6

Pinterest: pinterest.com/corbinball

Course notes:corbinball.com/assets/trends-myceb.pdf

Thank you! Please fill out the evaluation form.

Corbin Ball, CMP is an international speaker, consultant and writer helping clients worldwide use technology to save time and improve productivity. With 20 years of experience running international technology meetings, he now is a highly acclaimed speaker with the ability to make complex subjects understandable and fun. His articles have appeared in hundreds of national and international publications and has been quote in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company Magazine and numerous other publications. Corbin serves or has served on many hotel, corporate and association boards. He is the only person to receive both MPI’s International Supplier of the Year and MPI’s International Chapter Leader of the Year awards. Corbin has been named in 2012 as one of "The 25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry" by Successful Meetings Magazine, the 5th time he has received this award.

Corbin Ball Associates

506 14th Street

Bellingham, WA 98225

Phone: +1.360.734.8756

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.corbinball.com

technology trends “information technologies are ... · - [email protected] - 360-734-8756 9...

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