Why Social Media Matters

The world of social media changes every minute. Whereas it used to be enough to put together a blast email campaign, your conference delegates are increasingly turning to online tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to find information and make decisions.

Many meeting managers struggle with the relevance of social media. We hear, "Sure, it’s exciting. But the learning curve is steep and I’m already busy. How does it benefit me? My organization? My attendees?"

A recent article titled “10 Ways that Social Media Will Transform Events in 2010” provides a concise list of why event managers should work to incorporate social media into the planning process. Just a few highlights include the ability to:

• Gather real-time feedback and address attendee concerns in real time.
• Facilitate peer-to-peer learning and audience-to-speaker learning rather than just traditional speaker-to-audience learning.
• Extend the reach of live events beyond the boundaries of time and space.
• Create dynamic online communities that allow attendees to connect with people of similar interests.
• Reach audiences never before possible.

Read the full article here.

Airline Delays and the new Three Hour Rule

When a tarmac delay exceeds three hours, a new DOT rule allows airline passengers to deplane. This is a welcome development for anyone trapped inside a cramped regional jet for hours as well as those who've already missed their meetings due to the delay. But while the new rule may please some business travelers, others may be inconvenienced if taxiing back to the gate negates that one chance to get home before an airport closes for the night in inclement weather.

Creating a Hybrid Expo Hall

Organizations are looking for ways to expand their audience, engage their members, and demonstrate return on investment of their precious conference dollars. Hybrid meetings that combine the real-life with online are gaining some traction.

Virtual tradeshows are an innovative way to increase value to exhibitors and sponsors, extending the show both in scope and duration. Meetings & Conventions magazine recently profiled a Cisco conference that successfully utilized Chicago-based InXpo’s virtual exhibit hall as part of a live event. The conference was marketed under a single brand, and included both physical and online components.

A virtual exhibit hall supports many methods of interaction, including instant messaging, video chat, e-mail, and business card exchange to create qualified, trackable leads for exhibiting companies. InXpo also offers “Intelli-booth," an interactive company experience that allows customers to engage with your company’s products and services in ways that are meaningful to them. Both platforms provide detailed metrics regarding when and how often customers visited and what content was of interest. The firm also offers webcasting, online job fairs, and other HR-type tools.

The InXpo software is pricey – ranging from $50K – $100K for a standard configuration and more for a highly customized event – but provides options for conferences currently constrained by space, time, or geography.

Tastes Like Chicken

With budget still high on everyone’s priority list moving into the New Year, looking at ways to pare-down Food and Beverage costs are becoming more and more important. Planners may think that since attendees are traveling away from home to go to a meeting they expect to have lavish meals and complicated cuisines served up on a silver platter. This is actually quite the contrary. While away from home attendees seek comfort food and classic dishes, breakfast and lunch especially. Keeping things simple will please both attendees and your budget.

This month in Meetings and Convention Magazine, we can read about the “F&B Trends in 2010” and how these can be implemented in upcoming shows. Over the last year hotels have seen a dramatic increase in “cheaper” proteins such as chicken and a dramatic decrease in expensive filet mignon and seafood such as lobster. Dishes you cannot pronounce are out and classic foods are born again. However, this does not mean your menu will be bland and unexciting. Just because you are going back to basics does not mean there cannot be a little flavor. By taking a simple dish and adding a little flair attendees will still have a “wow” factor while keeping costs down.

With New Year’s resolutions to get to the gym and to be more health conscience in mind, it is sometimes hard to stick to it while onsite. Long days and hectic schedules detour attendees as well as planners from getting in a daily workout. Offering healthier options and smaller portions allow attendees to focus more on networking rather than indulging on that second helping. We are seeing a lot more vegetarian options included, which are both healthy and less expensive.

For receptions, shorter time windows, tapas themed hors d’oeuvres, and smaller quantities, are becoming a trend. The buffet should not be the focus, but rather getting a quick bite then onto networking. For dessert, mini dessert shooters have been more prominent. Just a taste is all that is needed to enjoy these delicious treats. In the December 2009 issue of One+ you can read, “That’s So Last Year, Oh Wait, This Year” giving you some 2010 food trends to keep in mind.