Fork In The Road Blog

Events: Technology. Design. Strategy.

Be in the Room Streamlines Hybrid Event Search and Remote Access

Hybrid events (live events with a virtual audience) are becoming more popular. Tools to live stream content, platforms to handle Q & A, and remote attendees comfortable with Twitter are commonplace. However, bringing all of the virtual channels together into one “room” is still a little clunky. Plus, finding virtual events that weren’t previously on your radar is nearly impossible. A start-up out of Sydney, Australia is working to streamline the search and simplify the access to virtual events.

Be in the Room developers describe the online platform as a directory for digital events. In fact, it does offer event organizers in the social, digital, tech, leadership, entrepreneur, marketing, public relations, design, Web, journalism, and psychology sectors an opportunity to add their events to the list. The directory is searchable by hashtag, name, city, country, or topic. A separate search function allows visitors to search for speakers on the above topics—a great tool for event producers looking to hire speakers in the niche fields that Be in the Room covers.

Be in the Room also serves as a “dashboard” for virtual attendees. The platform pulls the Twitter stream, live feed, and Foursquare check-ins into one window. The “Noticeboard” updates visitors on programming updates, schedule changes, and news alerts. “The Presentations” window lists links to speaker presentations on SlideShare. A “Ticket Sales” tab takes prospective attendees to the EventBrite Ticket Widget for advance ticket sales. Recent updates allow the event organizer to add event details, a logo, and the event schedule.

Feedback from event organizers has been positive, says Lucy McFadden, the brains behind Be in the Room. “There will always be people and topics compelling you to be there. You won’t always be able to. The virtual experience is changing things and opening up a lot more opportunity for event organizers and remote attendees,” she says. “Early adopters are attracted to being able to learn more,” McFadden adds. Some Web aficionados would rather “watch” the Internet than television (I’m one of them) and now they can.

The Takeaway: As the lines between face-to-face and virtual events blur, Be in the Room and others could be the missing links between the online and offline worlds.

Social Media Strategy at IAEE’s Expo! Expo!

The International Association for Exhibitions and Events held their annual meeting, Expo! Expo!, December 7-11, 2009 in Atlanta. Technology and social media were major themes of the conference. Read my overview here.

Associations and non-profits looking to develop social media strategies should consider companies such as Washington, DC-based Social Fish. I caught up with Maddie Grant of Social Fish after one of her presentations at Expo! Expo! I asked her about her session and her company.

Cloud Computing and Crowdsourcing from MTO Summit

The MTO Summit, October 21-22 in San Francisco was the hub for discussions on event industry technology. Much of the discussion focused on social media and social networking applications and integration. Two interesting technology providers, Fantail Consulting and The Social Collective were on hand to offer new perspectives and solutions for social media pains.

Michael J. Hatch, president, Fantail Consulting (formerly with A2Z, Inc.) discusses the cloud computing consultancy services that his new company is offering. This technology holds promise for event organizers looking to provide remote applications and networking capabilities to its community of stakeholders such as attendees, (both face-to-face and virtual), exhibitors, sponsors and others that could overload a conventional Web server. In the above video, Hatch talks about lowering costs and increasing operational efficiency using cloud computing resources.

Clinton Bonner of The Social Collective discusses the capabilities of his company’s crowdsourcing application called Crowd Campaign. All you need is a good contest idea, a few hundred dollars, at least six weeks lead time and 500 or more Twitter followers. Event organizers benefit in three ways–the tweets generate a viral effect (i.e. information about your event is passed along as contest prizes stimulate participation), users contribute valuable content (opinions, case studies, YouTube videos, etc.) in exchange for a chance to win and revenue streams emerge (as sponsors hitch their logos to the Web landing page).

Web 2.0 Tools from MPI’s World Education Conference

I caught up with a couple of the exhibitors at MPI’s World Education Conference in Salt Lake City (July 11-14, 2009).  Zerista is a social networking program based on a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform.  John Kanarowski gives a great tutorial on the capabilities of his and other platforms.

Pamela Wilson from sonicfoundry describes her company’s webcasting and knowledge management software. Listen to what she has to say about blended event solutions.

Jordan Schwartz from Patahable discusses his company’s platform which was used by the World Education Conference. How does his platform differ from LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook?  Have a listen.

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