Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Active Network’s MarketView 3.0 Helps Venues Cope with eRFP Volume

laptop infoTechnology can be both the bright spot and the bane of event-industry planners and suppliers.  One woman’s efficiency tool can be another woman’s nightmare scenario. Such is the conversation around using electronic RFPs. Planners love the efficiency of the tools, but some hotels struggle with the volume of inquiries. Active Network Business Solutions aims to correct that imbalance with the unveiling of Active MarketView 3.0.

Active MarketView is the supplier portal into the company’s solution set. The redesign enhances suppliers’ abilities to manage and respond to eRFPS, as well as update information about their specific properties. The last major upgrade of the platform, a holdover from Active’s acquisition of Starcite, was three years ago. The new release offers sellers a number of enhancements:

•    Intuitive, contemporary user interface with visually friendly summary of the request for proposal
•    Callout of the planner’s special instructions for quicker qualification and response from the seller
•    Responses consolidated on one page (vs. seven pages in the previous version)
•    Response tool linked to room specifications (data is pulled directly into the response)
•    Memory of planner’s previous inquiries (system pre-populates response with the known preferences of specific planners)

The end result—an average time savings of 60 to 70% for sellers—goes a long way toward mitigating the problems sellers experience from the barrage of electronic requests. “Sellers can allocate less resources and respond more quickly,” says Rick Binford, vice president, strategic marketplace development, at Active Network Business Solutions.

Active’s work on the volume issue will continue with next release of MarketView, scheduled for Q2 of 2014, Binford explains. “We want to enable the system to be intelligent based on the past behavior of the buyer. We will begin to provide more information to the seller around who the buyer is and how they behave in an online channel.”

Read the full media release here.

What Will We Call Face-to-Face Meetings Next?

Third-party, face-to-face meetings must start looking forward.The third-party, face-to-face meetings industry has, by design, placed itself in a silo. For whatever reason—lethargy, existing infrastructure or the lack of a compelling impetus for change—it has developed a superiority complex.

Meanwhile, another environment has emerged, courtesy of the Internet, where individuals can learn, network, establish relationships, buy and sell using digital platforms.

Whether or not digital environments compete with or complement the live-event platform is a matter of perspective as, increasingly, the lines are becoming blurred.

The indisputable fact is that the universe of companies and individuals who will connect and/or transact business online is much larger than those who will ever do so in person at a live event.

Remaining cloistered behind a singular ideology, business model or delivery system disregards the enormous potential customer base that is currently thriving in cyberspace. It leaves business on the table, hinders the evolution of the meetings industry and provides a disservice to existing customers.

There is a way forward:

Invest in a strategy, not a technology. The strategy for our time is to embrace the fact that the two dimensions—physical and digital—in which to learn, network and transact business are no longer mutually exclusive. The closer the live-events industry gets to being agnostic about where the products and services are delivered, the more quickly we can take advantage of the vast potential that exists from an expanded customer base.

Adopt new metrics. To continue using one-dimensional metrics—net square feet, number of exhibitors and/or number of attendees—to characterize and measure the growth of the meetings industry ignores the new multidimensional reality and underestimates the potential of the digital audience. New metrics, such as impressions, number of virtual attendees or the size of social networks can vastly improve the value, perception and opportunity of live events.

Flock to the bridges. The platforms, technologies and thought leaders espousing the existence and providing access to a much larger universe of customers are already here: content aggregation platforms, virtual conferences, online learning platforms, social networks and mobile applications. But, narrow thinking; an aversion to change and a lack of knowledge about what’s possible limits their potential.

Delivering information, networking opportunities, sales leads and services inside physical buildings is the chosen differentiator of the face-to-face meetings industry, but not its unique value proposition.

If this industry elects to iterate, it must change how it sees itself. We have to acknowledge that we are and should be a different industry now—one that takes advantage of the new facilities we have at our disposal and an expanded vision of what we could be.

We have to move away from the face-to-face only products and services business model if we are to be perceived as something more than a delivery system.

The industry needs a new name—one that illustrates its true point of differentiation—the profound understanding and intimate knowledge of specific business verticals and an ability to deliver education, networking, sales, services and community ubiquitously and agnostically within those verticals.

What do you think the new name should be?

The Next Logical Phase of Event Hybridization and Why It Will Be a Game Changer

hybrid eventsThe merging of live events with digital content and remote attendees was bound to happen. When the Internet poked her head through the ceiling of the convention center, the industry expected something interesting to follow. The divide between face-to-face and virtual experiences has already been narrowed by hybrid events, but the convergence won’t stop there.

There is another side to opening up the Pandora’s box of digital and pouring the contents out onto the trade show and conference room floors.

 

Phase-one hybrids
Hybrid event producers and platform providers have done a fabulous job of providing remote attendees with access to the live event environment. Live presentations are streamed out, while virtual “visitors” chat, tweet and Skype their thoughts and images back into the physical event. Everyone is happy; the “outsiders” are rewarded with great content and some engagement and the “insiders” reap the benefits of increased visibility and net-new live attendees.

But, what happens when live attendees are given access to the digital environment, all of it, even exhibitors, presenters, and content that isn’t physically there?

When we can harness the universe
Imagine a time in the future when a face-to-face event attendee will be able to visit a physical trade show, come upon an interesting booth, engage the exhibitor in conversation and collect product information, BUT instead of moving on, he will linger in the aisle to learn about all of the other companies that offer similar products and services—even the ones that aren’t at the show.

Also in the future, a live conference attendee will be able to sit in a presentation, hear something compelling, life-changing, even transformative and afterward learn about other presentations, companies, ideas, books, white papers, movies and Ted Talks related to the session topic—even those not featured at the conference.

This blending of live and digital is a game changer. Where before, the remote attendees extracted value from the live environment (and craved to experience it), in this new scenario—the next logical phase of event hybridization—live attendees will be able to obtain value from the virtual environment (and they will crave the live experience even more). Going forward, the blending of the real and digital worlds will come full circle.

Mobile will bring it all together
We have all of the tools now to make the convergence happen. Using mobile devices and specially designed applications, live event attendees can scan barcodes, QR codes and augmented reality symbols or tap NFC-enabled phones on posters, columns and signs to access new content, be “transported” into another realm or simply direct the information they desire to a central database for later review.

I haven’t even mentioned Google Goggles.

Before the riot starts
What live event organizer in their right minds would agree to flinging open the digital doors and exposing their existing customers to the competition of companies that aren’t even there? What exhibitor or sponsor would pay to exhibit in or sponsor a live event that supports their competitors? ALL OF THEM. Here’s why:

  • Some time soon, fewer attendees will use live events to initiate buying decisions or learn new information because the events won’t be representative of all of the products, topics and solutions that exist. They will only come if and when they are ready to buy, choosing instead to collect digital information to narrow down the field.
  • Blended (phase-two hybrid) events will be more compelling than stand-alone events. Live attendees will have (and want) the best of both worlds to experience and reach their goals.
  • Exhibitors and sponsors that participate in the live event are automatically privileged over companies that only participate digitally.
  • Organizers are paying much more attention to the attendee experience. What could be more fulfilling for conference-goers than to be able to compare, contrast and continue the learning from a single location?
  • Additional content (from digital participants) represents potential revenue streams for the organizers and introduces a type of tiered participation scheme.
  • Nothing replaces the face-to-face event (so it’s been said a million times) and if the convergence is inevitable, live events will be the only environment where live and digital can exist together.
  • A certain percentage of the companies that participate digitally at first may one day exhibit in and sponsor the live event. It is a brilliant onboarding strategy.

The takeaway:
As the next phase of hybridization emerges, event organizers will have to rethink the value proposition of stand-alone events. They will have to become curators as well as planners and use technology to make sense of the digital landscape as an extension the physical floor plan. More than anything, they will have to understand that hybridization will eventually become a two-way street—remote attendees looking in and live attendees looking out—and it will change the live event game for good.

How One Meetings Organization Interpreted Digital Disruption

betaThe time we live in can only be described as bordering on the unfathomable: infants use iPads, celebrities show up at music festivals post mortem and human beings serve as wireless hotspots. We have gone from analog to digital overnight. The change is even reflected in our workplace terminology. We connect (meet), download (inform our colleagues about a project) and kvetch about bandwidth (time required to accomplish tasks). How can any industry keep up?

I left last week’s PCMA Convening Leaders conference in Orlando thinking about a number of statements, but one in particular has stayed with me. Thomas Friedman’s keynote, which alternatively addressed the failures and mandates we have as a country to avoid becoming a mid-day snack for China, mentioned the mantra of Silicon Valley start-ups, “Always be in beta.” It seemed to be the perfect solution for an industry of analogs trying to cope with digital disruption.

Even as the gauntlet of digital disruption—social media, mobile, virtual events, new content channels—was thrown down, PCMA looked it square in the eye and said, “Bring it on.” They attempted to scratch the surface of the issues surrounding digital technologies and meetings in a panel discussion, which I moderated, including industry luminaries from both sides of the aisle. We succeeded in laying out the issues and even discussing the “elephant in the room”: live events are not immune to the disruption.

In fact, PCMA not only exposed the obvious, they embraced it with their continued collaboration with the Virtual Edge Institute and their support of BOBtv. Virtual Edge education is now seamlessly blended into the Convening Leaders programming including an opportunity to sit for the Digital Event Strategist certification exam. An undercurrent of anticipation of the rollout this year of BOBtv was ever present during the meeting. The live streaming of the keynotes and several popular sessions from the conference was another hat tip to digital.

PCMA took mobile a step further this year by deploying a game on the existing mobile platform provided by Active Network. Participants were encouraged to complete evaluations, scan QR codes, add sessions to their agendas and perform other tasks in order to earn points and a coveted position at the top of the leaderboard. Then in typical PCMA style, staffers invited participants to a discussion of what went well, what could be done better and how the game layer performed overall.

The signs of social media were alive and well this year again. PCMA sponsored an official Tweetup. The mobile platform offered plenty of opportunities to tweet, post and upload content—and according to PCMA staff, they did. The three year-old Learning Lounge introduced attendees to a new platform called Tout (scheduled to be a part of the event next year), which developers describe as “Twitter for video.” Tout allows users to create 15-second video updates and add them directly to their Twitter and Facebook streams while enabling other users to reply with their own videos.

More than any specific program feature or technological innovation, it was PCMA’s attitude toward digital disruption that was so obvious at the event. They must have trepidation about keeping pace with technology and the future of meetings—their members surely do—but they didn’t let that paranoia stop them. If the level of experimentation at the meeting (lunch four different ways and the trade show reimagined) was any indication, PCMA is always in beta, trying new form factors and delivery systems. It almost seemed as if, despite some of the glitches that come with the territory, they embrace digital and disruption in general as a matter of policy. What a difference (non) denial makes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EIBTM’s Technology Watch Award Winners One Year Later

EIBTM Tech Watch winners one year laterAs EIBTM, the Global Meetings & Events Exhibition, celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary two weeks ago in Barcelona, it honored the winners—an overall winner and several finalists—of the EIBTM Technology Watch Competition. As a judge for the past two years, I have been a fly on the wall during the judging, listening in and commenting on the “new and innovative technology solutions that can make a significant difference to the industry.” I thought I might take a peek at the 2011 winners to see whether the companies survived and how their solutions have evolved in a highly competitive and fast-moving environment.

ITN International continues to ride the NFC wave

The top honor in 2011 was awarded to ITN International for its Citywide Credentialing System utilizing NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. The system allowed users in Amsterdam to use their badges from the trade show to access mass transit and area tourist attractions throughout the city. The badge also enabled attendee tracking, access control and exhibitor lead retrieval.

In 2012, ITN is on the cusp of a transformation in the events industry with the arrival of NFC-enabled Smartphones to the U.S. and ITN’s development of an NFC ecosystem around the event. In the past year, ITN has launched three new products:

  • BCARD Reader Browser—a “universal” Android browser that supports lead capture with any Web-based lead management system at any event.
  • NFC Paper—the event industry’s first paper NFC attendee badge.
  • MobileAccess—an access control app that lets attendees change the sessions they have registered for “on the fly.”

Active Network powers forward in the event management space 

Active Network was a finalist in 2011 for its ActiveEvents Insight platform, a suite of mobile applications that provides event organizers with a real-time “bird’s eye view” of the event including registration data, leads, social networking, exhibitors, sessions schedules, mobile app usage, room block activity, financial statements, speaker resources and event content on a tablet or Smartphone.

In 2012, Active Network continued its focus on event management solutions with a major acquisition and some key product launches. Early in the year, the firm announced the purchase of StarCite, a Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) and event registration platform. The company launched a mobile suite complete with personal event scheduling, local-attraction search, surveys, attendee-to-attendee messaging, gamification and QR-code contact exchange. It also rolled out ACTIVE Event’s Conference solution covering the corporate event lifecycle including logistics, engagement, metrics and business intelligence.

GenieMobile moves from DIY to Data

GenieMobile was recognized as one of four finalists in 2011 for its high-quality, easy-to-use, “do-it-yourself” (DIY) mobile app development tool delivering native apps for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, WindowsPhone and content to the Mobile Web. The DIY model enabled event organizers to obtain an app at a lower price point than similar offerings while maintaining control of the app content through a built-in content management system.

In the past 24 months, however, GenieMobile has changed its value proposition. Rather than focus on the DIY usability, the company has concentrated its efforts on “world-beating analytics,” says Michael Douglas, marketing director. In the current iteration of the GenieMobile platform, Douglas explains, “everything can be queried, analyzed and reported on—not just the usage stats, but all the event data. This brings to life the ‘LinkedIn for events’ analogy where you are learning everything about your audience, not through questionnaires, but through their natural behavior.”

Triqle Event Intelligence morphs into How Can I Be Social (HCIBS)

Triqle Event Intelligence was a finalist last year for its “What’s On?” application that displays the current and “next up” educational sessions on large monitors throughout an event. While the application is still alive and well, Triqle’s founder, Gerrit Heijkoop, launched a new venture in 2012 with partner Donald Roos called HCIBS (How Can I Be Social) to bring “What’s On?” and social media to the trade show floor. The objective of the new company is “to bridge the gap between the offline activity on the show floor and the online buzz on Twitter and other social media,” Heijkoop says. His social media “team” roams the floor reporting on event activities (via social media) and answering questions on social media while the “What’s On?” app displays program information and a Twitter feed.

Wifarer refines its ability to monetize digital space

Wifarer, an indoor positioning system, intrigued the judging committee in 2011 with technology to pinpoint a smartphone’s location to an accuracy of 1.3 meters within a venue. The system provides very precise wayfinding for attendees though a meeting venue or exhibit hall, while providing location-aware content delivery and aggregated attendee movement analytics. In 2012, the company “expanded its solution to the following verticals: shopping centers, museums, airports, hospitals, and universities. [Wifarer] continues to provide indoor “GPS” and high accuracy, location-based content to users on their smartphones and we now provide venues with the ability to completely control the content and monetization of their digital space.” says Lise Murphy, vice-president marketing.

The Takeaway: It’s a scramble to stay ahead of the technology curve even in an industry (meetings) that tends to be slightly behind the curve at times. EIBTM’s Technology Watch appears to be doing a good job targeting the companies and technologies that will move the face-to-face business forward and have some degree of “staying” power.

 

 

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