Comments on: How to Increase Social Media (and Technology) Adoption at Events

By: 43 Social Media Tips, Tricks, Big Ideas & Real World Examples for Meetings & Events « Interactive Meeting Technology

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:31:51 +0000

[…] 25. How To Increase Social Media (and technology) Adoption […]

By: samueljsmith

samueljsmith — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:03:33 +0000

Hi Greg!

Thanks for your comment. I appreciate you sharing some examples from recent events. I think most people are still experimenting and trying to figure out the best road to success. Also, thanks for your idea of posting some tips into the show guide.

I saw the PCMA attendee packet on PCMATV (as I could not be there). I could imagine a slim jim brochure with some hot tips for first timers included in that packet.

Great Ideas and Feedback! Thanks for sharing!

By: Greg Ruby

Greg Ruby — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:54:18 +0000

Interesting blog post. After attending IAEE’s Expo! Expo! and PCMA’s Annual Meeting, the differences were startling and shows a need to show the masses about Social Media.

IAEE poorly promoted its Social Community networking site – I only learned of it a week before the event. In addition, the twitter fountains located around the show only showed tweets from IAEE’s headquarters account.

PCMA did a great thing in having the introductory webcast a few days before the event. I’m sure it helped.

I like Midori’s idea of having a tutorial being displayed continuously at the show site. I would suggest having this prepared in advance and emailed to attendees, as well as posting on the event’s website.

Lastly, maybe just a page or two on the basics in the paper show guide so the newbies have a hard reference point to get started.

Greg – @GregRuby

By: samueljsmith

samueljsmith — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:46:49 +0000

@KevinRichardson – I like the idea of having a pre-event webinar. That is a great idea! Also, we can never be reminded enough that we need good infrastructure (power stations, wifi access and tables for laptops) in place to support these tools. Great additions! Thanks for your contribution!

By: Kevin Richardson

Kevin Richardson — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:35:50 +0000

It should go without saying, but I’ve been to too many events recently where it needed to be addressed. Provide enough power stations and WiFi to allow users to make the most of the technology.

PCMA also offered a great webinar for attendees a few days prior to the event to help explain/demystify the different technology/collaboration tools available.

Take the time to educate and ask for feedback on how useful each tool is to your attendees. Don’t just offer a tool because everyone else is. Relevance is everything.

By: samueljsmith

samueljsmith — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:15:38 +0000

@Traci – You are not alone! Feel free to ask me questions at any time. If you participate in the #eventprofs group on Twitter – they will be happy to integrate you into the community.

Your idea is awesome! I think it would be very easy to setup a rotating slide deck with tips, tricks and instructions for using different tools, etc. between sessions. It could be kind of like the rotating ads at the movie theatre before the trailers start. Brilliant!

@Jesse – I like the idea of incorporating social media & the conference badge. The conference badge is a ripe place for innovation – in my opinion. I think you can do a lot to integrate your twitter account name, twitter (or social networking) photo, etc. on the badge.

What kind of other tips or ideas were you thinking about? I may have something (or know where to find something) that is useful to you.

Thanks again for your comment.

By: Jesse Koskinen

Jesse Koskinen — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:47:59 +0000

Great post Sam.

I have been trying out social media tools in conferences and seen that it is tough to get people to use and see the benefit of using social tools. Even in audience which is relatively young.

I have noticed, what you mentioned also, that it might be good to try to make tools as open for participants as possible. Concrete example: having spots where there are open access computers for people to try tweeting out trough specifically made general conference Twitter account. This way they can try it out without making their own account.

It might be also useful to put in the conference badges the twitter names for those who have them, so technology would be more visible.

Do you guys have more these kind of small tips and ideas for simple tech tools?

By: Traci Browne

Traci Browne — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:43:36 +0000

Thank you Samuel! I felt like a was completely alone. I plan and work many conferences where almost no one uses SM. All your ideas are excellent and no excuses for not implementing them all. I was going to say especially, but I love them all especially, but anyway, how simple would it be to have instructions for different technologies looping prior to a presentation. Many people arrive at the room early…a perfect use of that blank time.

By: samueljsmith

samueljsmith — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:41:51 +0000

@Brandon – Thanks for the compliment! I agree that technology – on its own is not the answer. We need to consider the processes that we use for interaction and collaboration, too. Thanks for sharing that link on Panel Discussions 2.0! I saw several great ideas for redesigning panel discussions and collaboration.

@jeffkorhan – Thanks for your comment. You are right – the help desk does become a networking area for attendees (tech and non-tech)! Especially if it is in an informal type of space as Midori mentioned. By designing the space to be a more “genius bar” and “less help desk” it can become a fun networking space, too.

@DaveLutz – Thanks Dave! Vegetarians – LOL!

You are spot on about “too many tools.” In my opinion that comes from not understanding the audience’s social technology preferences, when/how they will use the tools and the WIIFM.

Great point about the website! The website-as-a-social hub strategy can be a great way to mix the social communication & collaboration tools with the event content.

@Midori – Thanks Midori! I like the “Twitter in Twenty” idea. I can definitely see that working well in an informal space.

By: Midori Connolly

Midori Connolly — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:12:16 +0000

Sam, I really dig the “Genius Bar.”
One idea I had was to provide my “Twitter in Twenty” presentation. The concept is to repeat the short presentation at several intervals throughout the day; perhaps in a public lobby area, near a computer lab, Internet Cafe or other informal venue where listeners could watch a demo much like at a stand in a fair…watch me slice and dice and help you, too, become a Twitter Whiz! Then there would be “geniuses” available after the demo for some more in-depth, hands-on instruction for those folks wanting some specific guidance.

Dave I wholeheartedly agree with your community management comment, brilliant!

Finally, are you ready for my favorite, tired old statement? Uh huh, you knew it was coming…Technology is just a toy until it serves a human need. Or, for the purposes of this post, maybe it’s just a big piece of meat

Best,
Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl
Pulse Staging and Events, Inc.
http://www.twitter.com/GreenA_V