People attend conferences and events for education, entertainment and engagement – a desire to engage in meaningful conversation with other attendees and with presenters.

Gary Vaynerchuck’s presentation at LeWeb sparked a blog post on Why Livestreaming your conference is a no-brainer.  His followup interview with Gianfranco Chicco extended my thinking on the value of the conference / event experience to attendees.

Perhaps the highlight of Gary’s presentation at Le Web was his interaction with Loic LeMeur, founder and host of Le Web who said: “[Le Web] is not a conference, it’s a community” to which Gary exploded with this remark “If this is a f*%king community, why aren’t we doing Q&A?!”

I highly recommend checking out Gary’s full conversation with @Loic but be prepared, if you haven’t seen Gary Vee before, he uses the #F word at least a half dozen times in his presentation.

The future of Conferences

Successful Events can be measured by how successfully they balance the three E’s.

• Education,
• Entertainment
• Engagement

Technology has made access to information free.  Education can help attendees put the ideas and information to use in a meaningful hands-on sort of way.  This demands smaller breakout group sizes and meaningful interaction with presenters. This is why the unconference / barcamp learning environment has been such a successful event formula.

The Q & A forum advocated for by @garyvee is a good one, and the ability of the presenter to dance on their feet and provide great value for the audience will require recruiting speakers who know their stuff backwards and forwards, understand the needs of their audience and are comfortable in a “Bring it on” environment.

This clearly isn’t the entire spectrum of presenters who took the stage at #leweb, or any other conference or event you have recently attended. Some of the brightest lights in social media and tourism – sadly, are poor presenters on stage and do not engage their audience.

Entertainment and Performance Matter too

Gary’s points taken into consideration, some presentations are performances. Lawrence Lessig comes to mind. Give me a front row seat for one of Larry’s presentations and I don’t want to interact or engage with him.  Although the online version of his presentations will fail to fully capture the value he brings to every presentation I urge you to give him a few minutes to see what the Stanford Law professor brings to the stage.  We need more like him.

Rethinking Conferences and Events: Put the Three E’s front and center

I think the large conference / event format itself may be broken. Smaller breakout groups are really valuable and providing access for Q & A and authentic engagement is much more valuable than panel discussions because attendees can get exactly what they came for.

Big names will put bums in seats, but the measures of success that matter most to attendees will always be the richness of audience engagement and off-stage social interactions.

Are your attendees getting the education, entertainment and engagement they desire?  Consider asking this question to gauge feedback at your next event:

Did you get what you came for?

The idea of charging a fee for video and audio from conferences and events is old, and comes from the days of charging for tapes of presentations as a way of boosting revenue from live events.  Those days are over.

Today, sitting in little old South River, Ontario, Canada I’m watching the live streaming event LeWeb from Paris France – for free.  Not everyone can afford to travel to conferences and not everyone can attend your event each year.  By letting participants peak into your conference on their computer, you build your event reputation, entice future attendees and earn fans far beyond the walls of your event.

Events like LeWeb and Web 2.0 Conference put some of the brightest lights in the tech industry on stage for their audience and give away the content. These events gain a wide audience and inspire people to consider attending in person and make it more enticing for presenters to offer their services at little or no cost.

These events and others like Phocuswright Conference for Tourism Industry earn income by providing a stage for start-ups to showcase their businesses.  Unlike others, Phocuswright charges a fee for access to streaming and on-demand video.  This insulates conference content from those who don’t pay for access, and offers less exposure for the people and businesses that take the stage.

Growing your brand exposure by giving away the proceedings, earns free promotion for your event from people “Outside the Walls” who:

• tweet about happenings with your hash tags (even though they are not there)
• broadcast the news and info and crediting your event
• tell others about what they learn
• blog about ideas they see and hear
• link back to your event
• attend future events

In this regard your event might consider moving the cost of video production from an expense that will produce income (selling access to video from your event) to a Public Relations and Promotions expense that will grow future attendance at your events.

Ask Yourself: How can I extend my brand and involve people who can’t be here?

Why Live Streaming your Event is a no brainer:

Audience members can stream your event themselves today for FREE.  Apple yesterday approved the Ustream Live Broadcaster application for iPhone.  Now anyone with an iPhone 3G can  live stream video straight from the iPhone to the Ustream Web site.  That video can be embedded in other Web pages for free.  When audience members are holding up their phones, they are no longer just snapping photos, but sending video of your conference or event to others on the Web.

The Ustream.tv Live Broadcasting app works on both 3G cell phone connections as well as Wi-Fi.  It supports audience interaction with chatroom messaging and polling of viewers and allows uploading video to Youtube and Facebook.  Ustream Live is available in the iTunes store for FREE here

Other apps like Qik Video for iPhone (and other smartphone devices) has submitted its app for approval to the iTunes store as well.  This app permits instant updates of Video broadcasting via Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

All information is already free. The information attendees gather from your event will be publically available around the world before your speakers even step off stage.  There is virtually no information that Google can’t provide, but for the sake of a couple of keystrokes.

Information presented at your event is already old. The Web is changing so quickly that information has a “Best Before” date stamped on it that expires before the signs are taken down and the stage is packed away.

If they can get it for free, why would anyone come to your event?

The truth is, most people don’t come to your event for the conference proceedings and presentations.  They come to socialize with other attendees and presenters.  The biggest value you bring to attendees is the opportunity to build face to face relationships.  If your event doesn’t gain renown for the face to face interactions that take place in between presentations, you have a bigger problem than ubiquitous live streaming video.

photo credit: kitcowan

These 60 bullet points are the highlights from my 60 minute keynote presentation at the BC Hospitality Industry Conference in Vancouver, November 24, 2009.

1. You don’t need to be a techie to accomplish a lot.
2. Know your customer and meet their needs.
3. 2/3 of Travelers use the Web exclusively to plan travel.  Not focused online? Don’t worry, you still have 30% of travelers who will see your stuff (as well as Internet content).
4. Is it time to consider budgetary priorities based one where the income is coming from?  For most of us, YES.
5. Consider the best measures for success in all your marketing.  Then measure it.  For most of us measure results like phone calls, emails, visa receipts, etc. (NOT Web hits).
6. Your Website is stale, media and social Web can make it better.
7. Webmasters should never control your access to posting content.  If you are a Webmaster, start thinking of a different way to do what you do best and change your name for goodness sake, tourism industry doesn’t need masters, we need teachers and facilitators.
   
8. Consider your Website as the centre of all your media.
9. Media - Good news, there will only ever be four types of media – text, photos, video, audio.  Anyone can post any of these for FREE.
10. When distribution is free, reallocate distribution expenses to production of stories using all kinds of media and distribute content across multiple Web 2.0 Websites (online applications).
11. Anyone can create MEDIA and upload it to the Web.  You too!
12. Blogging with WordPress could replace most traditional Websites.
13. Mobile uploads to youtube up 400% since introduction of iPhone 3gs.
14. Youtube . . . Over 1 Billion views per day worldwide – Oct 9, 09.
15. Travelers want your photos and their own.
16. Photos: 2 Billion uploads/ month  on Facebook.  Flickr: 90 million/month – less than 1/20th size of Facebook. (September 09)
17. Basics of getting great photos:
    the right model,
    the right location,
    cues of activity,
    mood/emotion.
18. Hire the pros if you have money… DMO’s consider investing in photographers that are vetted and offer packages to operators.
19. Post your stuff under Creative Commons. Your best stuff will get seen.  With CC attribution, users will link back to your site. Come on, drop the Copyright.
20. Facebook is adding Half a Million New Users Every Day.  Don’tcha think some of them are your ideal guests?
21. Over 44% of all Internet users are active in social media.
    Travelers are especially social:
    19% visit blogs
    1/3 have written a review
    42% Youtube
    33% Facebook
    27% Trip Advisor
    73% search for photos
22. Facebook fan boxes…. Embed one on your site.  Your fans will love you for it and join.
23. IT’s OK for work to be fun.
24. Twitter: 60 Million users, 1171% Growth Rate. Worth getting in?
25. 19% of people update status daily – ie: Facebook status, Twitter, others.  That’s way up from just 9% in October of 2008.
26. Tweets now featured in search engine results. Bing and Google deals  in October, 2009.
27. Real Time Search is the next big thing.
28. Position your social media contact points in obvious places in print media: ie – receipts, business cards, posters, brochures.
29. Position your real world contact points in obvious places online.  ie: Phone number on every page.  Hey, handheld users can click it and dial you up.  This is a good thing.
30. Everyone has an audience.
31. 59% think customer reviews are more important than professional reviews.
32. 63% are more likely to purchase if a company has reviews.
33. Social Media is not optional.  Your business is naked.
34. Social sites like Facebook aren’t Websites, they are online applications.
35. Fans can make a difference
36. 7 deadly sins of Social media
    thinking you can control it,
    being unprepared for negatives,
    taking time to respond,
    expecting others to protect your brand,
    thinking your reputation rests with management,
    being deaf to conversation that includes your brand, region, your services,
    charging for Internet access.
37. Give Away WiFi access and never stop banging on the door for faster wired & handheld Internet access in your community.
38. High speed Internet access can double the revenue generating capacity across all industries in communities without it.  Faster speeds will likely increase revenue.
39. The real goal of your business isn’t to make sales, it is to Create FANS.
40. Check your listing on Google Maps.
41. Ask your Fans to tell their story on TripAdvisor – Embed a link in emails, tag lines, Websites, business cards.
42. The right business card and the right messagel can increase revenue 20%.
43. Current’cy is the new Currency.
44. The Here and Now Web means all your digital assets can be linked to location.  Do it.
45. 60% of the people in world have cell phone contract (3.1 billion). Phones are replaced every 18 months.  Most new phones are smartphones.
46. Over 90% of cell phone users have their phone with them 24/7.  This will be the Web marketing channel that matters most in travel.  Get started now.
47. 39% of N.A. now have smart phones.  Double from 2008.
48. 35% of 8 year olds in the U.K. have cell phones.
49. QR Codes: in Japan readers on 70% of new phones and can hyperlink any place, time or object to the Web. Apps can do the same in N.A.
50. Shop and pay with your phone?  It’s here.
51. Your next Website might not be a Website.  Think app!
52. Your app could:
    provide links to all your social media,
    allow fans to purchase directly from their phone or handheld device,
    allow your fans to upload and share their stories across all media types.
53. Hilton watched handheld revenue only double from mobile site year over year 2008-2009.  Then in May, month to month handheld sales started soaring!  Up 400% month over month from May to October.  Yes, we’ve hit the tipping point for mobile.  What are you waiting for?  Maybe you need to shift some of your print advertising budget.
54. Thinking app: Think iPhone, Blackberry, Android… in that order.
55. Collaborate with others in your community.
56. Engage your team.
57. Hire the skills of production and distribution.  Think beyond traditional job descriptions and application forms. Add some social media questions like: Which Web sites do you use?
58. The biggest shift in investment needed to succeed in social media is from money to time.  Where are you going to find the time to do the most important things?
59. It’s not too late to get started.
60. Augmented Reality . . . don’t even get me started about what the future holds.

Got any bullet points to add?  What’s your favourite?

BTW, these points are all published here under creative commons license.  Feel free to use and attribute the ideas to this blog with a link back.

Successful Destination Marketing Organizations
Tourism businesses can succeed with the help of a strong destination marketing organization. At the core, a shared community vision about the values in a community are at the heart of any shared marketing project.

By bringing together traditional and non-traditional partners in tourism and getting the word out with a variety of online media the entire community benefits.

Stratford Ontario (WelcomeToStratford.com) is a DMO that offers great marketing opportunities to its membership. Telling compelling stories about your community is the role of your DMO or DMMO (Destination Marketing and Management Organization) and Stratford Tourism Alliance does it well by focusing on community character, culture and cuisine. I chatted with Cathy Rehberg, Marketing Coordinator for Stratford Tourism Alliance at the recent Ontario Tourism Summit.

Before you ask DMO members for money . . .

Does your community have a shared vision of what your community offers the traveler?  Before you ask you members for money, ask them to contribute to the vision of what makes a visit to your region special.  Invite members to a community forum so that your DMO can find success by tapping into the pulse and lifeblood of your community.

What makes your community unique?

All you have is stories.

Your destination marketing organization (DMO) benefits from the stories your guests tell about their experiences in your region. That’s part of what makes tech savvy travel writers and content creators of all sorts (think video, audio, photos too!) such an important part of your marketing effort.

• The good news: Travelers are beginning to tell stories. 1/3 of travelers have reported publishing feedback on the places they have visited at least once. The bad news: DMO’s and travel regions cannot control these stories.
• Stories are influential: 19% of travelers visit blogs prior to their visit, 27% check out reviews on TripAdvisor.com.
• Multimedia Matters: An incredible 42% of Travelers head over to Youtube to check out video on their chosen travel region.
• Spreading the Word: 33% of travelers use Facebook to learn more about travel options.

Travel Bloggers

Travel writers are well known advocates for the Travel Industry. Tech Savvy Travel writers (travel bloggers) tell interesting, compelling stories using a variety of online media. Travel Bloggers can strongly influence how people feel about visiting your region. Savvy DMO’s are now recruiting bloggers and giving them engaging travel experiences that the Destination Marketing Organization believes cast a positive light on their region.

Travel Bloggers are more than just a writers

Tech literate travel writers not only write stories about your region, they also:

* tell stories before, during and after their experience.
* are masters of multimedia: photograph, record audio and video.
* distribute stories across multiple Web sites and blogs.
* have followers across a variety of social media: blogs, facebook, twitter!

It’s all about getting your STORIES seen.

Last week I met with Lucy Izon, an award-winning travel writer at the Ontario Tourism Summit and we stopped for a quick chat on the value of tech savvy travel writers to grow visibility for your travel region.

Lucy is also a big fan of Twitter (@canadacool) with almost 30 000 followers! Talk about the ability to influence an audience.

Recruit a Blogger as a permanent Travel Writer for your Destination Marketing Organizaton

Bloggers are the new Travel Writers. Bloggers are multimedia specialists and are an important and underutilized asset that can quickly get your region the attention it deserves. Consider putting a blogger on the payroll of your Destination Marketing organization and set them loose in your community.

Regional Travel Blogs

• Spotted by Locals
• My Life in Leeds
• Go Visit Hawaii.com

Other Travel Blogging Posts

• Travel Bloggers: a different Breed of Media
• Blogging Networks: A great conversation about blogging networks
• Community Web presence Podcast with Darren Cronian
• Why Blogging Matters to Tourism – a conversation with Chris Brogan

In Pittsburgh, dozens and dozens of downtown businesses closed during the G20 Meetings, September 24-25, 2009.  Those that stayed open, saw minimal benefit.

“It’s like a ghost town. I don’t know why we opened today,” said the owner of a fast food restaurant.  “We’ll be throwing out over a thousand dollars in perishable food.  There just aren’t any customers.  We’ll be closed for the second day of the G20.  It’s too bad, Friday is usually our best day.”

The city of Pittsburgh left it up to individual businesses whether to remain open during the two-day summit, most chose to close.

“We know it’s an inconvenience,” Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato said. “It will be a win for all the businesses. If more people come here because of this, every single business will get the benefit.”

BUT, that’s a big IF.

Hosting an International event of the significance of the G20 will, in the short-term, be a major expense and inconvenience for business. But will it be a small price to pay for long-term economic benefits? Only time will tell.

Leaders at this summit have declared the G20 to be the pre-eminent circle of global leaders, supplanting the G8.  As a result, the resort town of Huntsville, Ontario – will likely host a G20 event next June.  The lack of tangible short or medium term benefits for hosting such an event in early summer should be a concern to business leaders.

Meeting the needs of journalists and media

Huntsville, in the heart of Muskoka is cottage country with ample opportunities for outdoor adventure and nature tours.  Unfortunately, media at events like this don’t arrive early or stay late.  They come to town to do their job and leave once that job is complete.  Anyone considering offering special packages for journalists or delegates of the G20 will be very disappointed in the response of these short-stay visitors.

Links:

• Pittsburgh Business Times on the Benefits of Hosting G8

I recently jumped into work on a project involving a gathering of global significance on Greenland this July. Learn more and consider joining the social network at http://fireandiceceremony.ning.com

You might even consider applying to join me in Greenland. The event is very small due to the remote nature of the event, but important scientists and story-tellers will be there with spiritual leaders from around the world to discuss the significance of the melting of the big ice at the top of the world.
I am also looking at ways to bring this event to as many people as possible online.

As many of you know, I’m also a Climate Change presenter with Al Gore’s – The Climate Project which is taking place from May 14-16, 2009.
This is a live blogging stream from the Climate Project Summit in Nashville, Tennesse. I hope to share some photos and text that brings the most important messages from this event to the Web in real time. I plan to share updates through the day Thursday eve thru Saturday, May 16, 2009.

I’m in Newfoundland this week with @CelesDavar and @NancyArsenault facilitating Edge of the Wedge – Experiential Tourism with the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism (GMIST).

We hope you’ll follow along on Twitter and Ustream.tv to learn about experiential travel including – trends, community projects, online marketing, sustainability, pricing and more.

We’ll be twittering at #gmist and live streaming portions at http://www.Ustream.tv

Mesh 2009 (Canada’s Web conference) opened with Michael Masnick (@mmasnick) giving a terrific history lesson on how technological innovation has previously caused economic upheaval.

Michael Masnick (part I)

The lesson for today’s travel and tourism industry is an important one.

Pricing pressures will be acutely felt on the services or offerings you have that are easily copied, especially in the current economy.

Raising the bar and providing niche experiences that are not available to everyone increases the value and price point of your offering.

Michael Masnick (part II)

Democracy Gets a Boost with Bloggers

For the first time ever, global voices were shared live from an International Summit. The Bloggers of G20Voice and their audience shared first hand accounts of Summit news with streaming live video, instantly uploaded photos and audio and timely blog posts.

In most cases, international events such as the G20 garner little attention from people around the world. We open our papers the day after the event, see the photo of global leaders and gloss over headlines of the news. For their part, the mainstream news industry provides limited space and scope for the stories barely scratching the surface on what has happened.

Bloggers from around the world aren’t bound by the same time and space requirements of traditional media.

• The musings of a diverse group of bloggers bring a wide range of reflections and ideas to the fore.
• Bloggers can write about events before, during and long after an event has concluded – in both long and short form stories.
• Significantly richer stories can be produced by each blogger, each in the level of depth and detail that is most relevant for their audience.
• Multimedia streams of content make following a blogger a multimedia extravaganza:
  • twitter streams,
  • live blogs with up to the minute musings
  • streaming live video
  • video reports
  • audio reports
  • blog posts
  • photo libraries

With Bloggers Communication is a Two Way Street

Most bloggers listen to their audience and respond. I was able to send messages back and forth with the outside world in real time. I had audience suggestions coming in via qik video and twitter while attending press conferences and briefings. As well, a bloggers audience can comment on blog posts, video posts and the like and get involved in the debates that are happening.

Inside Access vs Apathy

When global summits normally take place it is little surprise that average citizens feel disengaged with traditional conference and media reporting schemes. Feeling shut out of the debate, people either turn off interest – because they don’t feel their ideas can be included in the debate, or they head to the streets as activists to protest and get their side of the story out.

Giving Global Voices access to “Inside Information” and accrediting bloggers as journalists gives ordinary citizens reason to be engaged and diffuses the urgency to take to the streets. Instead they can channel their voice right into the summit via someone just like them.

As a blogger at the summit, I had extraordinary opportunities to participate in the event as credentialed media, thanks to Oxfam Great Britain, Save the Children, ONE, Blue State Digital, Global Voices, Comic Relief and the UK Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office via G20voice.org. I attended a full day of briefings the day before the summit with other bloggers and participated in briefings from delegates to the conference, interviewed people like Bob Geldof – outspoken activist for third world relief, Ed Miliband (UK Energy and Investment Secretary), Douglas Alexander (UK Secretary of State for International Development) and sat in the front row at press conferences with world leaders including UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and American President Barack Obama and our own Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper

I also had access to the same G20 background information that all media attending the summit had.

I was interviewed for CBC Radio in Canada

and BBC Turkey as well as Voice of America’s Russian Video Broadcast. (Watch for me at 4:38)

A formula for bridging the democratic digital divide

• Recruit respected bloggers from around the world
• Provide credentialed media access for bloggers at global summits
• Train bloggers and provide social networking opportunities to enhance understanding of the issues from both a political perspective, as well, as a socially conscious citizen.
• Provide technical training where necessary to give NGO’s access to emerging social media Web sites, online broadcast and handheld technologies, and information on sound journalistic principles to grow blogging skills within their organizations.
• Provide a one stop distribution point for all stories the bloggers produce. See G20 Voice. The bloggers channel should include video, audio, photos, blog posts and live blogs (including twitter feeds).

I extend my sincere thanks to my readers and followers who nominated me to attend this important global event and look forward to helping bloggers from around the world to be in attendance at similar events.

To catch a complete roundup of my blog posts and multimedia from the London G20 Summit visit http://www.climatecafe.org

photo credit: Todd with Ed Miliband (Dhamaka_for_G20Voice)