Make more with less: rise of free or low cost web tools for events

Corbin Ball, international speaker and writer at Corbin Ball Associates is one of the technology guru for the meeting industry. He introduced us about the actual web based tools, whose importance increase nowadays. The old classical software are out of the market because they are too expensive compared to the web tools. Thought, it is not possible to organise and promote an event only by these new low cost tools.

The cloud computer have a lot of advantages: web is easier, cheaper, open 24h/7days, worldwide and multi-platform. Social media are an important part of these: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, FlickR, Slideshare, Wordpress, Skype, Google+ since june 2011. An other new application such as Hangout from Google + is also very useful for meetings, because of its convenience to stay connected with each other. 

 

Free download, free use and free advantages! Freedom yes, but what about security?

By Aline Thepphasy, Cloé Roger, Valentina Stan, Maria Silkina et Elizaveta Zorina

What's the point of measuring Business Value Of Meetings ?

During our first day on the EIBTM 2011 trade Show, we went to a conference given by Bill Voegeli, an MPI american member. This conference aimed at answering the following questions: "how to calculate the value of a meeting ?", "what is a meeting worth to a company ?".

Nowadays, only a few companies are measuring the value of their meetings  (about 1% of them) and almost none of them measure their ROI.

Voegeli started by telling the expectations of the MICE stakeholders who are using value measurment. He made a research based on 215 companies worldwide (55% USA and 32% E.U.), and stated the fact that in reality, companies are still using the old "smile sheets" to measure the attendees' satisfaction.

The event planners don't seem to realize the importance of knowing the value and the ROI of an event.

According to Bill Voegeli, all the companies which have successful business value of meeting (BVOM) share 3 common charateristics:

- they define meeting objectives before the event

- they create value measures

- they use the results to implement changes after the event.

But companies have to start small ! They should start by measuring something simple. A lot of practices are traditional. Bill Voegli suggests a new challenge which consists in sharing practices of the few companies that are successful measuring the BVOM. To do so, they have to share further information and insights. For example, it would be useful to know what changed between the time they were not measuring BVOM and the time they decided to put it in use.

The major problem is that the event planners don't really know how to use these tools properly and their companies don't encourage them to do it. Therefore, it is important to underline the lack of interest from both the event planners, the companies and the different stakeholders of the MICE industry.

Indeed, nobody understands why the sales figures are important but in the last 5 years, the firms that used BVOM didn't have any budget cuts for their events.

According to the speaker, using BVOM in the meetings and events industry is essential because it improves the meeting outcomes, it helps the event remaining relevant, it offers a good attendee experience, and it allows to rationalize and justify the spendings which reduces wates of time and money.

Sandra Robszye, Caroline Flauss and Maÿliss Redou

Our résumés...

Cyrielle ATAVARE

Age: 23 years old
Languages spoken : French, English, Spanish
Last project : Project Manager at La Mer Toute L’Année (travel agency, Paris)
Job aimed : Project Manager in companies’ event departments 

Ludivine DESCHAMPS

Age: 22 years old

Languages spoken: French, English and Spanish
Last job: Assistant Seminars organizer in a training/consulting company (First Finance)
This year: Assistant Event Manager in a five-star hotel (Lucien Barrière)
Job aimed: Event Manager in a MICE Department in a Hotel
Her Viadéo profil


Caroline FLAUSS

Age: 23 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, Spanish
Last Job: Trilingual Receptionist at Complejo Best Negresco **** in Salou (Tarragona, Spain)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in an Event Agency or a Convention Center
Her Viadéo profile


Elodie GAILLACQ

Age: 23 years old
French, English, Italian
Account Handler at E-Voyages DMC (London)
Junior Project Manager in an Event Agency
Her LinkedIn profile


Maxime GUIBERT

Age: 21 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, Chinese
Last job: Assistant Project Manager and Sales Manager at Factory4U (Asnières-sur-Seine, France)
Job aimed: (Assistant) Project Manager for a music event agency or association
His Viadéo profile


Laure DUBOS

Age: 21 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, Spanish
Last job: Project Manager and Guide Interpreter for "Solidaire Inca Tour " (DMC - Peru)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in a DMC or an event agency


Julia PLAQUET

Age: 23 years old
Languages spoken: English, French
Last job: Assistant Project Manager at JPdL Vitamine Canada (DMC - Montreal)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in an event agency
Her LinkedIn profile


Maÿliss REDOU

Age: 21 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, Italian
Last job: Assistant Project Manager at Wedgewood Britain (DMC - London)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in a DMC or an event agency
Her LinkedIn profile


Sandra ROBSZYE

Age: 24 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, spanish
Last job: Assistant Project Manager at JPDL Vitamine, Montréal
Job aimed: Junior project manager in a DMC
Her Viadéo profile


Cloé ROGER

Age: 22 years old
Languages spoken: English, German
Last job: Assistant Project Manager Créateurs de Liens (Event Agency - Paris)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in a PCO
Her Viadéo profile


Maria SILKINA

Age: 26 years old
Languages spoken: Russian, French, English
Last job: Junior Project Manager at SAOBAÏ (Business Travel Agency - Paris)
Job aimed: Projet Manager in an event agency
Her LinkedIn profile


Valentina STAN

Age: 24 years old

Languages spoken: Romanian, French, English, Spanish
Last job: Project Manager Assistant, Equatour, Paris
Job aimed:Meeting and Events Project Manager
Her Viadéo profile


Aline THEPPHASY

Age : 25 years old
Languages spoken : German, Chinese, English and French
Last job: Management Trainee at Grand Merucre Hongqiao Shanghai (Hotel - Shanghai)
Job aimed : Assistant Event Coordinator


Jhanani THEVAHARAN

Age: 25
Languages spoken: French, English, Italian and Tamil
Last jobs: Assistant Project Manager at SuiteVoyage (DMC - Paris)
Assistant Event Manager at Fcm Travel Solutions (Global travel management provider)
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in a PCO/ Event agency
Her LinkedIn profile


Auréa TORCHY

Age: 33 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, Spanish and Italian
Last job: Sales Agent for Air Europa,Malaysia Airlines and Easyjet
Job aimed : Project Manager
Her Viadéo profile


Fanny VEAU

Age: 22 years old
Languages spoken: French, English, spanish
Last job: Assistant couple host
Job aimed: Junior Project Manager in a DMC or an event agency
Her Viadéo profile


Elizaveta ZORINA

Age: 26 years old
Languages spoken: Russian, English, French
Last job: front desk at Grand Hotel Mercure Croisette Beach
Job aimed: Project Manager in a event agency

EIBTM CONQUEST

As MBA’s students at the end of scholarship, the university gave us the chance to attend a professional event which is EIBTM, The Global Meetings and Events Exhibition. 
EIBTM is the leading global event for the meetings and events industry in Europe located in Barcelona.

It is known all around the world as a foremost Business Tourism show. Professionals describe it as a great opportunity to make a number of great new contacts and to start building new business relationships. EIBTM is the place to be if you want to promote your business to this sector of activity.

To us, it was really important to understand that we are going to live this event as actors and not just as spectators.As a matter of fact, we have decided to work together organizing our trip to take the best advantage of it .
We must say we have been worried about the preparation of this roadshow for more than a month, as we had to organize the all trip ourselves. Everybody had different tasks, such as logistic organisation, food finders, meeting bookers...Indeed we have overcome some difficulties : the flight's booking had been compromised due to technical issues, and meetings with professionals were hard to settle as we know their schedules were full. Nonetheless, we have prepared EIBTM as pros, thanks to the support and the sponsoring of our teacher Christine PERON, vice president of MPI France Switzerland.
We did it and we are now ready to go .
As future leaders in the meeting industry, what we expect from EIBTM is a share of experience. It is going to be an opportunity to discuss with the actors of the sector.
We are going to attend several conferences so we will be up to date ragarding the new trends in our sector, as we will be in the labour market il less than 3 months. We will handle our professional career in participating in networking sessions, interrogating the professionals and reacting during conferences. To a certain extent, we will be doing a kind of market watch. The experience and the knowledge we will have gained during EIBTM will be essential to us in our upcoming position as future junior project managers in the meeting industry.
We are now more than ready to meet our future professional network.
BARCELONA, HERE COME THE FUTURE MICE LEADERS.
Cyrielle, Jhanani and Sandra

When IBAHN, network solutions provider in the meetings and events industry comes to meet the MICE MBA students

No matter where we are and where we go, we always want to be connected. Nowadays, being constantly connected is a need in our personal lives and is even more than essential in our work.

Smartphones are everywhere and Wi-Fi is available in restaurants, trains, airports, hotels and many other places. As a matter of fact, “being connected” is now a work tool in every single company and especially in the meeting industry.

As MBA students and future meeting professionals, we also understand the impact of having efficient social networks. Our event management teacher, Mrs. Christine Peron, an MPI member, introduced us to her professional network and her fellow from the US, Mr. Michael Clanton. Mike Clanton is the Director of Global Services for My Meeting Professional (MMP), a gateway to helpful information to make the conferences or meetings a success. It’s a new division of IBAHN (provider of digital information and entertainment for the hospitality and meeting industries).

Last Thursday, we got the opportunity to invite him and learn from his experience of the global Meetings and Events industry.

What kind of impact have the new technologies on the “Meeting Planner” job?

During this afternoon we spent with Mike, we had the opportunity to converse all together about a lot of subjects.

He started with an explanation of the importance of the internet and the new technologies role in the meeting industry today.

Technologies made a great progress and the offer of associated services needs to be adapted to the new demand. The customers are not only expecting a high quality of physical goods but also a high quality of intangible services. In the hospitality sector, it is no longer enough to offer a comfortable bed and a nice view on the ocean, now the customers need more – they want to be all the time connected, to share their pictures and impressions on social networks, to be “hip to”. They don’t want to leave their habits during their vacations or business trips. There is the same concern in the business sector, where the success often depends on the information exchange and the security of basic data.

New technologies also play a growing part in the meetings an events management. Indeed, there is an increasing number of “virtual” and “hybrid events”. Virtual events take entirely place “on the web”, it is for example the case when videoconferencing is used for a meeting to replace the classic “physical meeting”. A hybrid event is an event that uses videoconferencing, such as Skype interviews, as well as physical meeting. That’s why a good quality Internet access should be provided in all the event venues – in the recreation zones as well as in the conference rooms.

This new trend in the Meetings and Events industry in 2011 goes with the current economic situation. Indeed, according to a recent survey realised by MPI (Future Watch 2011, The year the event get smarter), “the meeting industry will see unparalleled change in the coming year, technology will bolster communication, ROI and strategic meetings management will be vital to your business success, and new and existing connections with your peers will lead to smarter events”. New technologies facilitate the preparation and execution of “smarter” meetings and events.

IBAHN, network solutions providers in the meetings and events industry

Like we said before, iBAHN is a global provider of digital information and entertainment systems for the hospitality and meeting industries. The services they provide are essential tools for Meeting Professionals in the organisation of events and conferences that are nowadays dependent on technology and connectivity.

Technology and connectivity are not enough considered as important aspects of the event. This is what Mike tried to explain us. Event planners often take it for granted, which is a mistake.

The main role on an internet connection can be summed up in three letters: “SSS” for stability, security and speed. Delegates, speakers and attendees want and need to have a safe, guaranteed and smooth connection to the internet or the local network of the event, during the event.

There comes the question of price. How much are we ready to pay for the fast and secure Internet access?

As meeting professionals are not often considering the network connectivity as a fundamental aspect of the event, but more as an option, they can be really surprised when it comes to talk about rates…

According to Mike, there is no application without a suitable support. That’s why every Meeting Planner should be aware that there is no “low coast” good quality of service and they should really consider the fact of paying a bit more to have a good Service Level Agreement.

It was a good moment and Mike’s presentation was very rewarding for our class. We learned a lot about the issues of network connectivity. We also realized that beyond the simple Wi-Fi found in a hotel, there are many things to take into account such as security, content, stability and speed. Mike also made us realize how important these tools are during congresses, conventions and all other types of events.

Thanks to Mrs. Peron, we also learned how to increase our professional network and how to invite a guest and organize his visit. Sharing ideas and experiences with others is building our future and the way we think about our field of activity.

Furthermore, this experience will help us for the next step: EIBTM exhibition meeting in Barcelona on November 29th – December 1st.

Cyrielle Atavare, Maria Silkina et Maÿliss Redou

How to animate your event with simply a MyQaa smartphone application?

Nowadays, in a fast growing world of technologies and innovations can we still imagine to live without our small parallelepiped, only made of metals and glasses? (well, and of course a lots of other materials, but, frankly speaking, who cares?!)
Can you guess, what we are talking about? To gice you a clue its technical specifications is:

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.37 inche (9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 gm)

Yes, it’s Steve Job’s brand-new iPhone. It takes part in our quotidian and makes our lives much easier and convener. So we do not need to carry a subway map in our pockets, neither to go to the bank in order to get simply information about our account and we can order our foodstuff using the iPhone  applications.

According to ARCEP (L’AUTORITE de REGULATION des COMMUNICATIONS ELECTRONIQUES et des POSTES) the number of mobile customers in France came up to 65,9 millions in the 2^nd term of 2011 with a constant trend to growth, with a mobile phone penetration rate about 103,2% on September 2011.

So how can we apply this knowledge in a professional area? If we can use our smartphones and iPhones in our daily life it means that it might suitable to use it in business as well.
Any creative process should be preceded by an analyse of market conjuncture and demand to be sure that your creation will gain the success. So what are the needs in our field? In the “Meeting Industry”? Not only, our work is to organize the meetings and events, to make people participate and react, but it is also to attract the professionals to visit the meetings, to receive a feedback and an important key today, to get their loyalty, which has a special value nowadays. “Who owns the information – owns the world” (Winston Churchill). 
In 2010, on 3^rd August, a team composed of Eric and Richard, came by with a solution by creation a new application for smartphones and iPhones called, MyQaa, destined to the participants of events and giving them a possibility to actively participate on event and conferences by writing questions to speaker in a real-time, answering the quizz from organizers, discussing between the participants and even fixing some meeting with other participants by sending a requests to a person that you want to meet. What are the benefits for both sides? The participants now may obtain the maximum of information and abilities before, during and after the event. The organizers may get the participants involved into a conference, personalize the event, and object their goals, connected with the researches and satisfaction rate in a real-time.

How does it work actually? 
There are 3 way of interaction between the MyQaa staffs and the final client: 
1. Direct interaction with big companies. In this case the developer team creates an application based on the needs and demand of the client. Custom-made is more expensive than the other 2 ways.
2. Interaction with a client by an event agency, which propose to the clients the standard package for their event (meeting, conference or any other). Here the approach is less personalised and costs correspondingly less.
3. Interaction with a client by Internet-website, when you can directly send your request on the website and receive your test model. It is automatic, easy to use and not expensive. 

How can we try this? 
The best way is to get a demo, but how? Just take one of your gadgets and check it on the website of
MyQaa : http://myqaa.com

"Let the technologies work for you!"


written by: Maria SILKINA, Aline THEPPHASY, Elizaveta ZORINA