Posts Categorized: What’s New

kchopson

Stream At Your Own Peril, Part One

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, Social Media, What's New.

Live Streaming Phone Apps

After entering the social media world in 2015, live streaming apps quickly captured the attention of the general public. More than just real-time video, these apps offer all the interactive elements of social media, including comments, likes and hashtags. The early success of its first entrants Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope pulled social media goliath Facebook into the fray. With the launch of its Facebook Live feature the reach of live streaming video immediately expanded to hundreds of millions viewers, promising to unleash yet another communications evolution. The impact on the meeting and convention industry has been equally as swift, and... Read more »

kchopson

Free White Noise Apps to Help You Sleep While You Travel

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Mobile Event Apps, Travel, What's New.

Are you someone who needs background noise to sleep? I am not talking about the television or radio, but “white noise” like a fan, the rain, or even the noise of a nearby road. For travelers with this inclination, hotel rooms typically have some ambient sounds like the hum of the air conditioner to solve the sleeping problem. However, sometimes the hotel room is actually so quiet that you can hear every little noise, such as people walking down the hall. This can result in a poor night’s sleep. If you are like this, you are not alone. One study... Read more »

kchopson

How to Use Your Online Registration to Make Your Conference Program a Success

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Online Registration - Keys to Success, Speakers, What's New.

Crowded Room

Ever plan a conference where some rooms are overflowing while other rooms sit mostly empty? Did you ever have to face angry attendees that were turned away from a highly anticipated presentation because the session could not sit another person? Planners know that the latter case can seriously “ding” your overall conference survey scores because people do not forget the sessions they were forced to miss. Fortunately, you can use your online registration form to solve many of these problems. By letting attendees build their itinerary at the time of sign up, you can get an accurate picture of what... Read more »

kchopson

Use Your Next Conference to Start Your Fitness Resolution!

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

Good exercise habits can be very difficult to achieve these days. In our sedentary ways, it can be easy to forget fitness altogether. Study after study has shown that spending too much time sitting can do as much harm to the body as many other bad habits. For example, Dr. Kim of X bytes argues that sitting is the new smoking and speaks of a “byte” sized approach to fitness. The good news is that “wearable” tech devices like the Fitbit and now the Apple Watch (aka “iWatch”) can be very useful in keeping fitness top-of-mind and breaking the overly... Read more »

kchopson

How to Increase Audience Engagement with Mobile Session Question & Answer

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

Online Event Q&A

Have you ever heard of “Death by PowerPoint?” This generally refers to a presentation that makes poor use of slides. But what it really means is that the speaker bored the audience. However, even if the slides are well made, a lack of crowd interaction can result in disinterested attendees. Most meeting planners are well aware of this phenomenon and go to great lengths to alleviate its effects. Traditional techniques often involve cumbersome methods such as someone walking around with a microphone receiving questions from the crowd. Other variations including a line of people behind a mic or someone collecting... Read more »

kchopson

How to Save Tons of Time with Automated Surveys and CEUs

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Onsite, Surveys, What's New.

Continuing Education

After working very hard to put on a great conference, the nail in the coffin for the planners’ exhaustion is often the issuing and collation of meeting related surveys and CEUs. If the work is performed using paper and/or spreadsheets, the resulting toil is usually a mountain of tedious and error-prone management of forms. The work is labor and time-intensive and, consequently, unnecessarily expensive. The good news is there are some great technology tools for automating much of these processes. These tools tend to specialize in a particular purpose but can work in harmony with the right selection of products.... Read more »

kchopson

5 Ways to Generate Revenue with Your Mobile Event App

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

A variety of studies confirm that we are looking at our smartphones all day long. One metric says the average person checks their phone 150 times a day! When someone is at your conference, these numbers do not change much. In fact, if you have a great mobile event app, the smartphone becomes a great way to increase audience engagement at your conference. One of the fantastic side effects of mobile apps is that you can track this interaction with tools like Google Analytics. For example, you can see how often attendees look at a page and how much time... Read more »

kchopson

Conducting Surveys Using an Online Registration Form

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Online Registration - Keys to Success, Surveys, What's New.

Feedback Button

It is well known the getting a high response rate from surveys is difficult. One way to get around this is to place questions that are important to you on forms that people will need to fill out. One such place is your membership form. Another area is the online registration form. The registration form is a great place to get answers for critical data such as demographics. The registrant will already be entering personal information, so asking additional personal information in this area will already seem somewhat natural. Here are some tips to get the data you need on... Read more »

kchopson

Create a Superior Event Badge

Posted by & filed under Event Apps, Event Rebels Blog, Online Registration - Keys to Success, Onsite, QR Codes, What's New.

Do you want to get your event off to a fast start with a great badge? When set up properly, badges can convey a lot of information in a relatively small amount of space. They can be crucial for networking and gaining access to sessions and events. Take care to create badges that work; review our list of tips and tricks for crafting the perfect conference badge below. Names should be printed in a large, sans-serif font, with first and last names on separate lines. Attendees should be able to glance at a badge and immediately locate the name. Make... Read more »

kchopson

Why and How to Create a Great Conference Blog

Posted by & filed under Event Marketing, Event Rebels Blog, Social Media, What's New.

Talk to a marketing expert about your event, conference or trade show and almost certainly you will be told that social media needs to be a key component of your promotion. However, what is often missing is the advice on how to do have a great social media campaign. What do you tweet about? What should you post on Facebook? How do you get started? To answer these questions, it is important to reconsider a core principal of social media marketing. This concept involves the idea of a “spoke” – as in a bicycle tire. At the center of this... Read more »

kchopson

Hashtags: A Cornerstone of Your Event’s Brand

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Onsite, Social Media, What's New.

The ubiquitous hashtag (#hashtag) has quickly evolved from a curiosity to being an integral part of modern communication. The tag has worked its way into many marketing efforts and actually has become part of many brands. For the world of events, the hashtag has evolved past simple branding to being part of the general discussion that surrounds the interaction of attendees, speakers, exhibitors and others. Why Hashtags are so Important For a few years, hashtags were generally considered to be the domain of Twitter. This product, in particular, has become a great tool for events both in promotion and in... Read more »

kchopson

Mobile Savings: Time, Money, & The Environment

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

The primary reason mobile apps are hot right now are simply the ease of use. The phone is almost always in your hand, so all you need to do is look at it and touch! But mobile apps for events are event hotter because they are wins for everybody – the attendee, the exhibitors and the show organizers. The only losers may be the printing companies. Why are mobile apps for events such big wins? It’s simple – they save time and money, while saving the environment, all at the same time. Here is a look at three types of... Read more »

kchopson

Mobile App Lead Retrieval is Better for Your Show

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

Lead Retrieval Tradeshow App

You have probably heard frequent complaints from your exhibitors about how expensive it is to rent lead retrieval units for your show. The old fashioned way of doing lead retrieval is cumbersome for many reasons: The lead retrieval units are expensive! Some of the reasons for these high costs are described below. Buying the old-fashioned units is typically done in an old-fashioned way, such as faxing or emailing a form with a credit card. By the way, this is also a violation of good credit card security practices. The hardware is proprietary, so it is difficult to explain what the... Read more »

kchopson

Video: Using QR Codes to Improve Your Meeting

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

Earlier this week, EventRebels President K.C. Hopson spoke to the award-winning Georgia Peach Chapter of SGMP on how to improve your meeting with QR codes. Here is a recording of the popular presentation. Learn about the basics of QR codes, how to create great ones, and the many ways you can use them for your event.  

kchopson

How to Use Apps to Simplify Onsite Registration

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Mobile Event Apps, Onsite, What's New.

Mobile apps for attendees are hot, but did you know that apps can help you, the planner, with onsite registration? While a great web-based onsite registration system can take care of most of your check-in issues, mobile onsite apps can address even more needs, including some unusual situations. These apps should work well on both Apple and Android devices, from smartphones to tablets. Here are some features a first-rate mobile app for onsite registration should have: List of attendees with at least basic contact information. Even better, you should be able to easily view what each attendee purchased as well... Read more »

kchopson

5 Steps to Collect Intelligent Annual Meeting Data

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

By: Kathy Benson and K.C. Hopson For many associations, the annual meeting is the organization’s top revenue source. For this bottom-line reason, planners and evaluators of this event need to be able to mine smarter and more actionable insights from attendee registration data and post-event evaluations. Evaluation of the annual meeting is an opportunity to engage with members and prospects and learn more about them and their needs. Planners and evaluators need to look at it from a strategic standpoint to gain more insight and inform their organizational strategy. By asking the right questions, there is an invaluable opportunity to... Read more »

kchopson

Craft Hotel Contracts to Reduce Attrition

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

Perhaps the heart of good meeting planning is the ability to write contracts that cover all potential outcomes of an event. Of all these outcomes, perhaps none is more important than avoiding being hit with attrition fees by the host hotel. As all planners know, these fees can be very costly and, in many cases, can be avoided with a tight contract. Recently I had the pleasure of attending an exciting (!) lecture on Hotel Contracts lead by attorney John S. Foster from Atlanta. The event was put on by the PCMA Chesapeake Chapter and was hosted at the brand... Read more »

kchopson

Why Would Hackers Attack Your Conference?

Posted by & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Internet Security, Onsite, What's New.

Hackers targeting big companies have become part of the regular news cycle. As of last year corporations such as Sony, Target and Staples have become victims of breaches involving personal information and credit cards. Even more recently, the data of 18 million current, prospective or former employees of the U.S. Government was successfully compromised in one of the biggest and most spectacular cyber attacks in history. While it might be comforting to think that hackers would only go after big name organizations, it would be wrong to think that conferences are exempt from cyber attacks. Just recently the Linux Australia... Read more »

Crowdsourcing Education Sessions

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

EventRebels are back from our week-long hiatus with some very exciting information and experiences to share with you. This past week, K.C. Hopson, EventRebels CEO, and I traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the 2015 PCMA Education Conference. PCMA does a lot really well, but one thing I’ve noticed over the last three annual conferences I’ve attended is PCMA’s willingness to experiment with format, room set-up, and education so we don’t have to. One outstanding experiment PCMA tried at this conference was crowdsourcing peer-led education. Adrian Segar, author of “Conferences That Work,” walked us through the process. It began the... Read more »

kchopson

Trade Show Swag: What’s Hot for 2015

Posted by & filed under Branding, Event Marketing, Event Rebels Blog, Trade Show, What's New.

Design Rebel: Trade Show Swag

An intriguing thought crossed my mind as I prepared this blog on the benefits of trade show giveaways. Given the nearly universal appeal of tchotchkes I wondered whether anyone has proposed a doctoral dissertation analyzing the irresistible allure of ball point pens, pocket-sized hand sanitizers, disposable water bottles and tote bags emblazoned with exhibitor’s logos. As a veteran of scores of trade shows, I’ve seen well-dressed, affluent –looking professionals saunter over to a booth and scoop up a key chain, pencil, highlighter or a tiny box of breath mints. Generally, these items retail for under three dollars. Perhaps there is... Read more »

kchopson

Rebel Wanderer: San Diego, CA

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

San Diego is known for having just about the finest climate in the continental United States. But the city is so much more than great weather. With California’s vastly improved train system, it is easy to visit San Diego for a day from all over the southern basin including Disneyland and Los Angeles. Gaslamp Quarter The Pacific Surfliner train gives you a beautiful view of the coastline and drops you off at the Santa Fe depot in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter. Loaded with dozens or restaurants and nightclubs, the quarter retains many of the elements of older San... Read more »

kchopson

Design Rebel: Marquee Lights are HOT for Your Event

Posted by & filed under Branding, Event Design, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings, What's New.

Design Rebel: Marquee Lights

Nothing says excitement like Broadway and nothing say Broadway like Marquee Lights. The opening shot of the film classic All That Jazz sets the stage for what follows with a dazzling marquee light up. The eye cannot help but be drawn to the raw, pulsating and vibrant lighting that are typical of these displays. Marquee lights have an interesting history. Their appearance is very closely tied to the rise of the automobile. Before these fast moving vehicles arrived, pedestrians had plenty of time to look at signs as they strolled across. However, those signs were generally unable to draw the... Read more »

kchopson

Tech Tuesday: Put Your Contracts in the Cloud!

Posted by & filed under Contracts, Event Rebels Blog, Internet Security, Meetings Technology, What's New.

Nobody writes contracts like meeting planners. For any given conference, there can be dozen of contracts. These contracts are usually lengthy and quite detailed. Often these contracts are emailed or even faxed(!) to the signing party. This party then signs, copies and then scans or faxes back to the other party for countersigning – and the process repeats. This simple signing process consumes many hours for any given show. Given that meeting planners are usually strapped for time, doesn’t this seem like an easy area to improve? Fortunately, there is great software in the marketplace for making the contracts process... Read more »