Last week, I spoke at an ISES Calgary chapter event about Social Media. One of the comments that an audience member made on why he was wary about using this media for his business was, “The moment I post something on my blog or Facebook page, my idea will be copied by my competitors.”

There’s no doubt that ideas are spread and adopted at record speeds. One only needs to look at the popularity of moustaches on a stick (an über popular trend for weddings I simply can’t wrap my mind around) to see this phenomenon in action. It takes but one person to plant an idea and only a few more to share it and ignite a trend that influences thousands.

Rather than see this as a negative, I hope to convince you that this is, in fact, a positive:

1. No idea is without influence. The reality is that your idea was likely inspired by something or someone else.
2. Keep ideas to yourself and risk anonymity. I read a book quite some time ago that I recommend everyone picks up: Step Into the Spotlight (don’t be swayed by the cheesy website). As the author says: “An expert is not someone who knows something. An expert is someone who is known for knowing something.” Keep your idea to yourself and no one will ever know you had it. Simple as that.
3. Elevating the bar is the only way our industry thrives. I think the most compelling question we need to ask ourselves is what would the event industry look like if no one shared? Our industry needs it. We need to share creativity, inspiration, lessons learned, challenges, etc. It’s the way we collectively grow and thrive. It’s this belief that is the foundation of this blog.
4. Don’t let your last event define you. There are two types of event professionals: ones who are measured by what they have done and ones who are measured by what they can do. When you’ve set the bar, you’ve created a new benchmark and benchmarks are meant to be raised. In 1912, Don Lippincott ran 100 metres in 10.6 seconds. He claimed the title of the Fastest Man in the World. Don’s title lasted 9 years before Charlie Paddock stole it after finishing in 10.4 seconds. Based on my calculations, there have been 17 men who have earned the title since…and there will be many more to come. Each man learned from the man before him. But each man defined their own success. Unlike athletes, your talents and abilities aren’t restricted by time.

So, what do you think? Should ideas be shared? Should they be held back?

In case you missed the free Event Marketing 2.0 webinar last week, MeetingsNet has posted the archive here. (Please note that if you were not previously registered, you will need to register before you can launch the webinar.) I encourage anyone interested in using social media for your event marketing to listen.

It was truly a fantastic session. Lots of great questions and my co-presenters: Kate Slonaker of Cvent and Julius Solaris of The Event Manager Blog were fab to work with. You can also view the conversation around the webinar or by track it yourself using the #event2pt0 hashtag.

Enjoy! And, if you have any questions, I welcome you to email me.

PS – For further reading, check out Meetings Blog‘s recap of the webinar.

Are you one of the many event planners who wonders what life was like before you iPad? I can’t tell you how many event planning conferences I go to and observe planners clutching their ipads as they hustle from session to session or use it to voraciously type their notes or communicate with their online friends. I am one of you.

The Event Planning Tools Megalist I posted last month was a big hit. So, I thought I’d share a handful of iPad apps that no event planner should live without. Here goes:

ORGANIZATION

• iDisk – I use MobileMe to easily share files across all of my devices. Yes, you can also do this through iTunes, but with MobileMe, I can access my files from anywhere (even if I don’t have my devices with me). I can also make certain files public for easy file sharing and don’t have to worry about storing large files. Take it to the cloud!
• Dropbox – For those who don’t have MobileMe (iDisk) <- I use this app a lot for large file transfers and have added this based on a number of reader comments :)
• ContactsP – Searching for contacts on your iPad is a bit of a challenge. ContactsP lets you easily search from any field in your contact list. You can also create lists of contacts and send emails to the entire list without having to add contacts one by one. It will also send you push notification when your contact celebrates their birthday or other momentous occasions. Huge time saver.
• Evernote – I use Evernote religiously to store great information I find around the web, create reminders for myself, record voice notes when I’m on the go from my iPhone, clip interesting quotes and data from articles, eBooks, etc. I often jokingly refer to Evernote as my brain. This great iPad app lets you view and add notes. This is a must for busy planners on the go.
• InformantHD – I’ve tried many different Calendar & To Do apps and this one is the most comprehensive in my opinion. It’ also won Best in Show at MacWorld 2011.
• iStorageHD – Lets you organize all of your documents into tabbed files (just like a filing cabinet). It also lets you access those files from anywhere.
• ACTPrinter – Ever wondered why you always end up printing those so-called electronic tickets, boarding passes, …? No more!Wasted a sheet of paper to remember that “will call” pickup number? Stop wasting paper! Maybe you just want to read documents on the go. ACTPrinter is a virtual printer that lets you ‘print’ documents to view later, when you don’t have wifi access.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

• MyPad – The best iPad app for viewing your Facebook accounts.
• Tweetdeck – Manage your twitter accounts from your iPad.
• Gist – Last year I spoke about Gist and raved about its ability to manage your social connections in one place for free! I have since gone to more comprehensive social CRM tools, but this is still a great, free option for many businesses.
• LinkedIn – Manage your LinkedIn profiles from your iPad.
• WordPress – Yes, you can even update your WordPress blog.
• Flipboard – A beautiful way of displaying content shared in your social networks. It looks just like a digital magazine, but your friends are the editors.

CUSTOMER SERVICE & ENGAGEMENT

• SignMyPad – Need to get a client’s sign off on a revision on site? You no longer have to worry about printing out a document & scanning it. SignMyPad lets your client sign a change order, contract or any other document right from your iPad.
• Chimpadeedoo – If you have a MailChimp account, you can use this app to grow your email database. CAN-SPAM regulations state that you can’t use emails from people who have not explicitly opted in to your mass communications. So, with this app you can create a beautiful email opt in page and let people enter their addresses directly at your event.

TALENT

• Aweditorium – Let’s you serendipitously find amazing indy artists. A wonderful time-passer and a great way to happen upon talent you might never have heard of.
• SoundHound – Hear a song and want to do more research on it? SoundHound is a music recognition tool that identifies the song and artist and includes a link to download the music from iTunes.

TRAVEL

• OpenTable – Book a reservation at a hot restaurant right from your iPad.
• AroundMe – If you’re traveling somewhere unfamiliar, this app uses your location to tell you what is around you (i.e. restaurants, gas stations, pharmacies, etc).
• Accuweather – A basic app to give you weather information when you travel.
• Weatherbug – Our business is often at the whim of the weather. This app lets you drill down on some amazing details including live camera shots within 100 miles from your area, “Find Me” lets you bypass entering your information to give you weather details based on your GPS location, you can even see cloud patterns to estimate incoming weather conditions.
• LogMeIn – Have you ever been somewhere and thought, “Oh no! I forgot to download that file!!”. I have and it really sucks. LogMeIn is an app that lets you log in remotely to your desktop computer from anywhere and control it from wherever you are. I’ve used it twice in an emergency. Definitely worthy of the price tag.
• TouchLCD – A great speaking alarm for the iPad.
• TripDeck / TripIt – Two great tools for sharing your travel schedule with your friends, finding out when & where your connections are traveling and storing your travel itinerary, tickets and confirmation numbers.
• Currency (XE) – Lets you do currency exchanges – super helpful when traveling.

READING / WATCHING

• iBooks – I use this app to store all of my eBooks and continued reading PDF documents. It also allows you to populate your books right from the iBookstore.
• TED – I love this app which lets you search from amazing TED talks and watch inspiring videos.
• GoodReader – A superfast PDF reader for your iPad. What I love about this app is that it also allows you to highlight and markup PDFs – want to write yourself notes, come back to a particular section of your document – now you can.
• TunIn Radio – Lets you listen and record radio stations from around the world.
• FLUD – This app aggregates amazing content from sources like Gizmodo, Fast Company and engadget in one visually inspiring interface.

COMMUNICATIONS

• NoteShelf – I’ve tried many note taking apps and I like this one the best because it has a hand guard (when you rest your palm on the screen, it doesn’t mess up your notes), you can write in different colors, highlight, import pictures, zoom in to your writing, and you can export your notes to Evernote or Dropbox! As a side, I highly recommend buying the Griffin Stylus for the iPad (I got mine from BestBuy) – it’s a lot better than using your fingertip.
• Dragon Dictation – A great voice recognition app that lets you dictate and it will convert to type. As with any voice recognition software, it’s not 100% perfect, but can be a great on-the-go solution for taking notes.

PLANNING

• Mark On Call – I love this app for space planning. It lets you create rooms, item checklists and include details like windows, doors, chairs and decor items simply.
• SuperPlanner – I wrote a review on this app a while back. It is an iPhone app, but also works on the iPad.
• My Measures – This tool lets you superimpose measurements directly on pictures (even more useful on the iPhone where you can take pictures).

PRESENTING

• Prompster – A great app for speakers that eliminates cue cards, flash cards & scripts.
• Prezi – An app that lets you control your prezi presentation from you iPad.

READER ADDITIONS

What tools can’t you live without?

Thank you to Carolyn Ray for inspiring this post.

I speak all of the time about the importance of telling stories in business and in events. Stories help to create intangible value, they break down complex ideas and most of what we store in our brains are attached to a story. We’re hardwired to not only tell stories, but to learn from them and retain them.

Event Planners are fantastic at creating a story at the live event…providing experiences that create lasting memories. But the story shouldn’t begin and end face to face.

Storify is a tool that lets event organizers collect tweets, Facebook updates, Flickr photos, Youtube videos, RSS feeds pre- during and post-event to build a lasting narrative around an event. Just take a look at this Storify page for HIMSS (Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society). In one story they included speaker presentations, event photos, attendee comments, behind the scenes videos, etc.

Take a look at this mini-story I pulled together from Event Solutions Idea Factory tweets and video:

Storify Features:

• Pull content from Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, RSS or Google – it even lets you create custom links.
• In addition to pulling content, Storify lets you add text commentary and hyperlinks to contribute wider context.
• Edit your story even after it has been published (the embedded story will be updated everywhere that it’s seen online)
• When you pull other people’s tweets into your story, Storify allows you to notify them (encouraging further social sharing)
• You can publish your story easily to your blog or Mailchimp.
• You can easily encourage your attendees to create their own Storify pages for your event.

For more information, read Storify’s How to get the most out of your story.

How might you use Storify for your business / events?

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?

Last year’s What’s Next In Events eBook was focused on how Social Media would impact the Events Industry. And did it ever! There’s no doubt that social media provided organizers with new ways to connect with and engage attendees, created new revenue streams and at the same time put strains on already tapped-out budgets and resources, spawned new formats of meetings, conferences and education, and enabled planners to hear what people really thought about their events.

As planners become more entrenched in the tools and the strategies behind using them, many are recognizing a need to take an inward look at their organizations and events to deliver extraordinary experiences.
This year we have organized an incredible panel of 9 experts in their respective fields:

• Jeff Hurt, Director of Education & Engagement for Velvet Chainsaw Consulting – Conference Education
• Paul Salinger, Vice President of Marketing for Oracle – Sustainable Events
• Michelle Bruno, President of Bruno Signature Events – Tradeshows
• Jessica Levin, CMP, President of 7 Degrees Communications – Event Engagement
• Adrian Segar, Author of Conferences That Work – Unconferences
• Michael McCurry, Strategic Account Manager for Experient – Hybrid Events
• Yours truly, President of READY2SPARK – Branding & Marketing
• Ryan Hanson, Chief Designer & Creative Conversation Starter – Special Events
• Carolyn Ray, The Enthusiastic Planner – The Next Generation of Event Professionals

Since you were a child, you’ve been playing games. From cops and robbers to snakes and ladders…games are entrenched in our growth and our culture. Ever ask yourself how people can spend hours and hours in front of their television lost in a video game? Developers have learned that the key to a successful game is the ability to have fun coupled with a system for incentives or rewards.

Gamification is defined as “the use of game play mechanics for non-game consumer technology applications, particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications”. According to Bunchball, “People have fundamental needs and desires – for reward, status, achievement, self-expression, competition, and altruism among others. These needs are universal, and cross generations, demographics, cultures and genders.”. Educators have long since recognized the power of games in helping us learn and marketers are rapidly understanding the power of games in capturing consumer attention and interest. Here are just a few examples…

Gamification in Events

Nike Grid

Nike held an event called Grid in London on October 22, 2010. Participants were invited to run (not walk or take public transit) across London, find the Grid phone boxes, punch in their unique game code. The more running they did, the more points and badges they earned. The person with the most points in each area claimed the crown of that postcode. Badges were also awarded for speed, stamina and insider knowledge of the streets.

Gamification in Marketing

Under Construction

Gamify.com is a business focused on bringing gamification and engagement to web clients. Their site is under construction. Now, instead of simply having an Under Construction site, they created a game – try it yourself. I was compelled to engage with their website simply because there was a game.

Mint.com

In 2007, Mint.com took a revolutionary approach to personal finance. They turned it into a game by making managing your money fun. Say, for example, you were saving up for a trip to Hawaii. You could choose this option from a menu, and as you save more funds towards towards your goal, your gauge fills up. You also get a financial score that encourages  responsible actions (like avoiding high banking fees, etc). To date, the site claims to have more than 1.5 million active users.

Is Gamificaiton right for your Business?

As with any other externally-driven initiative your business takes the key is to determine if it will add value to your customers and whether its benefits aligned with your goals. If so, build gamification around your priorities – do you want consumers to remember you, tell a friend, engage with your product? Build incentives that will promote your priorities.

More Reading

• Does your event have a gaming layer?
• Gamify your next virtual event
• Gamification 101 whitepaper