Posts Categorized: What’s New

Making Great Connections at Conferences and Trade Shows

Posted July 16th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Networking, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Resources Lead Retrieval, Trade Show, What's New.

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 »

Rant: Bring Enough Badge Stock!

Posted July 1st, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Onsite, What's New.

I’ve seen it happen too many times. Concerns about wastage and “costs” leads planners to not bring enough badge stock to their conference. This happens particularly frequently when “six-up” (six badges to a page) stock is used and there are a lot of badge name reprints or single badges (usually for exhibitors.) By not bringing enough stock, planners risk creating a very embarrassing situation where the stock runs out and the badges have to be printed on normal printed paper and then cut out by scissors to fit inside the holder! Needless to say, for something with a budget as... Read more »

Why You Should NOT Give Out Thumb Drives at Your Trade Show

Posted June 11th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, Internet Security, Resources Trade Show, What's New.

Giving out thumb drives (aka USB Drives) at your show or booth seems like a good idea. They are small, can be packaged attractively, and the attendee can just stick the device into his or her PC and view your material. And that material can be anything from brochures to a movie to Power Point slides to links to your web site. Sounds great – right? Wrong! This article is written to discourage you from giving out thumb drives and attendees from taking them. This author personally throws away any thumb drive he is given, even if they are in... Read more »

EventRebels’ Mobile Conference Attendee App is Out!

Posted June 5th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & 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 »

Protect Your Room Block from Pirates

Posted May 27th, 2014 by lbradford & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, What's New.

These days, pirates are not just found on the high seas, they’re also abundant in the meetings industry. However, room pirates are not in search of buried event treasure. These unauthorized housing companies are after your exhibitors and attendees instead. They profit by deceiving attendees into making their hotel reservations outside of the room block. Often, housing pirates will misrepresent their companies, faking an association with your event. They will contact attendees and urge them to book their rooms immediately, saying that the room block is either sold out or near capacity. In the best case scenario, they may book... Read more »

How to Detect Counterfeit Money at the Onsite Registration Desk

Posted May 11th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Event Scams, Onsite, What's New.

If you work onsite registration at a conference, you may find yourself occasionally in the position of accepting cash. You probably have already taken steps to make sure onsite registration payments go smoothly such as having a cash box, a good online registration system with a strong onsite module, and a procedure for transferring cash and checks to the office manager, possibly including a safe for overnight holding. One thing that may not have occurred to you is a process for identifying counterfeit money. Retailers often have procedures to check large cash denominations because this is what they do every... Read more »

Why You Should Not Organize Badges by Category

Posted May 6th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Onsite, What's New.

One of the most common reasons for long lines at a conference is the inability of the staffers at the registration desk to find an attendee’s badge. This happens frustratingly often, even to a person that has successfully pre-registered for the show. There are many causes for long lines, but one of the most common is organizing badges in an inappropriate fashion. In particular, planners often sort attendees by the category of registration, rather than by name. Let’s see why this is not a good idea and the confusion it can cause. Member versus Non-Member. Because it is important to... Read more »

Product Review: SpeakerBlast

Posted April 30th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, What's New.

At a recent gathering of the Baltimore Tech Breakfast, I saw a demonstration of technology that could change the way A/V is used at events. The product is called SpeakerBlast and instead of using a central speaker system, it uses Internet connected devices as the broadcasting medium. So in lieu of the labor and expense of installing A/V hardware, the system sends the audio presentation through smartphones, laptops and tablets. A real life example of the technology was demonstrated at the Tech Breakfast. The most remarkable aspect of the demonstration was that the music always stayed in sync despite being... Read more »

How to Find Out If Your Email is Spammy

Posted April 9th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Email - How to Use Effectively, Event Rebels Blog, What's New.

You probably send out Email blasts all the time with high deliverable rates, especially if you use a reliable Email management service. However, once in a while you find out that your messages are getting disproportionately stopped by spam filters. Why this is happening is a mystery because you are not doing anything you have not done before. Or are you? Spam filters often use a weighting system to determine if an Email is legitimate or not. If the weight falls below a certain threshold the filter flags the message as spam and it is not delivered to the intended... Read more »

How Online Trade Show Floor Map and Exhibitor Management Software Can Improve Your Show

Posted April 2nd, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Resources Trade Show, Sponsorships, Trade Show, What's New.

Did you know there is an easy way to drive trade show revenue, dramatically cut labor and paper costs, while at the same time marketing your exhibitors to your attendees? This great technology uses an interactive trade show floor map to achieve all these amazing results. Here are some of the features of such software. For the Exhibitor The software produces a floor map of your show online with all the tables and booths. For booths that are available for purchase, exhibitors can simply click on the booth and buy on the spot. Anybody can see the... Read more »

Start Planning Wi-Fi for your Meeting – Identify the Needs

Posted March 26th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, What's New.

It is now common these days for people to show up at a meeting not only with their smartphone, but also with a laptop and even a table. Regardless of their device, your attendee expects to be able to connect to a Wi-Fi network at no cost. Throughout the conference a large percentage of your attendees will be using your Wi-Fi network for a variety of purposes. At many points, the usage may increase to the point that the network cannot handle the load and attendees will either experience slow service or no service at all. When this happens, expect... Read more »

How to Increase Membership with your Meeting’s Online Registration Form

Posted March 12th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Credit Cards, Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Online Registration - Keys to Success, What's New.

Most organizations treat the process of increasing membership and meeting registration numbers as two totally different processes. This is unfortunate because, with the correct software, you can easily drive membership purchases as part of your normal online registration process for your meetings. If you are interested in a simple way to boost your membership, here are a few things your registration system should be able to handle. Are you able to upload your membership list to your online registration software? This list should include all pertinent contact information as well as any other data you need. Do you attempt to... Read more »

Product Review: X bytes Energizes Attendees Between Sessions

Posted March 4th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Onsite, What's New.

At a recent meeting of the Association of Meeting Professionals in Washington, D.C., I had the pleasure of being introduced to Kim Bercovitz, Ph.D. (aka “Dr. Kim”), President and Chief Exercise Officer (CEO) of a very interesting company called Exercise Bytes. Their company offers a quick and efficient solution to the problem of attendee fatigue. As you probably know, between lots of sitting and too much eating attendees can see their energy levels drop off quite a bit – especially in mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Coffee breaks are often seen as the remedy, but the caffeine boost will usually wear off... Read more »

Checkout EventRebels’ New Website!

Posted February 11th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, Online Registration - Keys to Success, QR Codes, Speakers, Trade Show, What's New.

EventRebels is very excited to introduce our new website, designed and built by our friends at Ainsley & Company. Besides having an exciting new look, the site has a number of new features that you may find of interest. Most exciting is four new product videos! These short videos give you a quick, but thorough, offering of our main product lines. There are videos for: EROnline, the most robust conference software in the industry. ERShow, our online interactive trade show and exhibitor management software. ERSpeaker for call for papers and speaker management. There is also a video that introduces our... Read more »

QR Codes, Not Just For Your Website!

Posted February 6th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, QR Codes, What's New.

As you probably know, QR Codes are a great way to promote your event. The most common use of these codes is to have a smartphone scan the code which redirects the user to a web page. For a meeting, this might be a link to the meeting web site or your organization. Lost in the standard use of QR codes are a couple of other novel ways to use QR codes to promote your organization or event. A great use of QR codes is for SMS marketing – i.e. text messaging. Your QR code can be setup so when... Read more »

How to Promote your Meeting with LinkedIn

Posted January 30th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Social Media, What's New.

LinkedIn is now the premier social media web site for business. If your conference is targeting professionals in business, education and government, LinkedIn is not to be ignored, although they have discontinued the app for creating events. There are still many great ways for your meeting to be promoted on LinkedIn. Post updates on your personal and organization page that link to your online registration form. Use headline terminology, such as registration for your conference “is now open!” Post status updates about meeting news such as speaker updates, the venue, and so forth. Have a LinkedIn icon on your online... Read more »

25 Hotels Opening in 2014

Posted January 21st, 2014 by lbradford & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Travel, What's New.

With a new year comes many new hotel and convention spaces. According to STR Global, there are over 1800 hotels scheduled to open in 2014[1]. While this large number of new spaces is exciting, it can also be daunting to search through. We’ve compiled a quick reference list of 25 hotels with meeting and event space set to open in the United States this year. Opening January 2014 Courtyard Philadelphia South at The Navy Yard 1001 Intrepid Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19112 Courtyard New York Manhattan/Central Park 1717 Broadway New York, NY 10019 Four Points By Sheraton Charleston 600 Kanawha Boulevard... Read more »

Don’t Be Duped into Compromising Your Organization’s Computer Security

Posted January 14th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Credit Cards, Event Rebels Blog, Internet Security, What's New.

Most people think securing your computer systems is the job of your IT department and software you install. Furthermore it is commonly believed that most security breaches are because of “hackers” compromising an organization’s web site. Consequently an organization’s security is not really your problem, but that of your “network gurus” protecting the web site. In fact this perception is quite wrong. One report showed that a staggering 70% (!!) of security breaches were not caused by hackers, but by “internal vulnerabilities.” These include lost or stolen equipment, and accidental or malicious employee attacks. The recent theft of Target store’s... Read more »

How Geofencing Can Enrich Your Meeting

Posted January 8th, 2014 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Mobile Event Apps, What's New.

2013 is the year smartphones significantly changed how events function. From social networking apps to innovative ways badges and smart phones can change session tracking, check-ins and lead retrieval, the mobile platform offers exciting possibilities that weren’t even considered a few years ago. One new such technology is called “geofencing.” As you probably already know, the GPS (“Global Positioning System”) in your smartphone interacts with location-based apps – like Google Maps and Foursquare – to use your location for your benefit. A geo-fence takes this a step further. An establishment – like a store or a booth at a trade... Read more »

Top-rated Travel Apps to Use This Holiday Season

Posted December 19th, 2013 by lbradford & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Travel, What's New.

According to AAA, a record number of 94.5 million people are expected to travel this holiday season. About 6% of those travelers (5.53 million) will be flying. Don’t let the high number of seasonal passengers keep you away from the airport in the coming weeks. Pack your phone with these top-rated travel apps—they are sure to eliminate stress and help you navigate your trip with ease. TripIt TripIt for iPhone | TripIt for Android TripIt is the ultimate organization app for frequent travelers. TripIt takes your confirmation emails and turns them into a detailed itinerary. Use TripIt one of two... Read more »

Keep Yourself Safe with Good Password Management

Posted December 10th, 2013 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Internet Security, What's New.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being on the Internet is managing your passwords. Just when you think you have a great password, one of your sites asks you to change it. Even worse, web sites differ greatly in their standards for how “strong” your password should be. The strength of the password defines how hard it would be for an outsider to guess it. In general, the longer the password the stronger it is. However, there are other factors like mixing lower and upper case letters and including numbers. Some sites even require non alpha-numerics like punctuation. The... Read more »

Product Review: Zoomph, Social Media Hub for Events

Posted December 4th, 2013 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Meetings Technology, Social Media, What's New.

EventRebels had the pleasure recently of spending some time with the people at Zoomph and viewing their cutting-edge Influencer Engagement Platform. In many ways we found Zoomph’s product like our software – an attractive, flexible and powerful interface for the attendees, but also a very strong back-end management side for the event planners. Zoomph is most well-known as a platform that ties together all social media content from today’s most popular social channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), collects and ranks social media content and then streams it to an integrated interface where event attendees can absorb topics, trends, and real-time conversations.... Read more »

Mobile, QR Codes and Your Events

Posted November 26th, 2013 by jbailey & filed under Event Rebels Blog, Mobile Event Apps, QR Codes, What's New.

Event marketing is changing. Mobile devices have added a new level of interactivity to events and given marketers more opportunities to connect with their audience. I noticed a few things during this year’s July 4th celebrations… 1. Vendors taking payments with mobile phones 2. People everywhere taking and sharing photos with the mobile phones 3. Signs asking people to connect, share, scan and more All of these events are not only opportunities for businesses to advertise, but also opportunities for them to connect with a larger audience. Mobile has become the new, not-so-secret weapon, for successful event marketing. Mobile marketing... Read more »

How to Plan an Email Marketing Campaign for Your Event

Posted November 21st, 2013 by lbradford & filed under Email - How to Use Effectively, Event Rebels Blog, What's New.

The average email subscriber receives 416 commercial emails per month. While open rates vary by industry and organization type, it is safe to assume that not all of these emails are read. What happens to the emails deemed not worth reading? According to research by ExactTarget, when subscribers receive emails that don’t meet their interests, 67% will unsubscribe, 17% will delete the email, 8% will mark the email as spam, 6% will ignore the email, and 2% will set up a filter for future emails. If you do not want the messages about your event to get lost in the... Read more »

Why Your Online Registration Form Should Look Like Your Web Site

Posted November 7th, 2013 by K.C. Hopson & filed under Branding, Event Rebels Blog, Online Registration - Keys to Success, What's New.

It happens all too often. An organization creates a beautiful web site for their conference or special event, only to have their brand obscured by an online registration form that looks like a cheap invitation. Apparently someone thought that the idea of a consistent marketing message ends at the time of registration. This, of course, is a big mistake. Here is why: It breaks the fundamental rule of a consistent marketing message. The site builds up the notion that you are going to have a great conference, but the registration form has the appearance of a second-rate operation. Your brand... Read more »

Posts Categorized: What’s New

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