Mobile event apps are almost expected today and will become even more important as face-to-face exhibitions resume. But with so many offering similar features, how do you decide which is the best one? While research shows cost is the biggest determining factor for organizers when selecting an event app, it shouldn’t be the only one. Here’s what you need to consider. 1. Functionality. Establish what you require and then find out if the app provides it. What you need will…
This is the first of three articles exploring changing landscape of technology and the corporate meetings and events industry. The iconic line from the 1960s Bob Dylan song “The times they are a changing” seems to be a common refrain every decade or so, and in the intervening half-century since that song was composed, the times have thoroughly changed. We have seen generations of technology race by. We went from records to cassettes to CDs to iPods to music streaming…
It’s the age of the influencer. Social media marketing has created a strata of social media users that leverage their online followings — some as small as 1,000, with others in the hundreds of millions — to strike deals with brands and organizations to not just promote their products, but to lend them some VIP verve and spark a conversation. It’s the celebrity endorsement evolved, and it’s marketing that’s tailor-made to engage audiences and follow through on brand awareness, the…
I was introduced to live polling in my first year of university during Psychology 101. Sitting in a lecture hall with 300 people, I responded to questions the professor put to the class by answering on a small remote, which immediately registered my response along with everyone else’s on a screen at the front of the hall. Polling was a quick way to engage us, and it encouraged us to pay attention. It’s a two-way street, too: He often used…
By Brent Taylor Let’s talk marketing. It seems today that there is a plethora of marketing materials, opinions and experts advising us on how to best market any product or service we have to offer. Why is that? Why is there so much attention being given to marketing? I recently read Seth Godin’s books, All Marketers are Liars and Purple Cow. I recommend both these books along with Simon Sinek’s Start with Why. I was intrigued by what Godin identifies as…
By Phil Rappoport Could the fun and age-old “selection game” of Rock-Paper-Scissors become “App-Paper-Scissors?” Which one would top the other in a one-on-one duel by meeting professionals and their delegates? Can the app and a pair of scissors turn paper into shreds, or will paper still have a place? Judging by the surge of mobile app usage in the meetings and events industry over the past five years, one would think that apps are clearly in the driver’s seat and…
Americans touch their smart telephones 2600 times per day, as cited in a study by The Economist. According to Group M, Americans spend, on average, almost four hours per day of personal time online, over four hours per day in Britain and almost five hours in Hong Kong. That does not include being online at work! These statistics highlight the seemingly unstoppable growth of social media in our lives. The benefits of this new technology have been extraordinary. Anyone can…
By Yma Sherry A few weeks back, American Express Meetings & Events released the highly anticipated 2018 Global Meetings & Events Forecast. Now in its seventh edition, the Forecast aims to help meeting professionals and executives strategically direct and make effective use of their meeting investment to demonstrate the value of managed corporate meetings programs. Looking ahead to 2018, the meetings and events industry is thriving. We’re seeing steady and increasing investment driven by increased competition for global market share,…
In the face of today’s fast-moving, highly-volatile business world and the ongoing disruptions it brings, many businesses and individuals continue to struggle with the concept of innovation. But according to leading experts (and Merriam Webster’s dictionary), innovation is far simpler than you may suspect: By definition, it’s simply the introduction of something new. But innovating is often far easier said than done: If it were simple, everyone would be doing it, naturally. Surprisingly though, as we’ve found through our ongoing…
By Phil Rappoport Event mobile apps have become a mainstay for conferences and meetings. Participants expect the digital version of the printed program, and with good reason. The event mobile app is the best, most convenient meeting tool that can be continually updated. When an event app is released weeks or even months before an event, it allows delegates to plan and customize their schedule, read speaker profiles, mark specific exhibitors for must-have conversations, and download slides. Changes to the…
