EventHive it's an awesome tool which facilitates live discussions among audiences and speakers during presentations.

For sure a great instrument for your next conference so your audience can interact live with your speakers, just enter the #hashtag. They can ask questions, vote for the ones more popular or answer questions peer to peer. Also speakers can make pools in real time and get the results straight away and show them to the participants via Powerpoint (no need of extra equipment).

Besides EventHive offers to integrate the schedule of your event, sponsorship opportunities, create buzz via twitter and facebook and more important engage your audience.

I definitely need to give the credit to Albert (@alcchow) a student who created this amazing application for his first conference, that I'm sure will be of a great use for #eventprofs and more.

Last week I hosted the first event industry TweetUp of the year at Madame Tussauds.  Well over 150 guests attended from caterers and venues to corporates including JP Morgan Cazenove, Ernst & Young, Wellcome and Credit Suisse as well as marketing agencies such as RPM, Tamar and Market Sentinel.     

A special presentation commissioned for the event was shown during the evening which explained in less than 2 minutes 10 key reasons why social media is important to the events industry. 

For those savvy in all things social media none of this will be too surprising but for the many people, including the majority of those event professional who attended the Madame Tussauds event and are not yet using social media, this presentation gave a jolt of future shock. 

Transcript from What the HELL is social media - in 2 minutes

Social media is an umbrella term which defines the activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.

(Wikipedia)

More simply it just describes the millions of conversations people are having with each other on-line across the world 24/7 

Why the HELL should I care?  Here are 10 really, REALLY good reasons…  

REASON #1

Because social media is now the number one online activity beating porn and personal email to the top spot. 

(Nielsen Wire)

REASON #2

Because 2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks.

(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

REASON #3

Because time spent on social networks is growing at 3x the overall internet rate, accounting for 10% of all internet time.

(Nielsen, Global Faces & Networked Places)

REASON #4

Because online including social media has become the most influential source in helping consumer make purchasing decisions.

(Weber Shandwick Inline Research)

REASON #5

Because millions of people are creating their own content for the social web.

Your competitors are already there.

Your customers have been there for a long time.

If your business isn't putting itself out there, it ought to be.

(Business Week)

REASON #6

Because the next 3 billion consumers will access the internet from a mobile device. 

People will update anytime, anywhere. 

Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences!    

(Wired Magazine UK)

This is called the super-fresh web

The ‘super-fresh’ web will force brands to engage with its customers    

REASON #7

Because Facebook is now the operating system of the social web.  It has won the social networking war

If Facebook were a country it would be bigger than the USA and 3^rd largest in the World 

Facebook added 200 million users in less than a year  

Facebook adds ½ million users every day

On target for ½ billion users by December 2010

5 billion: The number of minutes spent on Facebook each day

1 billion: The amount of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week on Facebook.

Additional note: 350+ million Facebook users as of January 2010 out of which 50% log on everyday.    

(Facebook)

REASON #8

Because Twitter believes it will have 1 billion users by 2012. 

If this happens it will become the pulse of the planet

(Twitter)

REASON #9

Because one way marketing has had its day! 

Stop thinking “campaigns”. Start thinking “conversations”.

Listening first, selling second

REASON #10

Because in almost all cases social media is free. 

All it will cost you is time.

Social media playtime is officially over   

This presentation was inspired by the genius work of…

Marta Kagan author of WHAT THE F**K IS SOCIAL MEDIA

Read her blog http://bonafidemarketinggenius.com

Follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/mzkagan

Erik Qualman author of SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION

Read his blog http://socialnomics.net

Follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/equalman  

picture by Tom Raftery

Many tools are available out there, from "remember the milk" to "iGTD", I have tried a lot of them and today, this is my system:

- Project Management: Things [link]

It's clear, nice graphics and I love the tag function. All my projects and "next-things" are here

- To-do lists: Google tasks [link]

I love it. It's basic, simple and, most of all, it syncs with my iPhone

- Appointments: iCal

I am a Mac user. iCal has a nice interface, it syncs through MobileMe with my iPhone and it's fast to use

- Contacts: Mac Address book

Very well categorized with smart lists and normal lists

- Email: Gmail

I sync it with my Mail on mac and my iPhone, and I have it online

- Brainstorming: Mind Node [link]

Simple and effective, fast to use

- Notes: Notes on my iPhone/TextEdit on my Mac/Evernote

TextEdit over all of them because it's the most simple, but I love Evernote as well

- Budgets/Hours of work: Google documents spreadsheet

Especially for Event budgets, when they are on going, I have it everywhere and can update it without losing anything

All these tools have really boosted my creativity, leaving the space in my head, every-second, to Think and not just Remember.

NOW. The important part of this article. 

These are tools that I use during the "planning phase" of the event, what about on-site operations? 

I have not found a solution that is comfortable for me yet. An effective tool to keep time schedules, contracts, contacts, checklists, to-do lists, and other important documents. The only way by now has been: a folder where all the printed stuff is inside. (not much green either)

The problem? Onsite operations often mean practical things to do: a chair that has to be moved, a case that has to be placed, a staff guy to help, and it means also "run" sometimes. Well, with all this things going on and the pressure of the day, it's just not comfortable, especially when I forgot where I left it!

So, here's the point... Could the iPad (and the innovation that the iPad has brought to the market, that means all the competitors that will develop similar products) be THE device that we, event managers, were waiting for???

I am optimist about that and already see myself with one of those iPad in my hands...   Thoughts?

You don’t have to be a science fiction nerd to enjoy the event that is the movie Avatar.  If you haven’t seen it you soon will be one of the only ones. It is a movie event not to be missed.  What can we learn from this Movie event?   In our economy, obviously companies and associations don’t have 500 million laying around for their next event.  Now, more than ever we are in a mode of showing return on investment for attending or putting on meetings and events.

We are in a time of low attendance at movie theatres just like we are experiencing at events/meetings.   Avatar made going to the movies, a must see. It is a memorable event which engaged the audience for the whole experience.   Avatar took some risks on how it’s “always done” and it paid off big.  How can you take some strategic risks to engage your audiences? Use new innovative concepts or break the mold with new event technology?

Here are some ideas I put together about James Cameron and his team who designed the whole Avatar event.  I hope it might spark some dialogue for you and your meeting professional friends & teams.

1) Story

The movie Avatars actual story is pretty typical:  heroes and villains.  But it has a solid theme and engages you for the full 2.5 hours of the movie. This comes from storytelling, planning and pacing. Avatar left no stone unturned and the presentation was really well thought out.  Event organizers and speakers can learn from this.  Put yourself in the shoes of your attendees and tell them a story.  Make them comfortable and deliver the story in the most engaging and impactful way possible.  What is the theme of your event as a whole? How can you make a story out of it to engage attendees?  You might feel uneasy too bring it up in the planning meeting, but someone needs to step forward and start the creative conversation.   What sort of action are you looking from your audience when they walk out the door at the end of the conference? Are you presenting problems and then solutions for your audience?

One awesome thing I saw with the marketing of Avatar is the big story behind the story.  Not about the movie itself, but how it was made.   The story surrounding the making of this epic movie took on a life of its own. This was the talk of many articles in all sorts of magazines and the web.  Building excitement and drama.  Would the high cost be a bomb?  The side story of the brash James Cameron taking his Titanic money and doing it his own way, giving mainstream Hollywood a run for its money really build the buzz.  This moved the Avatar brand much faster, got the media and people talking about it before anyone saw the first Pandora resident.  (Pandora is where the movie takes place) Of course the movie had to deliver and it did.  Great use of stories to build buzz. Think about drama or story you can put around an event or meeting.  What will get your attendees excitied.

2) Environment

James Cameron broke the old mold of bringing a new type of movie to the theatres. Not many theatres can show the film in 3-D so he made different versions of the digital prints for all types of theatres. The movie is beautiful. Plus ask anyone and they will say if you haven’t seen it in 3-d then you really haven’t experienced it.  Then the next person will say if you haven’t seen it in  3-D IMAX giant screen you are missing out.  So this means people will see it once or twice before the dvds come out.   As Maartin Vanneste talks in his book Meeting Architecture you must have an architect for the content and experience of the attendees.  Someone has to lead the event.  All the wonderful food and comfortable venues is really important but what do you want your audience to see and feel? Most ballrooms are built for weddings. Those giant Chandlers are testament to the fact. How can you make the room reflect your story?   How can you immerse them in an environment to help them absorb the messages or content?  What innovative concepts can you infuse?  Spend an equal or more time developing the story and environment of the event or meeting.  Can you make sure the look and feel of the event is impactful and special?  James Cameron used 3-d and rich visuals to transport us to another place where we learned all about this strange world of Pandora. Think about your next presentation or stage; build and environments around your content. Play off the environmental design; Make it rich in visuals not text.  Use video, audio and images to cement ideas and points. Use technology to engage and inform and get your attendees talking and setting the stage about the environment you are presenting. When I saw Avatar it was a total event.  The large IMAX screen at the Metron in San Francisco the full audience and that exciting buzz.  It was a total experience.

3) Experience

Today just leaving the house for any reason has to be event based. With blue ray players, the internet, cable, everything can been seen, bought from home. James Cameron designed something that made people go to the theatre in droves.  Event professionals need to keep this in mind. Make every event an experience by knowing what your audience wants and listen to them. Be creative.  What do you want attendees to walk away with? This is where listening comes in and the internet has many free and paid listening tools for this. You can build a dedicated audience using these tools.  Listen in to your audiences with easy to set up tools like Google Alerts,

Twitter search, Twendz.  Use the free Google Analytics tools to see where your audience is coming from and go there and listen. I did a tutorial with Radian6 a while back and it was a simple listening tool and gave me more information about my industry and events then I could ever use.  But was fantastic! Listen and build the experience.

4) Technology

You can’t escape the technology these days. It is not going away and will become more prevalent in events and meetings to extend the content of events before and after and during the face to face meeting. Embrace it.  James Cameron’s team utilized some unbelievable technology to design and produce Avatar.  You are dropped into a 3-D world of amazing visuals and excitement.  But Cameron’s team also utilized the web to build community and buzz around the event before it was even released.  Are you dipping your toes in Social Media and the web for your events or conferences?  Are you keeping up to date on the new technology to educate and engage in your sessions?  What about taking audience polls, using video and animations to provide for all types of learning? Always searching for new technologies is so important. Especially to engage younger audiences. The are rapidly going to be your audiences soon. So start experimenting.

Are you thinking about a mobile application for smart phones? Games for mobile devices?  How about a game for all the gaming consoles homes these days? Getting the budget to produce these types of media for your event might be out of reach but it will get cheaper.  Good thing about many of these new tools is they are updatable.  Maybe you could use it year round. Ramp up before the next meeting with updates to the technological tools. Might be a great way to engage audiences. Think about included twitter feeds, audio, video podcasts, streaming and community forums.  My friend Gary Rosenzweig  has been making games for all sorts of companies.  What a great way to have your attendees learn your content.  Build a game around it! Embrace technology.

5) Social Media and the Internet-

Avatar utilized social media and the web to build a community and buzz about the event like seasoned gorilla marketers.  Avatar made these tools focusing on the opening of the movie Avatar to be a can’t miss event.  You can use these same tools below for your event or conference and most are free.  Your costs will be the time build strategy, the community and keeping them alive by being there engaging and listening to your event or meetings community.  I know it will pay dividends for you.  Most of all, experiment with different strategies. Many new companies are becoming specialists in this area for events. I heard some very cool things from a company called Velvet Chainsaw (Jeff Hurts new employer)

this week that are moving in the direction of providing solutions for events and conferences in this new area.

What did Avatar exactly do via Social Media?

Facebook page: Facebook is rapidly changing to fit your business needs. They have new updated features making it very easy for your attendees to engage and interact around your event.  Plus unlike most other web tools everybody seems to be on Facebook from your grandma to your 12 year old.  Avatar has 700k members that James Cameron’s team engages with.  Last year David Merman Scott had an excellent post about a conference that utilized Facebook to increase attendance. 

 Twitter page:  Is a newly adopted event technology and a great way to connect with your audience to get them spreading your message.  Make sure you have a conference hashtag and is it available on all web and printed materials so your audience can start the conversation as soon as possible.

 Webcasts: James Cameron teamed up with MTV/Facebook to use a webcast where questions were submitted by a virtual audience and James Cameron and some of the stars were interviewed.   Are you doing pre conference webcasts, podcasts, videocasts to start engagement with your audience?  Build the community this way. Have a few webcasts to build awareness and engagement. They are a great way to listen to your audience and have a two-way communications channel to start testing your events story, and make sure you are on the right path.

 Live Streaming: One very cool thing is utilizing free streaming technology.  Avatar used the free service UStream for the red carpet premiere of the movie so fans could feel the excitement live.  Think about streaming your event to attendees who cannot attend.  This will build your attendance if it is a good event because people will want to be there in person. Trust me, nobody would like to sit in front of a computer for a whole event instead of actually attending. So build use it to build awareness and community.  Many have chat rooms attached to the service so make sure you interact with the virtual audience. Some live streaming methods: iphone, Quik, Justintv, livestream, vivu.tv. Ask your production company about ways you can do this to get the quality you are looking for. Many paid options are out there also which buys you more quality and piece of mind.

6) Avatars are blue but green people are also needed-

One of Avatars messages is environmental destruction.  I don’t want to write any spoilers in case you haven’t seen the movie but just don’t take from the city you are visiting. Or in Avatars case, the planet you are visiting for your event or meeting.  Don’t fly in with your big carbon footprint, extra large shoes and trash the city you are holding your conference or meeting in.  Be as green as possible. Community service is always a great way to give back. In the movie Avatar character played by Sigourney Weaver is trying to do this with the Navi people.  You already know to reduce your carbon footprint, recycle, use local foods, turn off air conditioning in ballrooms at night. (and your hotel room when you leave it) Water stations instead of plastic bottles etc. If you want some tips on this contact Johanna Walsh or Midori Connolly who are my green people friends. I am constantly learning from them both. And they both live here on earth.

Some other ideas (not Avatar related) 

If your meeting or event is corporate having a Linkedin group is a good idea. Flickr which is an image based community is also a great way drive traffic to your event.  Plus a great place for your attendees to find pictures from past events and current ones.  Make sure you have a YouTube channel— YouTube is the second most popular search engine on the internet.  I heard recently from Brett Bumeter that Google search is reading the titles in videos now.  So think about putting as much content on your free channel on Youtube as you can.  A great way for your community to find more information and get educated and informed about your event.  Remember use the conference #hashtag. Hav it on everything print collatoral to email signatures.  Another huge add is community based software that can be attached to your site.  MPI uses Pathable.com and a conference I recently attended PCMA in Dallas Crowdvine was fully utilized.  They are great ways to engage your audience. You can make direct connections to other attendees, start conversations, and work out your schedule.

So in closing this out hopefully you will take some of these tools and build on ideas to infuse story, emotion, environmental experiences, event technology, social media to build community, education  and engagement in your upcoming events.   Maybe take some risks like James Cameron did with technology and story. It seems to be paying off for him.  He spent 500 million to make the Avatar movie.  He had a 232 Million dollar opening weekend and it made one billion dollars by the end of 2009.  I think it is the highest grossing film of all time at the time of this posting.

What if you were able to have a 500 million budget for your next meeting? (or 500 Thousand?)  What risks would you take?  Iove to hear if you have used any of these tools at your event or meeting?

Maybe come tell me in person next week at EventCamp Feb 6th in New York City at the Roger Smith Hotel?

Should be an awesome time learn, share and converse about social media, event technology and the innovative concepts we all want our events and meetings to utilize!

Also, go see Avatar. If you need someone to go with you call me. I would love to see it again.

Cheers!

Mike

Summary: This is part 3 of Event Coup's three part guide to social media marketing basics for event planners. Ready to share your blog on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites? We'll cover the basics and show you exactly how to do it, step-by-step, with videos and detailed instructions.

Sharing your Event Planning Blog on Twitter & Facebook

Social Media Marketing Tools for Event Planners: Blogs, Twitter & Facebook is the 3rd part of a 3 part series to help event planners implement their social media marketing strategy. Event Coup has a lot of advanced content about social media. This series has been focusing on the basics. The list of resources we cover in this article won't be exhaustive as the purpose of this series is to cut through the noise and help you get started quickly and easily.

In order to use the tools we'll be discussing, it's important for you to have handy:

• a shortened version of your URL (if you're going to update your status on LinkedIn or manually tweet about your most recent blog update)
• the full URL and a summary for each of the blog entries you're ready to share
• your RSS Feed URL

If you're not where to get these, we covered this information in parts 1 and 2. If you haven't read parts 1 and 2 or if you need a refresher, you can access them here:

• Part 1:Social Media Marketing Strategies for Event Planners - Webites, blogs, LinkedIN
• Part 2: Social Media Marketing for Event Planners: RSS Feeds & More About Blogs - Preparing to Share your Event Planning Blog with RSS Feeds & Blog Summaries

Twitter for Business

Twitter, the most well known, real time micro-blogging platform, is becoming increasingly useful for business. With just 140 characters, business owners can stay in touch with customers, share relevant articles, give product and service information, and get the word out about blog updates. As business people lead increasingly fast paced lives, focused and targeted tweets can be a highly effective method of capturing short attention spans and communicating key information about your business.

Getting Started on Twitter

If you're not on Twitter, here is a short tutorial for setting up your Twitter profile:

Adding Twitter to Your LinkedIn Profile

Recently, LinkedIn upgraded its functionality. You can now:

• list the URL for your Twitter ID directly in your profile
• tweet your network updates by selecting the Twitter button and clicking on "Share" whenever you want to tweet a new update. The first time you do this, LinkedIn will sync your profile with Twitter.

  You can decide if you want to tweet your LinkedIn network updates (recommended) or if you want update your network update on LinkedIn every time you tweet.

Twitblogs: When 140 Characters Just Aren't Enough

Twitblogs is the perfect Twitter companion. Once you’ve created your Twitter profile, you can use your Twitter ID and password to log into twitterfeed.com in a new browser.

Customizing your Twitterfeed

• Click on advanced settings
• Select your update frequency for your feed - this will determine how often Twitterfeed checks for updates. Vary the frequency so that all of your feeds don't tweet at the same time.
• Under post content select "Include Title".
• Make sure that "Post Link" is selected and use the default URL shortner bit.ly so that you can get click through statistics whenever you log in
• Select a couple of prefixes and suffixes. For event planning tweets, consider using the hash tags #eventprofs and #linkevents (If you aren't familiar with hashtags [#], scroll down and you'll be able to access a video tutorial at the end of this section.)
• Then, click "continue to step 2".

Selecting a Service: Twitter

• In the "Publishing to" list, select Twitter
• Click on the list to authenticate your Twitter account. Select allow.
• Click on create service
• Click on "All done"

You're all set. From now on, whenever you update your blog, Twitterfeed will tweet the title of the blog entry, a shortened URL and any suffixes that you selected. To add other blogs or share articles from a publication that is relevant to event planning, use the same steps that you used to create your first Twitterfeed.

Remember to follow Twitterfeed on Twitter - @twfeed.

Next Steps for Using Twitter for Event Planners

After you've set up your Twitter account and registered with a number of sites that will automatically tweet your blog updates, it would probably be helpful to get an assessment of how your use of Twitter is progressing and suggestions for improvement. An excellent site that will help you do this is:

Twitter.grader.com

You can even arrange for Twitter.grader.com to send you a weekly report to help you track your progress.

If you would like more information about how event planning professionals can use Twitter, here are some other extremely useful resources:

Review of Twitter Basics & Some Advanced Content

• Twitter for Event Planners by Pathable @pathable

Advanced Twitter Content

• Event Coup's popular Twitter Tools For Event Planners by Kena Siu @KenaSiu
• How to embed twitter in your event by Julus Solaris @tojulius
• 11 Websites to Schedule your Tweets Online for Free by Sean Larue @seanlarue
• 12 Twitter Tools Every Event Marketer Should Know About by Ian McGonnigal @iandavmcg

Hash Tags [#] for Your Events

Hash tags are bookmarks. They make it possible for people searching for tweets about specific topics to find it easily in Twitter. You can create a hashtag for a specific events, share it with participants and include it in all tweets related to this event.

This video provides a tutorial about Hash Tag Basics:

#eventprofs

#eventprofs is the hash tag for a thriving commmunity of progressive event planning professionals that connect on Twitter share ideas, debate topics and collaborate. The eventprofs wiki has full instructions and details for participation. The #eventprofs "hashtag group" on Twitter has online chats twice per week. You can follow this group @eventprofs on Twitter http://twitter.com/eventprofs.

Facebook for Business

At one time, many dismissed Facebook primarily of interest to teenagers, college students and companies targeting those demographics in their marketing. The face of Facebook has changed dramatically and more and more companies are creating Facebook profiles and using Facebook to connect with existing and potential customers. (That is one of the reasons that I always advise clients to pay attention to what’s hot among teenagers and college students. Young people tend to be early adopters and they will often provide clues about marketing trends and tools. If you don’t have a teenager, beg, borrow or steal one.)

At the time of writing, the insidefacebook.com directory listed 21,655 companies with Facebook profiles. Without leaving the first part of the A’s, some of the organizations listed on Facebook include AT&T, Abbot Laborotories, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. Your event planning company can no longer afford NOT to be on Facebook.

Getting Started on Facebook

If you haven’t created your Facebook profile yet, go to facebook.com and register. This interactive video will show you the basics for getting started and building profile.

As you build your Facebook profile, it's important to manage your content by removing what you don't need and getting more content that is relevant.

Sharing Blog on Facebook

Sharing Your Blog on Facebook with Networked Blogs:

Networked Blogs is a powerful application for sharing you blog on Facebook. All you have to do is go to networkedblogs.com when you are logged into Facebook.

Networked Blogs Basics

• Click on the "Register a New Blog" link.
• Enter the blog name.
• Enter your blog URL (not RSS).
• Enter your 3 most important keywords in the "Topics" fields.
• In the description field, enter a brief, keyword rich synopsis about your blog.
• Click "next".

Publishing Your Blog to Your Facebook Profile

After you click on next, you will see a summary with details about your blog.

• Click on Feed Settings - add your RSS Feed URL
• When prompted, select "allow" so that Newtowrked Blogs can share information about your blog on Facebook

Every time you post a new blog entry, it will appear in Networked Blogs and on your Facebook profile. Your Facebook profile will also list all the blogs you write in the lower left corner of your Facebook profile.

Here is more information about Networked Blogs:

This article has focused on how to share your blog on Facebook. If you would like more advanced content about using Facebook for event planning, here are some resources:

• 5 Powerful Ideas For Using Facebook For Events by Ian McGonnigal @iandavmcg
• Facebook Simplifies Event Planning by Adam Ostrow @Adamostrow

Next Steps

This brings us to the end of our 3 part series about basic of social media marketing strategies for event planners. This series was intended to be a tutorial to point you in the right direction and help you get your website, blog, and LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles set up quickly and easily. If you have any questions, please post them in "Comments". Subscribe to Event Coup so that you will receive immediate notificaiton about advanced social media content for event planners.

Photo Credit: Anne Helmond

I had the pleasure to meet @amcewen at @ecoCamp in Coventry. He is the father of Bubblino.

It's becoming an yearly tradition to review LeWeb. Mainly because it is the most significant Tech event in Europe. Great personalities in the Tech/Social Media scene flock to Paris for inspirational talks, in a rather dull event format.

I'll be quick, bear with me.

Ustream FTW!

- I followed LeWeb via the fantastic Ustream channel. I guess this is also my first remark. Ustream kicked butts. It was hours of flawless livestream with no interruption. See it yourself from the tweets. There were an average of 3000 viewers on the channel and 200K uniques watched videos live. Videos are available on the channel for you to enjoy.

- I was significantly upset about the lack of integration with slides. Since the event was nothing revolutionary as far as the concept was concerned, I was tied to watching the slides to make sense of what was discussed. That brought to my attention the first takeaway: Integrate speaker and slides on your stream. That is if you really need slides. I don't like slides. No secret there.

Twitter

- I loved the fact users organized themselves to tweet. Major example being friend @farhan who created @ConfFar account for the event to avoid flooding the stream with tweets. Great idea as tweets from events are becoming an issue. It's simply not interesting if you are not following the event.

- I also loved http://livetweeting.com/ - Live, crowdsourced translation of tweets by volunteers

- I hated the lack of communication with the organizers. It was not told anywhere on the main website what was the main tag, #leweb or #leweb09. Or at least I wasn't able to find it, which is sort of a failure. When I asked for the tag, the @leweb account was silent and did not reply to me. Actually I haven't noticed them being active at all during the event. I remember asking the same question at The Next Web and got 3 replies from the organizers in real time.

Citizen Journalism

- If you think about attendees as such, you are not getting it. People attending your event are reporters of the event. True evangelists with your augmented audience. You need to empower them and channel communication. You'll achieve that by clearly communicating your online tools, ie hashtags, tags, backchannel.

- Liveblogging is dead. I really don't see the purpose of liveblogging anymore. Twitter is the substitute.

IPhone App

Stellar! I loved it. You could watch the live stream and tweets. What more can I say? Oh wait, it was free.

Top 5 Speeches

On a content perspective here are the best videos on Social Media, loved them!

5. Chris Brogan

Can't see? Click here

4. Tim Ferriss

Can't see? Click here

3. Chris Pirillo

Can't see? Click here

2. Gay Vaynerchuck

Can't see? Click here - Plese note comments on conferences toward the end and great post interview by @ConfBasics

1. Her Majesty Queen Rania

Can't see? Click here - She blowed me away with her 140 character slides on top of a very powerful message.

Online conference eCommunities were the rage in 2009

Did you offer one for your annual meeting attendees? I did.

So what are they? Online eCommunities are virtual communities of people that primarily interact via the Internet for social, professional, educational or other purposes.

Online Conference eCommunities have become a supplemental form of communication between people who are attending the same conference. The registrants of the face-to-face event use special online social software to connect with each other.

Online Conference eCommunity users can:

• Create profiles
• Connect with others attending the conference before, during and after the conference online
• IM
• Participate in text-based chat rooms and forums
• Schedule itineraries
• Setup times to meet with exhibitors or vendors
• View live or archived presentations
• Share photos from the face-to-face event
• View venue and tradeshow floor plans
• Setup appointments with exhibitors and vendors
• And a host of other features

Many online conference eCommunities integrate with social networking platforms like blogs, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

From free to low-cost eCommunities like MeetUp and Ning, to customized features of Social Collective and Zerista, there are ample opportunities for you to provide conference attendee engagement experiences through an online conference eCommunity. If you are thinking about adding one to your 2010 Annual Meeting or Conference attendee offerings, here are 14 online conference eCommunity providers for you to consider.

BizBash SCHED

Offers Facebook and Twitter integration, attendee communication interface, conference scheduler, detailed session and speaker information, mobile interface, video and audio integration and more. Not as robust as other eCommunities but includes some unique conference organizer features. Clients include BizBash Expo & Awards, BlogWorld 2009 and Exploit Labour Conference.

CrowdVine

Offers Facebook and Twitter integration, blog aggregation, customizable conference eCommunity website, attendee itinerary planner, attendee profiles, IM, speaker and session rating system, attendee communication interface, mobile interface, third-party registration support of EventBrite, RegOnline and Laser Registration, and more. Clients include PCMA 2010, Web 2.0 and IA Summit.

eventVue

Offers conference attendee registration package through partnership with Acteva, Eventbrite and RegOnline, social media integration with blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube, customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), attendee profiles, IM, embedded video and audio, mobile interface, and more. Clients include Defrag, Mashable’s US Summer Tour 2008, and Mass Technology Leadership Conference.

iCohere

An often over-looked platform that is well known in eLearning circles but lesser known in the events industry. Provides opportunity for a full, exclusive, online virtual conference complete with attendee registration, eCommerce, attendee profiles, IM, live audio, video and Webinar integration, virtual vendor showrooms, blog feature and more. Limited customization for look and feel as compared to other eCommunities. [We currently use iCohere at my work for our exclusive walled industry eCommunity for our nonprofit members.] Clients include ASAE, National Defense University, US Forest Service and WorldVision.

MeetUp

Offers a turnkey event attendee registration package, eCommerce, social media network integration, customizable border for micro-website, attendee profiles, IM, message board, and more. Mostly used by local self-organized groups.

NFi MemberFuse

Used more for member eCommunities than conference communities but can be customized for conferences. Integrates with Association Management Systems like Avectra, offers RSS integration, customizable eCommunity website, user profiles, IM, attendee communication interface, resource library, and more. Clients include MPI WEC09, NMC09 and OmniPress Conference 2.0.

Ning

Offers full integration with social media networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, customizable eCommunity website, user profiles, IM, surveys and pools, user communication interface, mobile accessibility, and third-party event and registration support through widgets.

Omnipress’ Conference 2.0

Built on the Pathable platform, Offers Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter integration, customizable conference eCommunity website, attendee itinerary planner, session handouts and slides, attendee profiles, IM, surveys and polls, attendee communication interface, mobile interface, third-party registration support of EventBrite, RegOnline, eTouches, Certain or Cvent, and more. Clients include American Public Health Association, DAC and IEEE.

Pathable

Offers Facebook , LinkedIn and Twitter integration, customizable conference eCommunity website, session handouts and slides, attendee profiles, IM, surveys and polls, attendee communication interface, mobile interface, third-party registration support of EventBrite, RegOnline, eTouches, Certain or Cvent, and more. Clients include MPI WEC09, NMC09 and OmniPress Conference 2.0.

Social Collective

Offers a turnkey conference attendee registration package, eCommerce, Facebook and Twitter integration, customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), attendee itinerary planner, attendee profiles, IM, exhibitor and sponsor fan pages, crowdsourcing application, speaker rating system, detailed session and speaker information, embedded video and audio, mobile interface, eMarketing capabilities and more. (Yes, this is the conference platform that I used in 2009 and plan to use again in 2010.) Clients include IAEE, SxSW 2009 and SxSW 2010.

Twubs Conference Suite

Integrated with Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, operates as a conference aggregator for several social network streams, attendee profiles. customizable site, live event audio and presentation streaming, and ability to use moderate Twitter hashtag tweet for chats, questions and image magnification. Clients include International Foodservice Distributors Association, Microsoft Tech-Ed LA, and TEDTalks.

Yuku

Free community platform that includes user profiles, chat, photo galleries, polls, community calendars, in-line video embedding, blogs, RSS feeds, customizable skins, and more. Similar to message boards.

Wild Apricot

Offers a turnkey conference attendee registration package, eCommerce, Facebook and Twitter integration, customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), Digg-like rating feature, online fundraising, membership management, attendee profiles, IM, detailed session and speaker information, and more. Clients include GMIC, SITE Chicago and Healthy Start, Healthy Future’s Life With A Baby.

Zerista

Offers customizable conference micro-website (full conference website), detailed session and speaker information, attendee itinerary planner, attendee profiles, IM, exhibitor and attendee scheduler, exhibitor virtual booth, embedded video and audio for virtual attendance, integrated webcasts, virtual tradeshow, interactive venue maps, interactive tradeshow floor, integrated Google maps, and more. Clients include Democratic National Convention 2008, SxSW 2009 and SxSW 2010.

I am sure there are other eCommunity platforms as well. Which have you used?

The following is a blog post based on a presentation I gave to a round table of Marketing Directors for large event companies in London.

The events industry needs a bit of a shake up. Social Media are making things terrible for traditional environments. Change is key. Only by changing the traditional approach social media can bring benefits to the industry.

This presentation could not have been published without the invaluable help/inspiration of @jeffhurt @samueljsmith @spkrinteractive @iandavmcg @michaelmccurry .

I am sure you read and document yourself a lot. The imperative or the buzzword is you need to do SM. I guess the question would be why should you?

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/untitlism/

Probably the best reason would be that it is highly likely that your target is using social media as we speak. The enormous growth of Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn is giving businesses the chance to reach more people, better and in real time. That changes the way we market and the way we budget.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/limbic/

We all thought that. I am gonna make millions with little effort and with 1/10 of the budget. So we jump on social media like a starved lion on a gazelle. We start broadcasting and shooting out as many promotional messages as possible. We cover all the possible networks and spam thousands of people to earn some attention. At the end of the day this is how you do it!

Anger and backlash are the likely results. The Habitat mistake showed us that above all examples. Nobody likes to be sold at. Reality is nobody cares about how cool you are. What we care about is relationships, what we care about is sharing, learning, discovering, innovating.

I can’t tell you what ROI will be but I can surely tell you what your Return on Inactivity will be - quite devastating as it is quite late in some instances.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/teacherafael

Perception is changing and fast. If I get used to a behaviour, I expect to see it taken care of wherever I mingle. If I am used to recycling home I expect recycling facilities at the events I go to. Otherwise it’s a cognitive dissonance, which means frustration.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctabu

We spend lots of time on the web, in the UK 41% of web users look at a social networking site daily. It’s part of our lives and we are definitely not developers or geeks.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/gre

So if social media are not taken care of, if you don’t offer spaces for your attendees to find their friends, if you don’t communicate with them through the channels they use, this is probably the end result of your event. Frustration and dissatisfaction.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/

So let’s have a look at trends and developments in the events industry in relation to social media.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/meddygarnet/

Events as we’ve always perceived them are a like a hockey stick shaped graph. Pretty much boring and uneventful until we reach the hype, the event. This is when everything happens, this is when things cannot go wrong, this is when consumption is intangible. And then it’s all gone until next year when we’ll start all over again.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/sgirolimetto/

This is the effect of social media on events. Peaks. Attention is continuous and the overall experience substitutes the hyper-excitement of the ‘one-off’ The events starts well before the day when people meet face to face. It is not location based but it happens all over the world. It is tangible thanks to online discussion. It is linked to the next event in the same way two mountains are connected in a mountain range. Once the event is over you have the community that continues to talk and attracts new players to the game.

Photos by http://www.flickr.com/photos/intersectionconsulting/ and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/haagsuitburo/

This is a terrific infographic about how brands are tackling the ‘new marketing’. Marketing people look at what is out there. They Plan by listening, they engage by creating content and publishing with web2.0 platforms. They promote their content and review for corrections.

What happens for events is quite similar. After listening attendees should be gathered in a community, these are few examples. Marketers then populate communities and web 2.0 tools to push their proposition. Then the party starts, the events happen, everything can be then reviewed for next year.

I chose Eventvue, Pathable and Ning for easiness of sign up through Ning ID - Facebook login - Twitter connect - Open ID. There tons out there and I am sure you'll find them in comments.

Photo by http://cargocollective.com/learnsomethingeveryday/

It’s simply not possible, that is it. You can’t keep your eyes open, you can’t control your brand, you can’t control your event. If Social Media were a sneeze you couldn’t keep your eyes open. The Harvard Business Review asked why brands are so reluctant to let it go, what do they have to hide? You have to let it go and there are a number of ways to do that.

Here are some examples on time budget investment:

 

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/earcos

Get the most out of speakers and try to involve them into the conversation. Invite them to join the online platforms you set up. Fetch their content from blogs and publish it for attendees. Get them to mingle with people at the event. Set up rooms for that. Get your audience to rate them, share their slides on your platform for the use of the world.

Here are few examples and case studies. Slideshare, Keynote Tweet and Powerpoint Twitter Tools are great to involve speakers with the community. SXSW does great in getting the attendees to vote for panels and speakers. Great way to involve speakers and generate buzz from the Word of Mouth Supergenious Conference.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/17258892@N05

Give voice to your attendees. Let them talk about your event. Set up tags on flickr, twitter and for blogs. Collect the conversation and promote it online for the benefits of potential prospects for the next year. Get someone to talk to them during the event online as you do offline.

Here are some examples and great case studies.

- Cisco GSX
- TedX Amsterdam
- BlizzardCon
- LikeMinds
- Ecomm (Google Wave at Conferences)
- Camper experiment to decide for its store design getting customers to vote at an event.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/

If you have to give control away make sure you are ready for it. People online speak their mind and if they don’t like what they see, they are going to talk very bad about you. It looks like an oxymoron for some, it is quite straight forward to me.

Some great tools for Twitter moderation:

- Twubs
- Paratweet
- Wiffiti

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickwheeleroz/

Producing unique experiences, engaging, innovating always pay back. I have never read anything negative online about Ted. I have never read anything negative about user generated events.

Some examples of those doing it differently:

- LikeMinds
- Coachella (iPhone app, Water program, Layaways, Choose your artist Lineup program)
- TED
- PechaKucha Night

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/darwinbell/

Grow and talk to the 10% of people who upload content. Taking care of the mass is also important as the percentage of people uploading will grow. But for the time being your focus should be the evangelists, those who cared enough to talk about you. Whether positively or negatively. This is going to allow a smoother control release process.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelinlibrarian/

If you have questions, comments or want to add examples or tools please comment!

Filed under  //   Event Technology   Innovative Concepts   Social Media  

Twitter the microblogging tool has become a macro-tool for events since event planners need to be up to date with trends, audience needs and feedback, buzz and much more. So here we go with a list of twitter tools planners may use pre, during and post events.

To Manage accounts

1. tweetdeck TweetDeck is your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more.
2. twhirl Connects you to different accounts such as twitter, friendfeed; it has a cross-post function to Facebook and LinkedIn.
3. HootSuite It's a complete and excellent tool to manage different twitter accounts, track statistics, brand monitoring, schedule tweets and more.
4. Socialoomph Used to be tweetlater.com now with a new name and much more services.
5. Seesmic  A desktop client to manage your lifestream from Facebook & multiple Twitter accounts.

To Plan

1. Twitter hawk Is a real time targeting marketing engine that will find people talking on twitter now by your chosen topic and location.
2. Micro.vois.com Are you looking for freelance services like web developers, graphics, writers, etc. to help you with your event? This can help.
3. Xobni twitter in outlook saves you time finding e-mails, conversations, contact info & attachments. It also has e-mail analytics and soon you'll be able to use it in your mobile.
4. TwitterCal This is the Twitter tool that enables users to add events to their Google calendar directly from Twitter. 
5. Taweet Love this tool, it's a beta and a free Twitter application and social calendar that allows people and businesses to streamline promotional scheduling for events, product launches, life casting and more! 
6. Polls.tw The easiest way to make polls for twitter, need any feedback from your audience?

7. TweetTeleVision (TTV) Are you really busy doing some stuff for your event away from the computer, but reachable to watch and don't want to miss a thing? Just clap!

8. Amap.to Show a map and give directions to your events with a link. 
9. tweetmypc Lets you shutdown, restart, Log off and do lots more on your windows PC. All remotely via Twitter!
10. tweetmymac Lets you get screenshots, iSight snapshots, and your IP address from your Mac just by sending a direct message to your specially setup Mac controlling account. You can start torrents remotely, shutdown your Mac and more.
11. tweet.IM  Are all your e-mail accounts in Gmail? This tool enables you to use micro-blogging platforms like Twitter from Google talk or Jabber.
12. Schmap.it Is a platform to share events on Twitter.
13. It's on  Spread the word about your event or find events.

14. Tweet Scenes Is a Twitter tool that creates customized backgrounds for your company/brand (not free).

15. TwitMesh Features different tools like Twitter Groups, Twitter Invitations, Twitter IM and Twitter Search.

16. Tweetvite Makes it easy to create invitations for events you're hosting or to find local Tweetups.
17. TweetMeUp The easiest way to organize Tweetups!
18. Twtvite Is an event management tool that helps you organize Tweetups and make meaningful connections through social media.
19. Twibbon Is the easiest way to promote awareness about your cause through Twitter. 
20. TwitCause Helps nonprofits to get discovered on Twitter and enables passionate people to support causes they care about.
21. TwitComings  Provides you with real-time information about your favorite events: Concerts & Live Music, Conferences, Festivals, Technology and more.
22. Twaller To share ideas and tips while traveling.
23. TwitDone Personal twitter space for getting things done.
24. twtTRIP Are you having an event out of town, want to share your travel plans and meet other travelers? This can make your travel an adventure.
25. Xpenser Expense tracking and management for any device. Send a tweet so you don't miss a bill.

Photo by Kengo via flickr.

Monitoring Tools

1. tweetbeep Keep track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company, anything, with hourly updates! You can even keep track of who's tweeting your website or blog, even if they use a shortened URL.

2. Tweet Scan Get an email when your keywords are mentioned on Twitter.

3. Convo Monitor Convo Monitor is a dashboard view that allows you to track your brand on Twitter. You also can track Twitter conversations about any topic, word, phrase, idea, or person.
4. TidyTwwet TidyTweet helps keep your Twitter feed free from inappropriate language, users and content.

During/After the Event

1. twebevent An excellent collaborative tool for your event. Live streaming and twitter chat.
2. TwitterGram Send your Flickr pix to Twitter and show people what you're up to.
3. Wiffiti It is a media application designed to show content streams online either lean back or lean forward. It creates interactive displays during events.
4. TwitCam Live streaming on twitter.
5. Tvider Share your pictures, videos and audio on twitter
6. Tweetmojo Allows you to share your videos, photos, and documents on Twitter easily.
7. twitCharts Is a simple web wizard for Google graph charts that let’s you share charts to your Twitter stream.
8. Camtweet Lets you share live video on Twitter.
9. Twitpic Let you share photos in twitter.
10. Julius Solaris at the Event Manager Blog show us "5 ways to visualize twitter at events"and how twitter entered presentations through Keynotetweet.

I guess you heard about most of these applications and used some of them already, if I am missing something you think it's relevant feel free to add it in our comments.