The meeting architecture Toolbox : Approved !!

The Meeting Architecture Toolbox : approved!

     Speaker : Marteen Vanneste

     Duration : 30 minutes

    

  Marteen Vanneste, founder of Abbit Meeting Support and expert on topics from technology to meeting architectures, started his speech by highlighting a reality of today's meeting industry :     

     Justification of events, impact, effects, ROI. Indeed, one main preoccupation of the events decision-makers is nowadays, because of the context of crisis and because too many wastes has been done in the past, the creation of an event has to be justified , expenses has to be cut and the value of the meeting has to be given.

    So he focuses on the contents side, all the tools serving inside the meeting to create a better network and to      provide a better learning for the attendee.

 Marteen's advice for them in designing a meeting is to follow a simple process.

     First, defining objectives with a list of details measurable and reachable. Secondly, designing the event respecting and observing those objectives.

     

     In order to achieve this, the meeting planner needs tools : here come the meeting architecture Toolbox !!

     The size of the toolbox matters, and Marteen Vanneste define what should be in this toolbox to realise a great meeting.

  

  The use of the tools has to be identify before in order to avoid waste and to maximize the effectiveness of it. 

   To remember the 5 tools of the toolbox, he gave the attendees a mnemonic: CHATTY:

  -      C  for Conceptual. It was insipired from Social Media. Today man conferences use the old fashion model of “the speaker speaks and attendees write”. The future is about creating the “meeting 2.0” in which attendees participate more with pecha kutcha, wiki workshop, (wich consist in a 19 minutes session, then the attendee get a laptop and collect ideas in order to generate questions) open space...etc. 

 Marteen succeeded in using those new tools as His presentation had a lot of pictures, and it was very interactive

-       H for Human. It’s important to make attendees comfortable. Actors can help people feel relax, by talking to them or entertaining them during the conference and create a link between them. During his speech, Marteen made people change place and explain concept to each other, exchange cards and talk. He really made everyone at ease.

-        A for Art. Art should be present in the events to have a strong influence on them. It can be anything from videos to music or designs... 

-        T for Technical. The furniture and their position and place are important. It’s actually a real tool to create an atmosphere and give a message as we discovered when Marteen asked us to change the shape of the room by moving the sofas in U Shape. 

-       Ty for Technology. The technology is a tool to support the learning, to share or bring value. He presented the tool Spot Mebriefly with fake devices in foam rubber. Thanks to Spot Mee, people can meet with an apps and look the profile of someone, they can have an updated planning, and quiz can be realized. By instituting quiz or contest or making people won a prize the learning is increased (more than 30% which is still better than before).

What we really liked in this conference was the interactivity between the attendees and the energy of the speaker. He really did apply his advice, which make his concept easy to implement and real. In conclusion the meeting architect toolbox tested for you and approved!

Gaillacq Elodie, Deschamps Ludivine and Sandra Robszye 

EIBTM 2011 Technology Watch

The EIBTM Technology Watch is a recognized technology award in the meetings industries.

The objectives are double, one the one hand it recognizes technology innovation and it highlights significant trends that have impacts on the meeting industries (meeting planners, attendees and exhibitors)

The winner was selected from 56 applications. There were seven judges in relation with the meetings industry and technology but not selling any technology product. They took into account several elements in their notation such as the concept, innovation and the potential value for our sector. 

Near Field Communication, called shortly NFC, was highlighted by the companies selected. NFC is a short-range wireless technology. The difference with Wi-Fi is that we can quickly swap data between devices when they are touched together like QR code. For the meetings industries, we can use it for the positioning and way finding especially for big events for example.

This year the award goes to ITN International. They use NFC for the attendees and it is inexpensive. It allows the attendees’ name badge to be used as a ticket to city attraction where the event is held.

It has been implemented in Amsterdam for the first time with an innovating partnership. Thus, it allows the city to be more attractive for the attendees and on the other hand, the city collects the data regarding the impacts of the event on its territory. 

The number of applications (56) shows the relation between the meetings industry and technology. In fact, it is increasingly used in order to improve the management of events.

We have identified some trends, which are emerging:

• The increase and development of multi-purpose mobile apps for phones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
• Streaming, webcasting and conference content delivery. We are here talking about hybrid events for remote audience at a low cost.
• Trend for greener events with less paper
• Attendees management

Meetings industries will continue to advance with technology tools which are becoming better and better. It is vital for us to be aware of all these innovation to be competitive and to meet the need of the attendees. 

Julia Plaquet and Jhanani Thevaharan 

Mobile Aps when WIFI sucks

Speaker : Jelmer Van Ast

Duration: 20 minutes

Jelmer Van Ast, founder and managing director of Conference Compass, make mobile apps with a focus on scientific program, customization, reach contain, etc…Thanks to his job, he realized that many conferences application rely on WIFI connection. However, from his point of view, WIFI is not reliable so people start complaining : “WIFI sucks!”.  At present time, while everyone is talking about mobile apps for events, this is becoming to be a big problem for conference organizer.

During the conference, he distinguish two types of applications, web and native applications.

Web application is the best known! It’s when internet display the content, and updates information simultaneously. It is working on each phone, which is its strength as well. But at the same time, with this connection, if internet is slow, the application is not working. It’s also really expensive for everyone – conference organizers and attendees (especially the foreign one). Moreover, because the band with is shared, the more people use the WIFI, the less it works.

Regarding native applications,  the content is downloaded long before the conference, which make it faster with a better response. One of the biggest advantages, is that it works regardless internet. However, it’s not always up to date information and it only works for phone designed for it.

To conclude, the question of the day was, do you want to pay for something you can’t control?  Our answer is no, as we couldn’t connect our mobile phone at EIBTM WIFI. Or maybe, when the speaker speak highly about native connection, we think that hybrid connection should be used when it comes to introducing those tools in conferences and events. 


Elodie Gaillacq, Fanny Veau and Ludivine Deschamps

The future of conference technology : on site AND online

Speaker: Jacob Marquardt

Duration : 20 minutes

At the beginning, Jacob Marquardt, founder of M Event Cross Media GmbM, highlighted one fact: the conferences of today are the same as yesterday. Yet, our society did change: new channels, Ifax, Iphone, Icommunity… what about I-Excel? Everyone is still using the old fashioned Excel to prepare conferences.

For the event of the future, we have to change our way of organizing conferences – too has been. Unfortunately there is a lack of processes to start this change.

Jacob Marquardt, through his speech wanted to prove us that tomorrow’s conferences will have to use the online tools.  It brings advantages, such as the fact that the rooms are not overcrowded anymore. Everyone can attend the conferences from everywhere. Moreover, organizers can change the details of the conference at any time without causing big troubles. Furthermore, online tools avoid printing useless paper and protect the environment.

20 minutes of conference… certainly not enough to tackle the subject, but at least avoid a crowded room. We regret, the lack of real answer, and the way the subject was treated superficially.

Elodie Gaillacq, Fanny Veau and Ludivine Deschamps 

Uso de las redes sociales en Clave Profesional.

Moderadoras:

Alessia Comis, directora de Pidelaluna

Ponentes:

Ana Santos, founder & CEO de Eventosfera

Vincent Chavy, Social Media Manager y estrategia

La conferencia empezó con Alesia Comis, miembro activo de MPI España, que cogió la palabra para hacer una breve presentación de la asociación. Después, Ana Santos empezó a hablar de “la explosión del mundo 2.0”. Hoy, gracias a las redes se puede dinamizar a la gente para que acuda a un evento. Antes la web era estática y la gente tenia que acudir a los fórums. Ahorra, se puede dar visibilidad a los “partners”, los clientes y también al evento de forma rápida y en tiempo real. Esto es la maravilla del 2.0. La temática, el cliente, la decoración son elementos que unidos a la creatividad van a potenciar el evento. El ponente insistió sobre la importancia del contenido durante evento de allí la necesidad de bien definir los objetivos previos. A través de la conversación por ejemplo, dentro de una pagina facebook, lograremos atraer el cliente al evento. Se puede generar una comunidad seis a doce meses antes del evento creando interactividad con el público que luego va a acudir al evento. Debemos segmentar el grupo seleccionando los perfiles que se interesaran por el evento. Es obvio que si se tiene una comunidad fuerte la gente tendrá en cuenta nuestro valor y nos seguirá en cualquier evento. Otro punto destacado por el ponente fue el marketing online en el cual el uso de las redes sociales es muy importante. Cuanto más bien sea definido el contenido del evento mejor será el posicionamiento en google ya que es el motor de búsqueda mas desarrollado. La web permite transformar a actitudes en ventas.

Luego, Vincent Chavy, Social Media Manager y estrategia, nos dio su visión de las redes sociales dividiendo su ponencia en tres fases: el pre evento, el día del evento y después del evento. A cada una de estas etapas corresponde respectivamente la promoción o publicidad, la  comunicación y el análisis del evento. Durante la primera fase, debemos hacer una campaña de publicidad y con la ayuda de facebook buscar a toda la gente que esta interesada por nuestro evento seleccionando los potenciales clientes. Por ejemplo, si se trata de un concierto de Juan Palma hay que seleccionar a todos los fans de música romántica. También, poner un video del cantante en you tube permite dar notoriedad al evento. El uso de herramientas como twitter o twitter adder hace que la gente venga al evento creando valor. Las páginas de internet www.ticketea.com para España o www.eventbrite.com son indispensables para la venta de billetes y la visibilidad del evento. En la segunda fase es decir en el momento del evento la difusión y las conversaciones son los dos elementos clave. Gracias a streaming o hivestream la gente que no puede acudir al evento lo ve en directo y puede participar con facebook o twitter a través de la página web de forma instantánea. Así, el community manager puede responder en tiempo real a través de giga twitter. La tercera y ultima fase se caracteriza por el monitoreo y el análisis post evento. Varias herramientas como facebook insights, you tube insight o google analytics nos pueden ayudar a cuantificar, analizar y evaluar nuestro evento. Tendremos por ejemplo información sobre como ha llegado la gente a nuestra pagina web y cuanto tiempo se ha quedado. En efecto, la gente no llega por casualidad en una pagina web y si esta interesada se queda mas tiempo. El análisis permite ver si hubo fallos en la comunicación. También, podemos hacer una evaluación con un plazo de tiempo mas largo acudiendo a twitter counter y así tener estadísticas sobre un periodo de seis meses por ejemplo.

A modo de conclusión recordaremos que la estrategia es nuestra hoja de ruta y que las herramientas nos ayudan en nuestro trabajo sin embargo el community manager es la persona más importante en un evento. En efecto, su papel es dinamizar la conversación entorno al evento utilizando herramientas diversas y variadas en adecuación con la estrategia previa. Por esta razón,  la clave es seleccionar al community manager adecuado. Es obvio que el factor humano prevalece a cualquier herramienta en el éxito de un evento.

Auréa Torchy y Laure Dubos 

Teoría y practica del networking

Moderadoras:

Alessia Comis, directora de Pidelaluna

Alda Egurrola, Regional Director Europa en Elite Meetings International.

Ponentes:

Natalia Ross Bárbara, Socia fundadora de Forum Business Travel.

La asociación MPI (Meeting Professionals International) en colaboración con el programa educativo del Salón EIBTM en Barcelona abrió una sesión con el tema “Teoría y practica del networking”, a cargo de Natalia Ross Bárbara, socia fundadora de Forum Business Travel. Natalia Ros explico las bases del networking a través de una presentación animada por un soporte visual explicativo y también un pecha kucha.

Primero, introdujo una breve definición de las redes profesionales cada vez mas presentes en el entorno del turismo de negocios. Después de haber explicado los intereses para los profesionales de crear una red propia de networking señalo que primero se tenían que listar los objetivos y seguir un proceso adecuado con estos. Seguidamente hizo hincapié en el deber de cada profesional de recoger la máxima información sobre la persona a la cual uno se quiere dirigir con el fin de facilitar un primer contacto con el profesional. Por ejemplo, cuando un profesional se prepara para un salón lo primero que se tiene que hacer es definir sus objetivos, preparar una presentación y llevar consigo el soporte necesario como pueden ser las cartas de visita. Luego, Durante la entrevista se debe chequear si el interlocutor ha sido receptivo. Por eso la comunicación visual, gestual et relacional son muy importantes. Lo principal es proponer soluciones y aportar un valor añadido a la empresa. Después del encuentro se debe hacer un balance y seguir alimentando su red de contactos.

Para concluir lo más importante es saber escuchar y comprender las necesidades de sus interlocutores. Antes de las entrevistas hay que prepararse para poder ser eficiente y luego clasificar los nuevos contactos. De esta forma crearemos una red eficaz que nos podrá ser útil para futuros negocios. Sin embargo, debemos siempre hacer coincidir el perfil virtual profesional con el perfil personal y así dar una imagen adecuada al interlocutor. Es muy importante dedicar tiempo a la gente que muestra interés porque esta red puede abrirnos muchas puertas. El ponente quiso dar un ejemplo y finalizo el programa con un juego entre la asistencia basado en la comunicación, la comprensión y el intercambio entre profesionales en el cual participaron Alessia Comis y Alda Egurrola.

Laure Dubos y Auréa Torchy

EIBTM Global Trends

Nowadays event trends are led by the economic situation, however according to 70% of the event professionals, this is not the only cause.

Professionals of the meeting industry always look for new destinations, products, venues, suppliers and concepts to sell to their clients. A study has been made towards 201 countries all over the world and the results show that for the next 12 months, 55% of the number of events will increase, but 46% of the respondents think the clients’ budget will decrease due to the economic issues.

Destination choices is changing over the years and it’s even truer today: most of the events took place in Europe, but there is an increase of new destinations’ demand this year even if economic situation and political instability act as threats. There will be 6 new countries welcoming business events including Namibia, Brunei, Laos, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Guinea-Bissau.

Consequently event professionals have to keep up finding new concepts and adapt themselves to new technologies. Indeed, 77% are using social medias to communicate with their customers, 38% chose to have virtual meeting instead of real ones, 29% are using apps for providing information, and they are also usually using QR code in their work, location aware software such as foursquare and holograms but in minor quantity.

Julia Plaquet, Cyrielle Atavare, Maxime Guibert and Jhanani Thevaharan