Next Generation Event

Here's to An Exciting New Year

I stayed in Denver for the holidays this year, but thanks to technological advances, I still managed to be the center of attention at my family's gathering back in Lansing, Michigan (if only for the duration of a phone call). That's me on the screen with my cousins--one now lives in the Twin Cities and the other in San Jose.

I miss my family and would have loved to see everyone in person, but as we talk about all the time on this site, sometimes that's just not possible. As you can see, my family decided that wouldn't stand in the way of some family pictures.

Thanks for joining me this last year. I'm looking forward to exploring all sorts of new ideas and opportunities with you in 2009.

Tips for Avoiding Greenwashing from the Green Meetings Master

From Nancy J. Wilson, a pioneer in green meetings, these tips on making sure your green efforts are more than skin deep:

1. Be informed
2. Understand the terms
3. Be clear on the criteria
4. Participate
5. Be transparent

Hotel Incentives Are an Opportunity to Enhance Attendee Experience

Conference planners who have been around the block know that when hotels are doing well, they take everything they can, and when things slow down, prices start to fall. According to iGroupNews, hotels facing the crunch of this economy will be providing incentives, rather than dropping room rates.

Smart planners will seize on the incentives that make the conference experience better for attendees (and not just the ones that help planners trim costs), like free internet access, free parking, and waived resort fees for attendees.

Your attendees don't care that you got the meeting room for free or lowered the food and beverage minimum (unless, of course, you take the saved money and use it to enhance the event). And "Now with lower F&B minimums!" doesn't make for the best brochure copy. Instead, try using the incentives to make your event stand out from the rest.

You Wish You Did Conferences Like These Guys

And maybe you do, but you should still take a look at their blog. Like so many organizations, 360Conferences offers specialized tech conferences to developers. But unlike so many organizations, they do it really, really well.

How?

By putting customers first.

By focusing on content.

By building community (both in their conferences and beyond) into their model.

And to think--they just started out as attendees who wanted to build a conference they would like to attend.

Do You Poken?

Or so asks the URL of a new company that is sick of business cards. I was turned on to Poken by Streamlined Mind, a great productivity blog for students. The author, Hugo, used Poken at a recent conference in Amsterdam. The device allows users to exchange social networking information instantaneously.

I hate business cards. They take up space. They needlessly use paper. I have to manually enter the contact information I receive from them. They don't change automatically when a person's contact information changes. People always seem to be patting their pockets and realizing they forget their cards. I could go on.

I want a tool that makes exchange of information easy and instantaneous. And I want more than your phone number and email. I want to connect with you on networks, as well. I am glad to see companies like Poken moving in that direction, though I agree with Hugo that the more ideal solution would be a build-in on my phone. With Poken, I still have one more gadget to remember when I head out the door.

Just Because It's LEED-Certified Doesn't Mean It's Green

Image by Kim Scarborough

News of a soon-to-be-LEED-Certified hotel came across my news reader this morning. This is great news. Since I started blogging back in March, the number of properties seeking LEED certification (or, at the very least, the number of properties getting press for seeking LEED certification) has really gone up. I think I probably read about a new hotel each week.

This property boasts that it uses 30% less water and 21% less energy than hotels of comparable size. Fantastic. So where is it? Naperville, IL.

Naperville is about 45 minutes outside of Chicago and Midway, and 35 minutes from O'Hare (on a good day). That adds up to a lot of single-passenger vehicles on a long stretch of road.

Of course, this takes nothing away from the hotel's intent to obtain LEED certification. I applaud its efforts and I don't mean to single it out. I should really be singling out Brad Pitt, because it was the announcement that he was building a green hotel in Dubai that first got me thinking about this.

While some organizations might not consider the location of the hotel (and, therefore, the footprint generated by attendee travel) when calling a property "green," event planners should.

Consider Sending Out an Attendee List in Advance

Great tip from Sue Pelletier today, highlighting a post from Association Executive Management that talked about sending the attendees a list of attendees in advance as a means of ensuring attendance.

Those of us who have planned an event (especially a free one) know that those who say they're coming don't always come. And I am ashamed to admit I've been on the attendee side of that as well. But if your colleagues know you RSVP'd, you probably wouldn't want to let them down.

Of course, there is an even bigger benefit for savvy attendees to know who will be there--we all know that preparing who you need to talk to about what makes meetings more effective.