Posts Tagged Eventprofs
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Once again, a great big thank you to Christopher De Armond of ShowTec Inc (@ShowTecAE) for recapping our last 3 eventprofs conversations!
Eventprofs Recap for
March 8th, 2009, 9pm EST
Topic: The current economic climate and its effect on events
• @rachelES mentioned Jack Welch gave up props in BizWeek. http://tinyurl.com/bpsdmf http://businessweekdaily.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905032_mz072.htm
• http://bit.ly/XEgnj – Sen. Kerry’s response to the letter writing campaign
• @marksylvester inquired if there were other organizations other than MPI working to defend the industry.
• @ready2spark mentioned that ISES Canada is actively working to defend the industry as well. @AlissaHurley mentioned National Meetings Industry is coming up in Canada – April 16th. Main topic for NMID will be the impact on the economy. Facilitated by CBC News host Carole MacNeil. Good for media coverage!
• @jeffreyhansler mentioned his association talking about letting the hammer fall on Auto industry. May also be for our industry. Sort of like a hard reset; let it fail and it will come back stronger from the ashes
• Many mentioned the need to get word out faster to the masses.
• @Mizcity cited www.ises.com has link on main page to letter writing campaign
• @rachelES has list of at least 10 websites advocating for our industry, asks for patience. (It is a big ship to turn.)
• Consensus on that we need to start generating hard figures and facts. (this has started to a limited degree).
• @jkhewitt mentioned getting the mayors (other than Vegas) to start talking about the impact of loss of tax revenue on their cities.
• @samueljsmith asked if CVB’s would have any facts or figures to contribute. The consensus was yes, but they may be limited in their amount of info.
• @rachelES pointed out not enough pro-meeting stories. We need to start collecting the humanitarian angle and distribute to the appropriate outlets.
• @rachelES posted this great link to pro-meeting stories: : http://tinyurl.com/bykchl
• It was generally agreed on that we need to get every employee of the industry to sign the petition at www.keepamericameeting.org
• @GloNelsonCSEP added that the local MPI chapters have a list of Press contacts to distribute stories and facts to.
• @GregRuby responded to the call for Press with pointing out that the CIC is an umbrella org for multiple affiliations.
• A few attendees mentioned that local cities are starting their own blogs detailing the effects of meetings on their local economy.
• @GregRuby mentioned the Destination Marketing Association International has hard figures and facts on website. (Info seems to be limited to release to members only.)
Topic: Social Media in Events
• @marksylvester gave example of O’Reilly ETech conference using SM to monitor conference for feedback, problems and requests.
• Several stories given in regards to SM generating new leads/business. (i.e. Facebook, Blogs, etc. Twitter, not so much).
• Consensus reached that Twitter helps to open doors, still need f2f to close the deal.
• Also, agreed that SM is showing a generational gap in adoption
• @marksylvester and @GloNelsonCSEP shared stories of boosting attendance to a talk at conference by using Twitter.
• @marksylvester shared this link: http://pistachioconsulting.com/twitter-presentations/ showing usefulness of Twitter at conferences.
• Idea mentioned for SM consultants. Training for corporations, groups and associations on how to adopt SM. @GloNelsonCSEP made an excellent point about most companies scaling back on expenditures.
• Consensus on the importance of f2f at Conferences and events, SM helps to continue the experience.
• Many conferences and events with on-site training in SM have been a huge crowd draw, people want to learn how to adopt new technology.
• @jkhewitt mentioned time where group could SM like pros, had nothing to say to each other in person.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
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. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
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The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
I was absolutely blown away when Christopher De Armond of ShowTec offered to create a recap of our last eventprofs discussion. This is a perfect example of the true sense of community that has been developed amongst event professionals online. And his fantastic recap will not only provide a window into the fantastic ideas that come out of our discussions, but the actions that result!
The Recap by @ShowTecAE
We had a great Tweet Chat this last Monday and some fantastic ideas were flying through the Internet! Following are the highlights from Monday’s chat in regards to our main topic:
Topic: How can we champion the industry in a down economy?
Answers:
. Spread the grass roots petition and campaign to the line level workers at our local hotel and convention facilities.
. Start a Wiki outlining our industry’s position. E-blast the Wiki to the press and industry groups. (Greg Ruby suggests the CIC).
. Increase utilization of on-line meeting tools with live conferences and events.
. Follow major news and media outlets on Twitter. Once following notify them and ask them to follow us to get first hand accounts of impact on our industry. (Sort of a reverse HARO).
. Same as #4 above but with Congress: Tweet Congress or Members of Congress who Twitter
. Utilize Virtualis and create an event to promote the necessity of meeting and events.
. Create a more centralized resource for news articles, resources, facts, information, etc. to link to Wiki (see #2 above).
. Create custom iPhone or Facebook apps to champion the industry.
. @Ronnyes suggested moveon.org for pre-generated letters written to congress.
. Create “ethics” code to submit to CIC for consideration of how to operate in current economy. Lot’s of planners losing directly to their suppliers.
Topic: Biggest business challenge.
Answers:
. Finding budget can be a real challenge:
a) Clients may be using you to bid down another vendor
b) Clients are afraid that they will not receive best price if they reveal their budget
. Need to show value, build trust, show client you have best their interests in mind. . Don’t be afraid to ask for the budget.
. More and more intellectual property is being “re-utilized” after contract is canceled or awarded to someone else.
. Front end work (proposals, drawings, ideas) are not being charged for. Can we come together as an industry to create standards?
I would ask that all of you reach out to the heads of your associations such as MPI, ISES, HSMAI, CIC and all the rest and ask them to join us every Monday to hear, direct from the front line, what we are facing on a daily basis.
If I have missed anyone’s ideas feel free to contact me and I will send out updates as appropriate. Stay tuned for next week and be sure to join #eventprofs discussion on every Monday at 6PT/9ET.
Have a great week everyone!
Christopher De Armond
#evetprofs scribe
cdearmond@showtec.com
How to get involved in the next Eventprofs chat
See step-by-step instructions here
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Join us .
Join us for our next Twitter eventprofs chat on Monday, March 2nd from 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. EST.
The agenda .
Voting is closed! Based on votes counted at 5:00 p.m. EST, we have our confirmed list of topics & timeslots below:
9:00 p.m. EST – Introductions (5 min) – tell us who you are
9:05 p.m. EST – New & Innovative event products – share your favorite software, entertainers, new products, venues…or anything else that rocks your event socks.
9:20 p.m. EST – Strategies for a declining market – how can we champion the market, grow/sustain our businesses, etc
9:35 p.m. EST – What is your biggest business challenge? – share it and get help and advice from your eventprofs tribe
More info .
. Get step-by-step instructions on how you can participate in the event profs Twitter chat.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events NetworkPut the keyword as close to the picture as possible
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Every Tuesday, I’ll be posting a new topic in my ‘event talk’ series. I do hope to add video very soon…
Tonight’s chat is about using Twitter for event professionals. Join EventProfs on Twitter on Monday evenings from 9-10 p.m. EST!
Become an eventprofs advocate .
. Get updates through our EventProfs Facebook page
. Become a fan of EventProfs
. Join the Twitter EventProfs Group page
People are talking .
There are a few people who have recently posted about our group:
The New Breed of Networking Twitter Chat Rooms . MeetingsPodcast
Event chat tonight . Next Generation Event
Please let me know if I’ve missed your post.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
Join us .
We’ll be holding our second Twitter eventprofs chat tomorrow, Monday, February 23rd from 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. EST. Our first chat, last Monday, was a great success! We discussed the recession’s impact on the industry, projected trends and virtual events. Join us and be a part of the conversation.
The agenda .
Voting is closed! Based on votes counted at 5:00 p.m. EST, we have our confirmed list of topics & timeslots below:
9:00 p.m. EST – Introductions (5 min) – tell us who you are
9:05 p.m. EST – Discuss social media tools for the events industry + how have you seen them used for success?
9:20 p.m. EST – The line between personal and corporate social media use + how should this be managed?
9:35 p.m. EST – What are you doing differently with your events/marketing during a down economy?
More info .
. Get step-by-step instructions on how you can participate in the event profs Twitter chat.
. Want to know who participated in last Monday’s eventprofs chat?
. 100% of respondents said they’d be participating in the chat again!
. Take the poll for Monday, February 23rd’s chat.
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
You’re invited to join us on Twitter on every Tuesday evening from 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. EST / 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. PST and Thursday 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST / 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. PST for our Event Professionals virtual tweetchat.
What is it? Twitter is an incredible collaborative tool, also referred to as microblogging, which allows you to communicate with others in 140 characters or less. If you’re not currently using Twitter, I’ve included instructions to start below. I’ve created the #eventprofs tweetchat as an opportunity for event professionals to meet online and discuss issues, challenges and opportunities in the industry.
How to get started on Twitter .
. Go to twitter.com
. Create a username and password (tip – try to keep it as short as possible)
. Find people to connect with, like me: @ready2spark and @eventprofs
. Download an application like TweetDeck that will help you manage your tweets easier than online.
. Listen. My best advice is to start by listening to what others are tweeting about before you start tweeting.
. Engage. Once you feel comfortable, start talking to others.
How to join the #eventprofs chat .
. Once you have a twitter account, go to TweetChat
. Log on
. Input “#eventprofs” in the Room to Enter field
. Start tweeting
Please note: you can still participate even if you don’t use TweetChat; just use the hash tag #eventprofs when you enter a tweet so the group can follow your conversation.
Another great tool to stay on top of the conversation is TweetGrid. Check it out.
The Rules .
. Introduce yourself
. Please send any questions you have to @eventprofs (do not use the hash tag #eventprofs). I will then ask the question of the group
. Please stay on topic
. Play nice
. Learn & grow :)
Get your #eventprofs site badge here:
1. Right click on the badge you like
2. Save it to your desktop
3. Upload it to the site of your choice – your blog, your website, Facebook…
Lara McCulloch-Carter
Author of the Special Event blog ready2spark
Director of Marketing – Regal Tent Productions
President – ISES Toronto
. Follow me on Twitter
. Join the #eventprofs chat on Twitter Monday evenings from 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. EST
. Connect with me on LinkedIn
. Become my Peep at EventPeeps
. Befriend me at Events Network
Hire Lara to Build Your Business
Hire Lara to Speak
Subscribe to our Newsletter
The best way to get in touch with me is hello@ready2spark.com
