50 Fun Events Tech Ideas - Almost Live

One of my favorite sessions to deliver is about #eventtech - and this session I originally developed looks at dozens of technologies impacting us. This was done originally last March and changes every single time I deliver it - because technology and how we use it changes constantly.  

For The Special Event in January in Orlando I was unable to attend live - it was just a few days until we opened the #BCTECH Summit - and so I proposed using (gasp!) technology to deliver the session, and they agreed to try it. The team at AV Strategies  took time to shoot, edit and improve the video, and Laura Lopez of Social Tables was our on-site, in-room session leader, ensuring the session was not only informative but interactive.  At the end I joined the session for some live Q and A from home, and overall it was very well received. If you are thinking of alternative ways you can deliver sessions - this might work for you!

The link to the TSE 2016 Session can be found here.

Conferences and Airplanes

Yes, that was fun - and great ideas were shared!

We design meetings for people to connect, communicate and share ideas.  There are literally millions of meetings taking place annually around the globe, bringing people together regionally, nationally and globally, and we know from various research studies most people attend 3 – 6 conferences per year, choosing those they believe will be the most valuable to them.  This nebulous value is determined by the education shared and the people met.  When a trade component is attached, then you may have sales or marketing targets to be met, but each of these transactions begins with a relationship.

So what does this have to do with airplanes?  For not the first time (I wrote about this first  in 2012), I am seated on a plane beside two people who have just attended the same conference.  They have spent 4 days in a new city, focused on similar goals, attending the same sessions and networking functions, likely passing in the hall more than once.  They didn’t meet.  They are now seated beside each other on a four hour flight, and from the first ‘Oh you were at X too’, they have not stopped talking. They have shared ideas for courses,  mutual connections, ideas around managing their students (they are both from universities) and have moved on to challenges they face with students, with funding, managing co-workers and family balance, and have come up with a few “a-ha” moments, with much nodding, smiling and brightness in the conversation.

How do we create an event which allows these types of conversations to happen?  Where there is a balance of thought provoking speakers who inspire disruptive thinking to happen, and where action can be driven by the conversations that follow, and where white space is encouraged.  Where networking functions are not buffet lines and cocktails with music slightly too loud to converse over, adding to a thumping ambience, but instead have features that elicit comments and food and beverage that enhances the overall sensations – taste, texture, health, and delight all incorporated.  Where we use technology in all its forms to support the experience. Where you have the opportunity to “touch” each person at least once, and where you leave with deep connections with at least a few people who will become game-changers for you, your business, your lifestyle.  These are the questions I can’t wait to explore this year.

Power of the Collective

Collective Lego

Flashmob. Lego Master Builder Creations. Group Yoga. Conferences. 

Nobody makes me smarter than my children. Last week we joined other families at Oakridge Mall in Vancouver where Lego was building an 8' Yoda out of bricks. Each participant had a picture of the small parts they had to do, and an 18" Yoda to show what their collective work would lead to - a very statuesque Yoda.  After Nick had been building for a while, I thought it was perhaps time to go, but he was not ready. I suggested he could still build Lego when we got home, but that was NOT the point. As an experience creator, I should have already known / sensed that this was not about building squares into more squares - it was about how he was contributing to the whole. This took three days of people wanting to participate in a collective win, and they succeeded on every level.

We have seen examples around the world of this - LuluLemon leading 300 people in yoga at Jack Poole Plaza in Vancouver, Chicago parks hosting a day of exercise, where each hour the activity changed and hundreds participated in each, and marvelous examples such as Diner en Blanc, where it is about being together in a collective experience that is the point. Please do share your favorite examples as well!   

How should this impact our thinking when it comes to events? I believe sometimes we get so wrapped up in the details - number of servers, access to exits, are there enough restrooms, what shade of red is the linen - that we forget the reason we are doing all of this - to create clean, safe environments for people to COLLECT, CONNECT and enjoy SHARED experiences.  If you have ever seen a video game developer conference - hundreds of people in darkened spaces seemingly working alone, heads down, focused on the task at hand - you might think this makes no sense. Until you see them all get up, stretch, head outside to the saunas, peeling off clothes as they go, rolling in the snow, and having beers together and talking about their awesome creations of the day does it begin to make sense as to why they want to be alone together to create.

Flashmobs are another great example of bringing people together in an unexpected way. If you asked most people if they would get up and dance in the middle of the day, in full daylight, in public, they would say "unlikely". But if you get these same people involved in creating the human bonding experience that is a flashmob, where a shared rhythm is found and a connection to the people and place, so in the present is made, they are up for it - and to see these is always a little bit magical.  (we LOVE planning these)

The power of being together, of collecting for idea sharing, for conversation, for the human touch that can only be found live, this is the power of the collective. As meeting professionals we can never forget why we do this, and how much joy we can share.

(R)evolution of Mobile

Time for discussion -
EventCamp Vancouver

In January Hyper-Connectivity and the reality that we are all on, all connected, all the time was a point of discussion, and how we can possibly keep up this pace remains at issue. How we are now seeing approximately 63,000 words every day, and a plethora of images and infographics, all competing for our attention, all taking us away from old - fashioned human face-to-face interactive conversations is a new reality, but is it better? 

I have made so many friends on social media that I have now met IRL that I cannot disparage the power of social media for connections, but I can definitely say I prefer the time spent live with friends, colleagues, peers, and family.

Last week I wrote about the collision of social and mobile - "SMobile" as Claire Smith referred to it, and the challenges and opportunities that will come from the global shift (yes, global) to "we want it now and we want it on an app" that we are seeing all around us.  

Yet at the same time, Thom Singer this week looks at the reality that adding an app or even an app with a gamification component does not a conference community make - which I agree with, although I have seen it be successful, I have also seen it be a non-starter.  Both TED and SXSW - the two largest proponents of technology on many levels, have boldly said at their 2013 events "please, put down your devices".  The two links will take you to TED's 13 rules for attendees, designed to increase human, live, intuitive interaction, and then at SXSW how the festival is using human tools to draw people away from their devices and back to f2f collaborations.  I agree with all of these, there is a time to engage via mobile (it is a great way to find friends especially at large events) and a time to put it away and enjoy the people.

What are you going to do at your next event to increase the human engagement factor? The kinds of interaction that leads to collaboration, friendship, and real opportunities. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this ongoing (r)evolution.

http://canadianspecialevents.com/cseme_toronto/readers-choice-finalists-vote-now/

Blah, blah, blah - Making presentations relevant

My tween-age daughter plays soccer, very seriously, and has played since she was in kindergarten. They have excellent coaches, parents who also take the game seriously, while making sure the girls enjoy the sport and the experience. Occasionally, the coaches will get a little overzealous in their descriptions of play, or how the team played and can get a bit long - winded in their motivational turf-side talks. Or as Julia described it when she was ten "Mom, we're just kids, don't they know after the first few minutes all we hear is blah, blah, blah?"

 

Don't you find yourself thinking the same thing in a meeting where Mr/Ms Agenda goes on and on about their topic that you might not find as fascinating as they do? How about when you attend a conference and find yourself in a session where you are being talked at for an hour? How much of this do you actually retain? Not only retain, but find a way to apply what is hopefully new knowledge or an interesting perspective to apply to your own situation?  

 

Imagine if... you are given some information, then given an exercise to help you process and apply that information. This might be some time where you work solo on a small exercise, or where you break into groups and discuss and share ideas about what has been presented bringing your own input and application. According to tested learning theory, we know that we retain 20% of what we hear, 40% of what we hear and see (making powerpoint / prezi / keynote potentially useful when used 'correctly') and 80% of what we see, hear and do something with. Let's face it, 100% of knowledge retention is not even that practical unless you are studying for a rote exam in university, but being able to extrapolate the bits of information relevant to you from a conference is highly valuable and can lead you on the way to new solutions or innovations that support your needs. There are so many ways to encourage your speakers in facilitating conversation, sparking ideas and leaving participants thoughtful, and inspired.

I am very excited to attend PCMA in Orlando in January, and honoured that in addition to the session I will present with Andrea Sullivan, to be part of their pay it forward program including facilitating the session on Peer2Peer Learning that was brainstormed by the PCMA Education Committee, and to see, hear and share what learning formats are working for people, and being able to integrate some of these into our client's meetings. I am excited to see friends and colleagues and to know that January offers some awesome knowledge sharing!

Eventprofs friends... let me know if I will see you there!

Wrestling Alligators

It turns out that wrestling alligators is a "hot new sport" where primarily men take on reptiles, avoiding masses of perils along the way. There are even schools popping up that facilitate training for man vs. beast.

The key pieces of advice from my research into the feasability of wrestling alligators include:

• "Know your limits"
• "Avoid the areas of danger" (that includes the jaw area primarily)
• "Understand their strength (they are about 50% muscle)
• "Feel when they are ready to strike"

It seems to me the same advice could be applied to meeting and event planning. This research began you see, when I was assessing what I am good at in my job, and what came to mind is that I am exceptional at wrestling alligators.

The bigger the beast of an event, the pointier the teeth, the more challenging the battle ahead, I can't wait to tackle it down, building grids and schedules, meeting and listening and sharing ideas and tracking unending streams of correspondence... approaching committee members, retreating from each area of the beast to gain perspective, trust and ultimately win.

Winning being defined by the culmination of all the goals and objectives being met as a spectacular event - one night or five days, conference, with or without exhibition, multi-day, mind-blowing incentive, it makes no difference really what it is when you win. The euphoria that follows the 300 hours of planning, sometimes within a 25 day period, is what keeps us doing this.

Keeping the above advice in mind:

1. Know your limits - and build the right team to support the event.  Make time for rest, take time for exercise (remember the alligator is 50% muscle) and eat food that provides the nutrition you need. Even if it is only a snack every four hours, make it all count.
2. Avoid the areas of danger - know who your stakeholders are and understand their agendas. Keep the end guest experience in mind at all times, so if you have to make a stand, it is for the "right" reasons.
3. Understand their strength - unlike alligators, events take a team when you want to win. Know who is good at what; who you can count on for the details to be taken care of, and who you need to move into a more suitable role. Make the most of your own strengths and all of theirs.
4. Feel when they are ready to strike - be open to the great ideas; and watch out for those whose (hidden) agendas you are not paying enough attention to.  Be prepared to go into the jaws to avoid getting taken down by the tail!

What can I say - bring on the alligators!

end note:

Dear family, I will see you in a few weeks, there is a beast that must be conquered

Steampunk marionettes, figure skaters and an Olympic Cauldron - "Fire and Ice"

Creative Learning Disrupted

We want to work with you because we want our meeting (event) to be DIFFERENT. 

We want to push boundaries and make it memorable. What happens next though? The Committee. The Committee who is responsible to the stakeholders.  These are the people who will disrupt the learning (critical sharing of knowledge). Not because they mean to, or want to, but out of habit. The habit of meeting expectations by going to the known boundaries and not beyond.

How does this translate to your meeting?  What starts out as a general session featuring an interesting welcome, inspiring presenter(s) followed by 'white space' that allows time to move between sessions and have hallway conversations is disrupted by jamming everyone who is thought to need to be seen or heard (sponsors, executives, others) until you have now over-filled the original time slot.

Then it is time to move from general sessions to breakouts or similar smaller sessions, which hold nothing but potential from a content and learning perspective.  Then, learning disruption comes again as the over-packed general session runs over, the sessions are far enough away that many participants barely have time to get a coffee, let alone connect with any other guests, and it is into the session rooms they go. Rooms sometimes set up to enhance sharing and learning, often set in theatre, rows and rows facing front. 

These sessions can be interactive  and engaging workshops where you learn something, share in and maybe share your own knowledge and identify its relevance to you.  Perhaps the planning group has even built in space and time to absorb the learning before moving on to either more learning, social activities or even (gasp) reflection time.  These can be a highlight, that is when creativity, relevance and innovations can truly begin to spring, given some nurturing. 

 

Start with learning objectives and an interesting format, add in good leaders and you have nothing but opportunity to create repeat attendees.  Creative learning in free flow.

Without even continuing this discussion into social events - offering more opportunities to inspire discussion, or spiral into a morass of speeches, presentations and loud music, consider how we are working with our clients to bring out the most potential in their meeting and avoid the disruptions. How are you guiding your clients to maximizing potential?

Imagine if...

My family at The Canadian Mint Pavilion
carefully touching our Canadian Medals (2010)

I am a huge fan of the Olympic Games for many reasons. I have had the opportunity to work in Beijing and Vancouver (and while having a small envy for my friends in London, I also know how much you have to be able to put into it), on the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and have made many friends and been impressed by so many things. As an Event Producer it is a long road as you prepare for and bring to life the vision for an Olympic Games - but we do this for the challenges! Ultimately it is about the spirit, the drive, and the global community!

Imagine if...

All wars between countries were fought on a sports field; where you lose proudly to a friend knowing you always gave it your best effort.

People from around the world, speaking dozens of languages, sat beside each other in office "cubes" all working towards the same common goal.  (hint: they do!)

An entire city / region / country embraces a positive spirit, and from morning until night people greet each other warmly, watching their countries compete on screens available everywhere.

The cultures of a region are brought together and celebrated through a continuum of music, dance, many mediums of art, cinema and film, in ways we have not seen or even necessarily contemplated before.

The pride in your country is celebrated through sport and culture. (the alternative of how we consider winning through wars is incredibly depressing)

We all faced every day like the athletes. They all have abilities and then combine it with the highest level of mental drive, physical ability, hours of practice, an ability to be coachable, and pure spirit. There is an amazing range of physicality through the Olympics and Paralympics and it truly showcases the very best we can be across this amazing range of sports.

The entire world watched as you celebrated your country! Everyone will have an opinion on the Opening Ceremonies, and I personally admire the focus on the history that was celebrated of a country that has had an amazing impact on most of the developed world.

The opportunity was for anyone to win. All of us have good days and better days and days we wish for a do-over. Whether you are the first woman to run from Saudi Arabia or a woman from Ethiopa who wins, the world truly is yours to celebrate with. My favorite personal memory from Beijing will always remain seeing the 800m of the Women's Heptathalon. At the end of that race, they knew who had won gold, silver and bronze in that event. EVERY SINGLE WOMAN in that event went together and ran a victory lap. That is the power of people who know that as much as we compete, being part of something bigger is what really matters.

Imagine if we approached every single event imagining that it will have an impact on every single person who touches the event. Imagine if we truly understood the power of what we create on a daily basis.

Imagine the possibilities.

Enough with the "Un"

Mary Boone skypes in to
Event Camp Vancouver

What's up with the "Un"?

The "UnConference" "UnMarketing" (yes, I read it) "UnSession" as just a start are now the ubiquitous NEW way of looking at things. But I don't really get it. It is still marketing, a conference or a session, so why do we accept it as being better? Why are we using the "Un"?  The meaning, according to dictionary.com

un-

¹  

a prefix meaning “not,” freely used as an English formative, giving negative or opposite force in adjectives and their derivative adverbs and nouns ( unfair; unfairly; unfairness; unfelt; unseen; unfitting; unformed; unheard-of; un-get-at-able ), and less freely used in certain other nouns (unrest; unemployment).

 

Is it that we are NOT marketing, holding a conference or presenting at a session? Obviously that is not the case - a recent "un-session" was presented at #caem12 (here shared by Dennis Shiao) which was certainly within the context of a traditional conference full of general sessions, concurrent sessions, roundtables, panels, reception including time to meet sponsors / exhibitors and even a pre-event golf tournament. So why the "un"session - was there not a presentation? What was so different about this session that it earned the "un"?  

 

Do we do this as writers or organizers to set our own mind-frame before we start that we need to look at things differently? If that is the reason, then the "un" is more embraceable. 

 

If we recognize that doing it the same old way isn't working; if we think there needs to be an un-way of doing things, then isn't it time to truly consider how attendees are feeling when they attend an event and turn the "un" into the new way of creating events?  

 

Resource: Creating an Emotional Arc within your conference experience from June 26th is here by Jeff Hurt

 

Engagement - I don't think this means what you think it means!

"Room for Thought" at EventCamp Vancouver

It seems the more we talk about engagement at meetings and events, the greater the sense I have that it is like the "inconceivable" moments in The Princess Bride - does creating engagement mean what we think it means?

Are we treating our participants like active members of the process or are we still treating them as a passive audience? Are we truly creating environments that promote discussion and inspire conversation AND allowing adequate time for these conversations to happen?

There are some great examples of this happening - TedActive, EventCamps, #lessconf are some recent examples we have seen, but there still seems to be a fear that having unprogrammed time could lead to.... open space. As meeting professionals we struggle to balance all the zeal of the program committee with the actual time available, and our own fear of open space. What if people run out of things to talk about? Have you ever really seen this happen?  When I teach Event Planning at BCIT - an entry level course geared to people who have limited experience, the way I define a conference at its most basic is "bringing together people with an interest in a topic or area of interest". Yes, this is simplistic but it is easy to undestand.  

My opinion (and feel free to comment with yours) is that if we bring together people who have an interest in a similar topic and give them time to talk to each other - we will see engaged, participating attendees that leave inspired by the discussions they have had. These are the discussions among peers that will lead to innovation and collaboration and we must open ourselves up to having smart attendees that want to ENGAGE in a space we have created with their needs in mind.