Innovative Meetings By Sheila Scarborough

Take Away

ABarn-Raising Event

New digital tools make it possible to engage in virtual conversations anywhere on the globe with an Internet connection. Case in point: Hutchinson, Kan. (population: 41,000), which hosted a conference previously held in New York City, Los Angeles, and London—and more than held its own.

OnNov. 1,ahigh-tech eventwasheld in aplace you’d least expect: the historic, Art Deco Fox Theatre in Hutchinson,Kan., 35miles northwest ofWichita. Part of anongoing series of conferences launched by tech strategist Jeff Pulver, the 140 Characters Conference: Small Town — which takes its name fromTwitter’s 140-character limit —featured fast-paced andPowerPoint-free short talks that exploredhowreal-time web communi- cations affect people, business- es, and agricultural issues in rural areas and small towns. The beauty of tech- or

social-media–based confer- ences is that almost any town can host them, because the number of on-site attendees (SmallTownhad several hun- dred) is usually small.Yet each participant tends to have online networks that number in the hundreds or thousands through their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video channels, and podcasts. Here’s what made Hutchinson a particularly

goodmatch forSmallTown—andsmall towns a ripe opportunity for digital gatherings: Host venues—The 140 Characters events

“are usually and most effectively held in theaters —in fact, the very first one inNewYorkwasbased onthe idea of a 140 Characters gathering in an off- Broadway theater,” said SmallTown lead organ- izerBeckyMcCray,who has spoken at 140Char- acters Conferences in London andDetroit.“Allwe had to do was bringWi-Fi into Hutchinson’s Fox Theatre, and it was perfect.” Acan-doattitude—While several towns in

other states were in the running to host Small Town, only Hutchinson had a unified group,

including peoplewhowould provide critical tech support, step forward to host it. Local ties—All those who planned Small

Town knew each other and understood that this was a chance for their entire region to shine. Technology provider HutchNetWireless was will- ing to accept a flat rate and provide on-site mon- itoring and support.Alocal caterer offered lunch at reasonable prices, and a marketing firm in town carved Twitter-themed pumpkins for the kickoff Hal- loween party. Tech requirements — Organizers ran power-supply cables along the floor of the theater, with outlets that glowed so busy laptops and phones could plug in, nomat- ter where people sat. Regis- tered participant numbers swelled in the days before Small Town, so tech require-

ments had to be adjusted to support the hundreds of people who pushed out nine gigabytes of data in the first three hours of the conference. Affordability—“Jeff Pulver got the confer-

ence speakers to reach out to theirowncommuni- ties and networks to draw attendees and atten- tion,” McCray said. “Not a dollar was spent on traditional advertising.”Discount codes, incentives, and referrals also helped to fill seats. In addition, Wi-Fi access, tech support, and lodging tend to cost less in a small town. A taste of small-town life — Participants

enjoyed a Halloween costume party 650 feet below the earth in the Underground SaltMuseum and an after-party in theKansasCosmosphere and Space Center—which meant more tweets, photos, Facebook updates, and general online buzz.

ON_THE_WEB: Follow the 140 Characters Conference conversation onTwitter hashtag #140conf at http://bit.ly/2hPLtg. View all of the conferences’ archived speaker videos at http://bit.ly/eXo870.

32 pcma convene January 2011 ILLUSTRATION BY MICK WIGGINS

Small Town, Big Effect The impact of a digi- tal event will stretch well beyond the host destination or the day itself. Attendees at the 140 Characters Conference: Small Town came from 12 states—as far away as California and New Jersey—and the event ended up having the fourth- largest turnout for any 140 Characters Conference, even those held in big cities. A global audi- ence watched the event via live-stream Internet—staying for an average of 40 minutes—and the conversation contin- ues on blogs, Twitter, and archived videos (see On_the_Web, below left).

Sheila Scarborough is a writer and speaker specializing in tourism, travel, and social media, and the co-founder of Tourism Currents, an online learning community that helps tourism, hospi- tality, and economic development profession- als make sense of the social web. She is beyond thrilled that Small Town will return to Hutchinson’s Fox Theatre this September.

Innovative Meetings is sponsored by the Irving, Texas, Convention and Visitors Bureau, www.irvingtexas.com.