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EventCamp Series – Post II

Posted on February 8, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

Holy backchannel!

One of the coolest things about EventCamp10 was the backchannel. Being that such enthusiastic live and virtual attendees were participating both in the live sessions and on the backchannel, it could be difficult and somewhat frustrating to wait your turn to ask a question or make a comment.

Enter . . . the backchannel. It was certainly a lively one, and definitely enhanced the education and value of my time at EventCamp.

The best thing about 140 characters? It’s the perfect size for a key takeaway. With so many people firing them out, the #EC10 tweetstream is truly an awesome supplement to the real deal.

Now down to business.

Following the opening keynote of EventCamp10 was a breakout, Creating Hybrid Events, lead by a panel consisting of Mike McCurry, Paul Salinger and Rob Swanwick.

A hybrid event is a face-to-face event that has at least one virtual component to it, be it a live web cast, participants contributing via a chat platform, Google Wave, etc. The message of the panelists was that if we are successful in engaging a virtual audience along with the face-to-face audience, hybrid events will complement the content and extend the reach of the event.

There are a lot of challenges, unexpected and expected, when trying to engage the virtual audience. In my own experiences attempting to participate in webinars/webcasts and virtual events, I’ve encountered several challenges myself:

  • Poor internet connection leads to delay
  • If the event takes place during business hours and I want to participate live, instead of watching the archive, it’s nearly impossible to dedicate adequate attention to the event.
  • For me, there is just something about being there live that helps me to get more out of it. I’m not just talking networking, my ability to really digest what was covered is lacking.

This doesn’t mean that virtual should be counted out. It just means that everyday distractions and technical challenges create obstacles for virtual attendees. Also, the reasons why we went to EventCamp are because we understand that this technology is fairly new, constantly changing, and has room for improvement. We went there to bounce ideas, questions and experiences off of one another.

Key Takeaways

  • Virtual component gives you the valuable opportunity to track and measure participation, usage and reach
  • Publish the hashtag on event website and invitations – get the word out, AKA “seeding”
    • Kevin Richardson (virtual attendee) said this best: @klrichardson key to hybrid event – work in virtual space prior to event. Seed & then sow. Compliment content for virtual audience #ec10
  • Consider turning your website into an event platform temporarily, for a week around the event. What everyone really wants, the organizer(s), participants, speakers and sponsors is to talk to one another. Make it easy.
  • Freemium versus premium. This can be a touchy subject. Maybe free for members, low rate for non-members? Look at your audience and evaluate their expectations and what you are confident you can deliver.
    • Andy Lawson of Freeman said it a bit more eloquently: @freemanco_andy: Cost should match value when deciding on pricing for virtual. Expectation is the wildcard. Each attendee/customer values differently #ec10
  • My thought – what about a relatively low fee, but if the attendees RT a promotional message with the hashtag and/or subscribe to your blog, give them free access?
  • Dana Freker Doody (another virtual attendee) of The Expo Group had an interesting question – would the pay-if-you-want-to model work?
    • @theexpogroup: @klrichardson Thx I optimistically believe members want to see their organizations/communities succeed & want to contribute (if value) #ec10
  • Embrace the virtual audience, one way could be designating a facilitator/moderator for virtual attendees.

Whether or not you were able to attend virtually or in person, the tweetstream and the great blog posts popping up reinforce what we learned while offering things to contemplate and fresh insight.

I’m sure I missed some great information from this session, if you caught something I didn’t, please share it in the comments below!

Here is a photo of part of “blogger’s row” that I snagged from McCurry’s Corner.

Moment of genius? Or just trying to look like one? :)

Paul Salinger and I sitting on "blogger's row"

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EventCamp10 Series – Post I

Posted on February 7, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

EventProfs, Social Media, Ideas and . . . cats. Lots of ‘em.

Oh, and Water Buffalo Hats.

Grand Poobah.

I’m writing this post from a plane, somewhere between NYC and Atlanta and marveling at the indescribably empowering weekend I just had . . . and all of the white stuff I can see tens of thousands of feet below me. (Not quite the snowpocalypse that had everyone nervous on Friday, but still kind of cool.)

Way up in the air somewhere between NYC and Atlanta

Organized by some of the most engaging and active participants in the #eventprofs community, EventCamp was an idea of Christina Coster’s that came to life through her collaboration with Jeff Hurt, Michael McCurry, Jessica Levin and Mike McAllen. These trail blazers aimed to bring together event professionals already active in social media to discuss best practices, trends, pitfalls and the future impact of social media on events.

With great minds like those collaborating to make EventCamp a reality, the outstanding success of EventCamp should really come as no surprise.

The camaraderie and collaboration began at dinner on Friday night, before EventCamp even officially started. After literally taking over the bar at the Roger Smith Hotel, the group headed out to Piola, a quaint little Italian spot.

Sitting at a long series of two-tops pushed together, it was quite a sight to see 22 individuals (EventCamp would later draw over 70 attendees), many of whom just met in person for the first time hours earlier, laughing and happily chatting it up like old friends.

Well, this shouldn’t have come as a surprise either, we are old friends. I’d even go as far as to say family. Dinner was amazing. A few of us that weren’t quite ready to call it a night headed over to one of Deb Roth’s favorite haunts, Jack’s, where she treated us to a great night.

Which makes me wonder why people always refer to “southern hospitality” when mentioning Atlanta – apparently, this is not exclusive to my part of the country.

EventCamp started bright and early the next morning with a lovely breakfast and jokes about the noticeably absent, but much-hyped snow.

Once sufficiently caffeinated and carbed up, I headed into the opening session, How to change the world: Good guide to Social Media Marketing, led by Dave Berkowitz of 360i.

He recommended that we measure the outcomes of social media marketing through evaluation via a weighted scored card in this format:

Impression                 1 X

View video                  3 X

Click through              4 X

Rate video                  4 X

Share video                10 X

Embed video              20 X

Create video               100 X

This was a really helpful nugget for me. I already knew that all of these things should be considered when monitoring your marketing initiatives – but by presenting this way, Dave is showing a no-nonsense way to measure the success of social media – something that is not always easy to do.

Dave also warned those who are new to social media avoid using the social media checklist when getting started, i.e:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Widgets
  • MySpace

Just blindly broadcasting on the big three and other trendy platforms at this moment is not the way to go. Here is what needs to be considered before you invest any time, money or resources.

Where is your audience? If the people you are trying to reach are, say, a group of 50yo+ doctors, they may not be on Twitter or Facebook (and hopefully aren’t on MySpace). They may not be in any of these places. Yet.

Personally, I feel that if you’re dealing with a group like the aforementioned 50yo+ docs, meaning they’ve heard of these things but don’t yet understand the potential value or relevance and therefore have not been able to justify learning more. Our job is to help by educating and engaging.

I would suggest you put most of your time into blogging for this audience. On the about page, you can give some FAQ and quick tips to help them best utilize the blog. It may be helpful to have a Twitter account, but I wouldn’t have my main focus on that. This audience isn’t on Twitter yet. They may click to see your account, but that doesn’t mean they’ve seen enough to actually create an account and pay attention long enough to get into it.

Right now, so many people are saying to us “teach me Twitter.” It seems easy and like a no-brainer and something the cool kids are doing, and not really considering whether or not it fits in with your goals and audience. Something like a blog sounds like and is a lot more work – but in the end, putting the work into the right medium for your goals is worth it. Tweeting to an empty room? Not so much.

Dave told us that you have your arsenal of social media tools. Now it’s time to follow the rules of the road.

  1. Travel – when you are visiting somewhere new, various social media mediums, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.
  2. BE A PILGRIM, not a tourist! On “traveling” to the social media world. PILGRIMS earn respect – but as far as tourists . . .
  3. Pack appropriately. (Looking back on my notes this is all I wrote down for this one and my memory is failing me – I am thinking this means quality content? Please let me know if you caught this one.)
  4. You don’t have to travel alone, everyone’s welcome on the journey (media, PR, creative, HR, web development, corporate marketing)
  5. Learn how to listen. As you travel social media – listen here (Twitter), and here (analytics) Google blog search, Google news alerts
  6. Understand the platforms and how things have shifted. Don’t go out there and broadcast, broadcast, broadcast. Your audience now expects a two-way dialogue – and they want to direct it.

And not to downplay this session, which I really enjoyed and found interesting, Dave also enlightened us on my new obsession, Cat Paint. Which, I’m not alone on this, as you’ll notice throughout the tweetstream, people were twitpicking unknowing victims of what Ray Hansen refers to as Cat-Fancying. So fun!!!

This is all I have for now. Considering I have 17 (!!) pages of notes, I plan to recap EventCamp over several posts and will attempt to get them out pretty quickly while it’s still fresh in my mind.

Finally, a big, heartfelt, sincere, and humble THANK YOU to my friends that created EventCamp, supported me, and participated (virtual and live). EventCamp, and the weeks leading up to it will forever have an impact on me. Thank you.

And I miss you all already!!!

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BIG Weekend Coming Up – Goals for my EventCamp Experience.

Posted on February 1, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

I have a daily . . . tradition . . . habit . . . addiction . . . ? OK, I don’t know what to call it, so let’s just say all three.

As soon as I get home from work, the first thing I do is check the snail mail, say hi to Toby (my cat) and plop down on my bed to catch up on all that I missed on the internet. This means perusing through 100 – 200 blog posts. After a long Monday, Jenise Fryatt’s post I’m Going to EventCamp! The Very First EventCamp is Just Days Away was one of the first to pop up in my Google Reader.

Jenise’s post couldn’t have echoed my same enthusiastic and excited feelings any better. However, its necessary to add the oh-my-gosh-I-cannot-believe-I-am-lucky-enough-to-be-given-this-opportunity feelings that have been visibly buzzing around me for a few weeks now.

A few days ago, Robert Swanwick asked via the EventCamp10 Pathable page what our goals are for EventCamp. He challenged us to post them publicly with a promise that the organizers would do their best to make them happen. Here goes.

Convert more of the online relationships I’ve enjoyed over the past year to real-life friends/colleagues/mentors. There is just something about finally shaking hands with the person behind the avatar that really takes the relationship to the next level . . . and there are a lot of people I can’t wait to meet.

Come home with at least five major light bulb moments. I’m talking “Wow! Now I get it!” . . . “Who would’ve thought…?” . . . “Now THAT is thinking outside of the box – imagine the possibilities!” type of moments. And with the speakers lined up, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Come home completely reinvigorated, inspired and motivated to brainstorm my head off to develop strategies and ideas for events, tradeshows and social media too good to be overlooked.

Come home with one gem that is specifically relevant to medical association events. Many times at industry events I learn a lot of great information, but usually most of it is not applicable to medical meetings (think ultra-conservative . . . highly regulated). For example, IAEE’s annual meeting was awesome, but only one session was truly applicable to my current work. While the others were very extremely interesting and educational – they just didn’t have the value of that one session. I’m looking for one light bulb moment that will translate to the unique challenges of medical meetings.

Come home a slightly different person. I want “think outside the box” to be my way of life, not something I tell myself during moments of frustration.

Leave behind my annoying tendency to second guess myself to the point of clamming up and not offering my insight. Sometimes in meetings or at events I have questions or observations that could add to the conversation. Many times, I let my insecurities take over and I just leave it be. My question or observation becomes a mere note scrawled in the margin of my notebook, basically forgotten and worthless. I hate this about myself. I’m about to be in a room of like-minded people that will welcome this kind of dialogue and collaboration . . .  and I’m determined to not let insecurity ruin this opportunity for me.

Give back next year. By this I mean get involved in the behind-the-scenes EventCamp work. The organizers of this event are working really hard to put on a top on the line, innovative and worthwhile event. I cannot imagine how these people handle this on top of their normal jobs! I hope they realize how much we appreciate the event AND the people behind it. Thank you for being leaders in the industry!

Take a picture with Christina Coster, my bestie I’ve never met, in matching Water Buffalo hats. Enough said.

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What is the ROI of accepting a junior level staffer’s request to attend an industry conference?

Posted on January 25, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

It can be very expensive to attend an event when you add up registration fees, travel and accommodations. These costs can easily add up to $1,000. Why should you invest this kind of money on a junior staffer?

I’ll begin by stating the obvious reasons why such requests are typically not even considered.

1.  Have you turned on the news? We’re in a recession. You’re lucky to even have a job.

2.  Why would I send a junior level staffer? They’re not a decision-maker. Where is my ROI?

3.  It’ll be over their head. Again. Where is my ROI?

Now, I challenge you to consider why you should contemplate such a request.

Yes, we are in a recession, but there are always ways to manipulate budgets if necessary. If your financial situation is so dire that this is not possible, bookmark this post for 2011.

Many junior level staffers are hungry for educational opportunities. Yes, there are also plenty of bad seeds who get by doing the bare minimum to get a satisfactory annual review. I’d imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult for you to spot the hungry ones if you tried, though.

A hungry junior level staffer may not grasp everything that is said at an industry conference, but you better believe they will try. And down the road, they’ll encounter a situation that reminds them of something from the conference and connect the dots. That my friends, is how light bulb moments are born.

Remember back when you were junior level? Before you moved into a corner office, when your days consisted of tasks like taking minutes for a meeting instead of participating, working hard on a report only to have someone above you present it, preparing name badges, travel reimbursement forms, etc.

I’m not complaining. I understand these not-so-glamorous tasks are necessary and someone has to do them. And the reasons why you now sit in a corner office are because you worked hard, proved yourself, and earned it. I get that. I’m just suggesting you invest a little bit to nurture a hungry junior level staffer, much like yourself, X-number of years ago.

After considering the above pro’s and con’s, I came up with an alternative solution that could potentially:

  • Reduce or eliminate the risk of poor ROI
  • Encourage professional development
  • Position you as a mentor
  • Improve productivity
  • Boost employee moral

Here it is.

If it is plausible to move a relatively small (think big picture) amount of money to a line item for junior staff professional development on your budget, do it. Allocate roughly $1,000 to this item.

Send out an e-mail calling for proposals to attend educational events (on the company’s dime) to staffers of a certain level, or range of levels (for example, coordinators to managers).

If eligible employees have an interest in attending an industry conference, they may submit a proposal to be considered to attend an industry conference – a costly, but valuable, opportunity.

Choose up to five different educational events as options for proposals (for example, IAEE, HCEA, MPI, ASAE or PCMA), but only allow one proposal for one event per applicant. The most deserving applicants will really think about the personal value of each option while taking into consideration the likelihood that you would agree.

Designate a strong deadline and specific requirements for the proposal to be considered.

Specific requirements could include:

  • Why is this relevant to your day-to-day responsibilities, the goals of your department, etc.?
  • What will you do to prove you are the best recipient of the funding before, during and after the event?
  • What specific sessions at the particular conference will be of most value and relevance to you personally and to our department/organization?

Hungry junior staffers + competition + opportunity = survival of the fittest.

Or the most qualified. Or the best return on your investment.

After the deadline, review the applications yourself or with a team of leaders from your organization to determine the best and most deserving recipient.

After deciding, tell the junior staffer who stood out the most the good news and make their month, and a highlight in their career path.

Finally, after the event, call the winner into your office and ask them what they learned. Ask for key takeaways. Ignore any nervous vibes they may put off (again, remember when you were a junior staffer?).

If the junior staffer rattles off several key takeaways off of the top of their head, asks for clarification on something that was discussed, or pulls out their notes – pat yourself on the back. You have chosen wisely.

While the ROI may not be immediately evident in dollars, you now have your hands on a newly-motivated, appreciative, proud and ready-to-tackle-anything go-getter. Who also works for you.

A former boss of mine used to always say:

When you think you’re green, you grow. When you think you’re ripe, you rot.

Years later, I realize just how spot-on she was.

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Medical Meetings: Current Challenges and Emerging Trends

Posted on January 21, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

In her latest post, Funding 2010: CME to Sponsorship, Sue Pelletier of MeetingsNet covers challenges and trends arising from the current economic environment and the PhRMA and AdvaMed codes that came into effect January 2009. She discusses two medical meeting trends that have resulted from the challenges, product theaters and prospecting non-endemic companies as an alternative sponsors.

Product theaters really started popping up last year as a promotional activity that is still compliant with the PhRMA and AdvaMed codes, which greatly limit the giveaways and activities of pharmaceutical and biotech companies at medical conferences. Long story short: no more pens, pads, coffee mugs, key chains, or anything “fun” or not directly related to patient education of “modest” value.

In addition to product theaters, there was also a drastic increase of food in exhibit halls and giveaways like educational DVDs, thumb drives pre-loaded with product information, pocket guides, etc. One cool thing I saw were printable patient fact sheets, customizable with the doc’s photo and information.

Like the name states, product theaters give exhibitors the opportunity to purchase a time slot and lead a non-CME presentation to a small audience, and are often located in the exhibit hall. Exhibitors seem to find product theaters a compliant and effective way to get their message to interested attendees. Since they are a relatively new trend, it will be interesting to see how product theaters evolve and if exhibitors ultimately feel participation is a good return on investment.

I was a bit surprised to see that the article mentioned a professional medical society that allows promotional presentations in meeting rooms between regular educational sessions. This struck me as odd for two reasons:

(1) The product theater was outside of the exhibit hall. Although the article does emphasize the importance of clearly stating that the sessions are promotional in nature and do not offer CME, I wonder if this is walking the thin (and surrounded by gray area) line of the PhRMA code, which I’m sure most medical societies and compliance officers would be wary of.

(2) The time slots are offered between educational sessions. Where did they find the time? Most medical conferences have jam-packed schedules full of concurrent sessions.

The other part of the article that I found interesting was the practice of soliciting funding in the form of sponsorships from non-endemic companies whose products or services may appeal to medical conference attendees, and they don’t have to comply with the PhRMA code. The immediate question would then be how to determine your rules for exhibitors and sponsors concerning giveaways and activities. Pelletier warned that exhibitors who are compliant with the code may think it is an unfair advantage to allow, for example, a computer company, to give away the fun tsotchkes.

My thought: What’s the worst that could happen in you allow non-endemic exhibitors to distribute the traditional tradeshow giveaways? While they may have an advantage in generating traffic to their booth in particular, it will also increase exhibit hall traffic in general, which is good for everyone.

As always, I’d love to hear your input in the comments below.

Sidebar: Inspired by Lara McCulloch-Carter’s successful creation of the #eventprofs hashtag, I occasionally tag relevant tweets with #medmtgs. I’m probably the only person actually using this hashtag, but am hopeful more tweeps who find this stuff interesting will get on board.

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13 Telltale Signs You’re an Event or Tradeshow Professional . . .

Posted on January 14, 2010 by ChristinaStallings

13. Words like signage, drayage, priority points, rendering, lead retrieval, BEO and door drop are a regular part of your lexicon

12. The thought of light traffic is a very bad thing

11. Your buddies in the communications department now hate you for the unavoidable flurry of last minute, seemingly insignificant (note: seemingly) edits you request for text on signs and in conference publications

10. Your head nearly explodes when you spot an error on-site on said signs or in the conference publications you proofread so many times your eyes watered incessantly and you learned what ocular migraines are

9. You determine your route through the exhibit hall floor based on the booths with the most expensive carpet (think ultra-padded and so soft you almost have to grip it with your toes to keep from losing your balance)

8. On the last day of the exhibition you summon  your best auditory and stalking skills and track down exhibitors attempting early dismantle

7. You utilize your newly-realized stalking skills to trail a suspected suitcaser, ninja-style, all the way from the exhibit hall to the other end of the convention center to catch him in the act

6. You are familiar with the term booth babe, but can’t help but smirk when you realize it’s not just limited to women

male booth babe

booth babe of the male species

5. You have perfected the stink-eye to the point where the exhibitor who continues to subtly turn up the volume of their microphone (despite repeated and strongly-worded warnings) stops dead in his tracks and obediently complies for the rest of the show

4. If you are lucky enough to win the temp staff lottery, you will use any means possible to keep your co-workers from stealing your star employee

3. You know how to spell and pronounce tschotske . . . and wonder what medical conference exhibit halls looked like before the PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals

2. You witness firsthand that the stories you’ve read about what happens to exhibitors who are crazy enough to break union rules are not tall tales at all

1. Despite reasons 2 – 15, when the show closes and your work is done, you are at the hotel bar with your general services contractor, celebrating and joking about the did-that-really-just-happen-moments over a glass of wine (or two . . .)

Then you start it all over again!

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