Archive for January, 2011
Monday, January 31st, 2011
My heart is very heavy. Yesterday, we lost a light. Her name was Maureen Posavad.
You’ve probably never heard of her. She has been working away for many years in the Accounting offices of Regal Tent Productions in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada. She wasn’t an industry figurehead, she didn’t appear in the pages of industry publications and she certainly didn’t stand up in front of a crowd to deliver education at one of our conferences. Yet, she impacted my life more than any who did.
Maureen was the funniest, kindest, snarkiest woman I’ve ever met. She was a fighter. She battled lung cancer, brain tumors and MS. She fought harder in her life than every other woman I know combined. She earned the right to be funny and snarky.
She ate ‘cup of soup’ every single day at lunch. She finished with a bag of Cheetos. She ate plain hot dogs for dinner. She sipped a few glasses of white wine every night. She smoked when she knew she shouldn’t. She lived life on her terms.
Yesterday she lost her battle. But not without a fight. I will miss her terribly.
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For the past few years, Augmented Reality has been gaining a lot of buzz…and for good reason. According to Wikipedia:
Augmented reality (also referred to as AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.
The idea of holding up your smart phone to something you see and your phone providing a rich source of information about the subject seems like something worthy of a sci-fi plot. But we’re seeing great apps doing this right now…and if you use your imagination, the possibilities for Event Planners are seemingly endless.
Take TAT for example. Simply hold up your smart phone to someone and the face-recognition software will provide you with icons linking you to the individual’s social profiles.
Or, there’s Word Lens, an app that will let you hold up your phone to a sign and translate the sign from English to Spanish or vice versa.
Check out Yelp’s lesser known augmented reality function:
We are in the very early days of Augmented Reality. In fact, most apps have yet to work out all of the kinks. But it’s not hard to imagine a day very soon when you can hold up your phone in front of a city street and be told about events and friends nearby. Or use your phone at a conference to scan other attendees, share notes, send information or access contact information. Or attend a trade show and hold up your phone to find the booths you want to see on the floor. And once you find a booth, hold you phone over an item to access purchase details like price, availability, matching items, etc. Sounds exciting, right?
I do believe we’re going to be hearing a lot about Augmented Reality in the coming year.
So, if you could create an AR app, what would it do?
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Social Influence Marketing
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:00PM - 5:30PM, Room 227ABC
I’m very excited about this presentation; it’s the culmination of months of research, interviews and reading on the topic of Social Influence Marketing.
Learn:
- how businesses today are monitoring your social credit score and how your experiences with brands may vary as a result
- the true definitions of influence and social influence marketing
- the downfalls of popular ‘influence’ measurement tools like Klout
- how to identify and assess influencers online
- effective methods to market to, through and with influencers
- how to build value and meaning to ignite a voluntary sales force
- the ethical considerations of social influence marketing
Stories from the Bleeding Edge: REAL Event Companies that are seeing REAL Results from Social Media
Tuesday, January 25,2011 2:00PM - 3:30PM, Room 232ABC
I’ve compiled an incredible panel to share their journey to social media success. In this honest and interactive session, they’ll share their failures, lessons learned and recommendations. Come prepared to ask questions.
Sally is the co-founder of Page.ly which has been dubbed the fastest and easiest way to WordPress website creation by tech industry experts. Page.ly was written up as one of the top 20 companies of 2010 in the industry and has been featured in ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, TheNextWeb, FastCompany, SEOMoz, etc… Some notable clients include GetSatisfaction, SimpleGeo, Viddler, Texas A&M, and various radio station personalities. Before Page.ly, Sally focused on her other company BestPartyEver.com which is a social network/ directory for vendors and their potential clients.
Rick Turner has spent the past 12 years working in various roles within the Hospitality, Culinary and Special Events industries. He is currently the Director of Business Development for Event Source. In addition, he is co-founder and executive producer of Event Expo, a regional showcase of the products, services and ideas related to the special events industry. He has recently taken on a role as Partner in Cleveland’s newest culinary venture, “Emerging Chefs”, producing culinary themed events, social media and marketing efforts for Chefs. Rick is very involved with a number of civic and industry associations including ISES and is currently serving an unprecedented second consecutive two-year term as President of the Cleveland Chapter of HSMAI. Rick is the current PR Chair for SEARCH.
Elizabeth Beskin is a 20-plus year veteran in the event industry. She is now running three businesses, so she uses social media as her main means of advertising for all three. Her core business, Fifth Avenue Digital, is a photography agency providing talented, experienced photographers for corporate and social events. The Album Boutique is an e-commerce site used to create high-end wedding and special occasion photo albums for people who own their images and want an heirloom-quality album to pass on to future generations. The Ultimate Engagement is a new type of bridal show that is much like speed dating, bringing high-end vendors together with pre-screened luxury brides. Elizabeth graduated Harvard Business School this year with an executive MBA.
Lindsay Fultz is the obsessive compulsive Manager of Sales and New Media Marketing at Grosh Backdrops and Drapery, located in Hollywood, CA, Lindsay has successfully transitioned the marketing department from 100% traditional to the world of new media. Her social media campaigns and call to action email marketing style have brought in over $300k in revenue, raised $24k for charity and decreased the marketing budget by $70k .
An incredible opportunity to network
If you haven’t already signed up, there will be a tweetup at The Special Event on January 27, 2011 at 7:00pm. I’ve signed up and hope to see you there!
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A little perspective on a Thursday… (or a Friday for those of you who subscribe to the blog)
by Shervin Pishevar via Quora
(click on image to enlarge)
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Tags: Business Inspiration
Do you want to annoy people to get business? If so, do these things and (in some cases) do them repeatedly:
- Send me emails I didn’t sign up for
- Send me way too many emails when I do sign up
- Send me emails that are of no value to me when I do sign up
- Call me without doing any homework on me, my business or what I may need (hint: I’m on the social web…it’s really easy to find out who I am, what I do and what my needs are)
- Put a pop up all over your site and make it really difficult to close
- Make it overly complicated to find what I’m looking for on your website
- Interrupt me with annoying ad-like messages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc
- Autorespond in any way, shape or form when I do connect with your company
- Buy a Promoted Tweet that clogs up my twitter stream
- Get a whole bunch of people to ‘tweet’ about your products / services when your products / services suck
- Approach me as a blogger like I’m a mainstream media outlet in hopes that I will spread your message (i.e. stop sending me press releases)
- Use marketing jargon in your ads or collateral
- Hand me a business card that’s too big to fit in my rolodex because ‘it stands out’ (yes, yes, rolodexes are going the way of the dinosaur…but take heed until they’re extinct)
- Have a flash site that takes over 15 seconds to load (and if I do have to wait that long…15 seconds is an eternity on the web, it had better be good)
- Use a ‘tricked you!’ email subject line to get me to open your emails
- Tag me in a photo that has nothing to do with me on Facebook in hopes that I’ll find out about your event, product or service
- Use a company logo as your social media avatar and never disclose who’s managing your account
- Litter your website with a whole bunch of flashing images in hopes of attracting my attention
- Hand me an uncreative promotional item that has nothing to do with your business at a tradeshow
- Talk about how amazing you are when you accept an award
- Send me bribes in hopes of winning my business
- Call me after I’ve told you I’m not interested and no I would not like a follow up call
- Stuff your website full of keywords
- Aggregate all of your social media streams so you say 1 thing and it’s replicated on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your blog, etc
- Share a status update about your hygiene practices, your sex life, your alcohol regimen or anything that your body is doing that it shouldn’t be with me, a business connection
- Do anything that could be considered a gimmick
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How to respond to negative feedback online is a hot topic and one that deserves some good dialogue. In fact, just yesterday I weighed in on a discussion on Quora about How to deal with negative reviews and before the holidays, I had a similar discussion on my LinkedIn group.
I’ll be the first person to tell you that I’m very wary about research ‘statistics’, but depending upon the study you read, between 20-30% of Americans post online reviews. And, a vast number of us do online research to influence our buying decisions. And recognize this, the more fluent we become in the social media space and the more powerful we recognize our voices are, the more we will post reviews on the products and services we use. If your business is not currently thinking about to encourage and respond to reviews, you need to start.
Dealing with criticism online is fundamentally the same as dealing with it offline. The key difference is the number of people who may become exposed to this feedback, amplifying the number of people who will be swayed to buy or not buy your products and services. Some things to consider when responding:
- Don’t get angry, defensive or overly contrite – Remove emotion from the equation.
- Acknowledge the feedback, even if you disagree with it – Thank the reviewer for taking the time to provide their feedback. Remember, for all the people who post a negative review, there are far more who never say anything at all.
- Understand their intent – This is critical to understand as it shapes how you respond. Did they write the review to resolve an issue, be heard, provoke a discussion…
- Ensure you understand the full issue – Get the facts. If you need to, ask for more information, details, specifics so you can properly address and resolve their issue.
- Respond accordingly – If you should be apologizing, do it as soon as possible. If you should be expanding or explaining, do so. If the comments are unfounded, explain (in a diplomatic way) why your ‘perspective’ is different.
- Ask for suggestions about how you can resolve the situation – Yes, this is a reoccurring theme throughout my blog. Get people involved and they will have a vested interest in the outcome. Ask them what they would suggest for resolution.
- End with a solution or resolution (a thank you also helps) – Unless it’s flagrant spam, respond and end with an end. What is the ultimate resolution? Will this affect other customers? If so, explain.
Going through this process not only shows other customers that you care about feedback but that you are compelled to use it to improve the experiences for all of your customers.
Also remember that if someone has addressed you online, you need to respond online. However, there may be a point where it is beneficial to take the conversation offline. Examples of this could include that the issue is too complex to address in writing or that you require personal information. I would suggest that if this is done that the resolution be captured online. For example: “Dan, thank you for taking the time to continue this discussion with me offline, where we could better delve into the details of your issue. I’m so happy we were able to resolve your issue by doing X. I appreciate you taking the time to provide your feedback.” The best scenario is that this prompts a delighted response from Dan.
You cannot make every customer delighted with you, no matter how incredible your company is. Sometimes it’s a bad fit, sometimes things just go wrong and sometimes there are other issues at play with your customer. But recognize that no matter the reason for discontent, your ideal customer may be listening.
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1. Blog Recap
I’ve heard many of you say that you love to keep up with the blog, but getting daily emails or visiting the blog every day is just too much. Well you talked and I listened. You can now get monthly updates featuring the 5 best READY2SPARK stories. Click here to sign up for the Monthly Blog Recap.
2. Newsletter
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3. RSS
For those of you who want to get READY2SPARK delivered to your email inbox or your RSS reader (almost) every day, you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
4. LinkedIn
I created this community a few months ago to continue the dialogue on topics I write about on the blog…and there have been some great discussions! Please note that this is a closed group, which means that I approve every member and I monitor posts to ensure there is no spam or blatant off-topic selling. Join the READY2SPARK LinkedIn Group.
I hope you find at least one of these four ways to stay connected helpful. Thank you for sharing your thoughts & opinions. I love that we’ve been able to create a few new ways to stay in touch. If you have any other ideas, please don’t hesitate to connect with me any time!
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