Posts Categorized: Event Networking

Dreamforce: The Dreamboat Experience

Posted by & filed under Branding, Event Design, Event Marketing, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings, Travel, Venues.

Event Rebels Dreamforce

“The Love Boat promises something for everyone.” The Dreamboat may not have been the Love Boat, but Dreamforce definitely tried to have something for everyone! For the first time in Dreamforce’s 13 year existence, the 170,000 person conference chartered a Celebrity Cruises ship to provide lodging to 1,100 conference attendees. This is not the first time a conference has chartered a ship as a “floating hotel”, but it is probably the most mainstream example of lodging alternatives, even being featured on Forbes.com. In a time where conference attendees are searching for alternatives to the traditional room block, such as airbnb, Dreamforce’s... Read more »

IMEX America 2015 “What’s New?”

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings, Trade Show.

Introduction IMEX is deeply rooted in the Meetings Industry and every edition of IMEX America or IMEX in Frankfurt presents us with a challenge and an opportunity for innovation. For each show we seek to refresh and renew partnerships also with the goal of providing an ideal setting for business opportunities between our exhibitors and planners who join us as hosted buyers and visitors. This is not an easy challenge but it is one that we embrace with the help of our strong industry partnerships. IMEX America provides attendees with the opportunity to meet with a range of global suppliers... Read more »

Live-Streaming: Broadcast vs. Engagement or Meerkat/Periscope vs. Blab

Posted by & filed under Event Apps, Event Marketing, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Social Media.

I’ve written about live streaming apps Meerkat and Periscope before. Live-streaming has been the new frontier of social media since Meerkat blew up at SXSW earlier this year. For the most part Meerkat and Periscope have been the go-to livestream apps, and they’ve been successful in terms of introducing the livestream to the mainstream. According to Salesforce, Meerkat currently has around 2 million users, and Periscope has around 10 million users. Neither app has taken the world by storm like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram have, however that may all change. There’s a new kid on the block, and it’s... Read more »

The Decision to Attend Study: Phase 1

Posted by & filed under Event Design, Event Marketing, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings, Social Media, Surveys, Uncategorized.

Decision to Attend Study

The Decision to Attend Study, created in partnership by The Experience Institute, IAEE, and PCMA, has begun it’s Phase 2. Yesterday, Mickey Schaefer of The Experience Institute shared some of the key findings in Phase 1. We’ve taken the liberty of compiling those findings for you. Take a look at the major takeaways. Propensity to Attend The Propensity to Attend is High Across All Generations. 92% are likely to attend, with younger generations trending strong. Younger Generations Are Replacing Older Generation Attendees. As the older generations attend fewer events, the younger Gen X and Gen Y generations are filling the void. The... Read more »

Do’s & Dont’s: Lessons From MPI’s WEC 2015

Posted by & filed under Event Design, Event Networking, Meetings, Trade Show, Travel, Uncategorized.

We’ve just returned from Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress in San Francisco, CA. Here’s a few lessons we’d like to share with you. DO: Host your conference in San Francisco San Francisco was an incredible backdrop for this year’s WEC. From the sights and sounds, to the food and drinks, San Francisco didn’t hold back a thing! The conference took on a truly San Francisco feel as well. From it’s use of emerging technology, to incorporating iconic San Francisco brands, you knew exactly where you were. DON’T: Have clowns at your opening reception Although the decor of the opening reception... Read more »

Best Practices: Networking Before Your Conference

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Resources Lead Retrieval.

Business Networking at Conferences

Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress 2015 begins in a few short days. What have you done to begin networking? Now you may be asking yourself, “Alex, the conference hasn’t even begun yet. How can I start networking if the conference hasn’t even started?” Great question! The answer is, A LOT! 75% of good networking is great preparation. Here’s 5 simple tasks you can do before you even arrive in San Francisco: 1. Business Cards – Make sure you are well stocked. There’s nothing like scrambling at the last minute looking for your business cards and realizing you have none! Now, if... Read more »

Tech Tuesday: Online Event Staffing Solution – Werkly

Posted by & filed under Event Design, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Onsite.

Event Rebels Tech Tuesday

Why isn’t there an easy way to staff your events using your network of friends, family, and peers? Well, it turns out, there is. Werkly was launched in December 2014 in New Orleans and is currently utilizing partnerships with event and catering companies to hire workers. Werkly operates completely online as a marketplace to hire local workers. As a worker you can sign up for the site and post your specific set of skills, focusing on events, concerts, and hospitality. You can post your availability and accept jobs as they come. “I have been a freelancer working in production since I... Read more »

kchopson

Conventional Wisdom: The Importance of Welcoming Your Guests

Posted by & filed under Event Design, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Onsite.

It was turning out to be the business trip from hell, until the conference planners did one very special thing. My last minute decision to attend a conference in Chicago seemed like a sound idea. However, as a seasoned traveler I knew scheduling a business trip on short notice can be fraught with challenges. Nevertheless, the conference was the perfect opportunity to meet with colleagues working on a similar project in a non-competing market. It was one of those rare chances to speak freely with peers and exchange good advice. My traveling troubles began with securing air transportation (two plane... Read more »

Mobile Monday: 365 Day Event App Engagement

Posted by & filed under Event Apps, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Mobile Event Apps, Uncategorized.

Event Rebels Mobile Monday

Engagement 365 days a year. That’s the ultimate goal of every association or corporation that spends money on their event apps. Nobody likes a one time only use app. It takes up space on your phone and ultimately gets buried in a folder of apps that you no longer use or gets deleted completely. Neither of those situations is ideal for the app that your association just paid thousands of dollars for. If you’re just looking to create an app that provides information about your specific event, then a basic throw-away app is probably what you should get. But, if... Read more »

Tech Tuesday: Is your event ready for Primetime?

Posted by & filed under Event Design, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps.

Event Rebels Tech Tuesday

Blue Jeans Primetime is a new interactive online events service that connects thousands of participants through large-scale broadcasting and video collaboration. Blue Jeans Primetime is the only large event platform that gives multiple presenters the power to engage with thousands of viewers, and promote any of these viewers to active participants in real time. “The way online events and broadcasts are done today, you have a massive barrier separating viewers and presenters, making the thousands of people who aren’t part of the conversation essentially invisible,” said Stu Aaron, CCO at Blue Jeans Network. “When we met with our customers, we... Read more »

Improving Your Events with Technology and Nostalgia

Posted by & filed under Branding, Event Design, Event Marketing, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology.

Event Rebels Tech Tuesday

Marketers have been using nostalgia for generations, utilizing old commercials and logos to help connect multi-generational fans and buyers. As most people experience nostalgia at least once a week (and nearly half experience it at three to four times that amount), modern marketers have quickly learned to harness the power of social media to accelerate the impact of nostalgia to drive their event campaigns. One application of nostalgia in our daily lives is Throwback Thursday, a campaign which began on various social media platforms in 2006. To put this trend into perspective, as of May 2014, the hashtag #TBT had... Read more »

Mobile Monday: Attendees as Participants

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Social Media, Uncategorized.

Event Rebels Mobile Monday

As we continue to explore new engagement offerings for our attendees, it’s important to begin making a distinction between what an attendee and a participant is. While attendees in the past may have had a passive role at an event or conference, participants want to be involved and they consider themselves stakeholders. Crowdsourcing is a buzzword that is thrown around often when discussing participants in the event and meeting process. It will be interesting to see when an industry association like PCMA or MPI is willing to take the bullet and attempt a crowdsourced conference. The combination of social media and... Read more »

Tech Tuesday: Improve Your Meeting Attendee’s ROI with Networking Technology

Posted by & filed under Event Apps, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, Social Media.

Event Rebels Tech Tuesday

A report by Conventions 2020 on the future of meetings, events, exhibitions and conferences looked at the incentives for attending events and found that 76% of respondents cited the quality of networking as the single biggest factor that would encourage them to attend events. The networking factor beat out content, interaction and use of technology to take the number one motivating spot. In addition, the average person carries 2.9 electronic devices including smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Those are powerful tools that meeting planners should use to enhance networking events in order to achieve the greatest ROI for their attendees. 56%... Read more »

Tech Tuesday: Slo-Mo Is The New Photo

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Social Media, Uncategorized.

Event Rebels Tech Tuesday

We’ve all seen the party photo booths with tables full of props, crazy hats, and fake mustaches. In fact, you probably have a couple photo strips from your cousin’s wedding taped to your cubicle, right? Photo booths have been a popular party trend for a while now. But, there’s something new hitting the event circuit, the slo-mo video booth! More and more companies are popping up like The Slow Motion Booth and SloMo Lounge that offer this unique video experience. This innovative event entertainment activity offers broadcast quality, high definition slow motion playback by shooting video at 240 frames for per second using... Read more »

Mobile Monday: Photosharing, The New Disposable Camera

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Mobile Event Apps, Social Media.

Event Rebels Mobile Monday

Have you ever been to a wedding where the bride and groom put a disposable camera on each table, hoping that they’ll end up with 240 amazing photos taken by their guests? While, I have yet to see this concept done on a larger scale like a conference, it’s hard to deny that our attendees like to share photos. On twitter, a tweet with a photo has 5x the amount of engagement as a text only tweet. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. What if I told you there was an app that acted like a... Read more »

kchopson

Trade Show Lead Nurturing Best Practices

Posted by & filed under Email - How to Use Effectively, Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Resources Lead Retrieval, Trade Show, What's New.

Sales Funnel

In a recent article, we talked about how to develop quality leads at a trade show using a number of best practices. These practices included proper planning, good sales techniques, and tools like lead retrieval. But once you’ve got a hot lead, what’s the next step? Read on to discover the trade show lead nurturing best practices savvy sales teams are using right now to convert those leads into new business relationships. What is Lead Nurturing? It’s not enough to simply get good leads at the show, you need to be able to turn those leads into a sale. That... Read more »

kchopson

Making Great Connections at Conferences and Trade Shows

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Resources Lead Retrieval, Trade Show, What's New.

handshake

We all know that exhibiting at a trade show can be expensive. Therefore it is imperative that you implement good trade show practices so you do not waste the opportunity of bringing a bunch of qualified leads back to your office. Here are some critical things you should do to guarantee that your appearance is a success. Plan Early and Set Goals As soon as you decide to participate in the show you need to start thinking about how to make your appearance effective. The main thing is to figure out the types of attendees that are going to the... Read more »

kchopson

EventRebels’ Mobile Conference Attendee App is Out!

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, QR Codes, What's New.

ERMobile Attendee App for iPhone and Android

EventRebels already has two mobile apps in the store for Google and Apple devices. The EROnsite app is for planners to monitor their show and, most importantly, scan QR codes on badges to track show and session attendance. Using the same QR code technology, exhibitors can run the ERLead app on their smartphone for lead retrieval. But we saved the best for last. The ERMobile app for attendees of conferences is now available for iPhone and Android! Our first releases have these exciting features: Full Conference Schedule with details for each presentation User’s Itinerary Maps of the Venue Exhibitor and... Read more »

kchopson

Event Networking 101: Why Network?

Posted by & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, What's New.

Perhaps you are out of town at a conference and are attending a related evening event. You have a couple of friends present, so you decide to spend all your time at a table chatting with them. When you get back to your hotel room, you’ve met no new people, but, at least, you’re not stressed out. If this is how you behaved at your last conference or recent event, this article is here to say that you are doing yourself a great disfavor! It is understood that event networking is as about as popular as public speaking. For most... Read more »