convene PCMA ® PUBLISHER Deborah Sexton, (312) 423-7210

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Sherrif Karamat, CAE, (312) 423-7247

CONVENE EDITORIAL STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF Michelle Russell, mrussell@pcma.org EXECUTIVE EDITOR Christopher Durso, cdurso@pcma.org SENIOR EDITOR Barbara Palmer, bpalmer@pcma.org ART DIRECTION Mitch Shostak, Roger Greiner Shostak Studios Inc., (212) 979-7981

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Carol Bialkowski; Molly Brennan; Jennifer N. Dienst

CONVENE ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, PARTNER RELATIONS & ADVERTISING Mona Simon, (312) 423-7244, msimon@pcma.org

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Wendy Krizmanic (AK, CT, DC, DE, ID, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, NV, OR, PA, RI, VT,WA) (312) 636-9254; wkrizmanic@pcma.org

Mary Lynn Novelli, CMP (AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, OH, SC, TN, VA,WV, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Carribbean) Dallas, TX; (312) 423-7212; fax: (469) 574-5590; mnovelli@pcma.org

Albert Pereira (AZ, CA, HI, NM, OK, TX, UT, Canada) 345 Kingston Road, Suite 203, Pickering, Ontario, Canada L1V 1A1; (312) 423-7277; fax: (905) 509-6810; apereira@pcma.org

Mary LouSarmiento (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO,MT, ND, NE, SD, WI,WY, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand) 1033W. Taylor Street, Suite 1E, Chicago, IL 60607; (312) 636-0636; fax: (312) 896-7397;msarmiento@pcma.org

Ken Torres (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America, Caribbean) P.O. Box 9128, Miramar Beach, FL 32550; (850) 837-5177; fax: (850) 837-5277; ktorres@pcma.org MANAGER, PRODUCTION & CIRCULATION Keisha Reed, (312) 423-7246 PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Kathleen Mulvihill, (312) 423-7236

PCMA OFFICERS

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Kent E. Allaway, CEM, CMP, Produce Marketing Association

CHAIR-ELECT Johnnie C. White, CMP, Cardiovascular Research Foundation

SECRETARY-TREASURER Christopher J.Wehking,CMP, American Society ofAnesthesiologists

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR Susan R. Katz, True Value Company

PCMA DIRECTORS Martin D. Balogh, American Bar Association Willie L. Benjamin II, International Reading Association Laurie Fitzgerald,CMP, Allstate Insurance Company Ben Goedegebuure, Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre RichardB. Green, Marriott International Mary PatHeftman, National Restaurant Association Wanda M. Johnson,CMP, CAE, The Endocrine Society Christine Klein,CMP,meetings and business development consultant RaymondJ. Kopcinski,CMP, Million Dollar Round Table

Roberta A. Kravitz, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Gregory A. O’Dell, EventsDC Carrie Freeman Parsons, Freeman WilliamF. Reed,CMP, Experient Inc. James E. Rooney, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Amanda S. Rushing,CMP, American Society of Civil Engineers Barry L. Smith, Metro Toronto Convention Centre

The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of PCMA.

Convene is a member of

Convene is printed on recycled paper

Convene is a member of

Sure, there are more printing options andwe can addRFID chips, but with all the technology innova- tions, wonder what a convention attendee will be using 20 years from now at the 2032 Convening Lead- ers? Couldprivacy issues be such a concern in the future that some attendees will opt out of wearing a name badge altogether and use some other form of ID? John Fuhr Vice President of Product Marketing Convention Management Resources

I THINKWEWILL SEE TECH- nology used to deliver collateral (programs, schedules, promos) at events much more prominently moving forward. Of course,QR codes are effectively being used in trade shows, and mobile apps for conferences, to name a few. They offer immediate updates and reduce costs (printing, shipping, etc.).How- ever, are planners ready to abandon print materials entirely yet? Iamexcitedto see what technol-

ogy the future holds to make our jobs more efficient and our events more dynamic and interactive. The future looks bright indeed! Jo-Anne Rockwood,CMP Senior Producer Mitacs Conference Services

YOURQUESTIONACTUALLY brought back many fondmemories, as well as some frustration, as it used to be quite different in the “old days” when some of the work was extremely tedious and time-consum- ing compared to today. In regard to technology that revolutionizes the way we do business pertaining to events, some of the things that comes to mind include the follow- ing:

What I think will happen and

want to happen? Indoor positioning (GPS)

more widely embraced and available across all platforms.

www.pcma.org More use ofinteractive

games to stimulate, educate, and reward event attendees. Improved mobile document management tools. Enhanced mobile-registra-

tion and procurement solutions. Mobile-payment solutions

more widely accepted and to include NFC. Technologies usedandcan’t live

without? Email—as I remember when

fax became the big thing replacing telex. Online event registration—

as we usedto have to retype the attendee lists faxed to us. Mobile apps—as suddenly

you can be alertedof changes in pro- gram/agenda right away instead of walking a mile to a seminar room only to findout it was just movedto right next to where you just came from, plus tons of other reasons. QRcodes—when used for

marketing andticketing, which greatly reduces having the need to print anduse paper. QR,RFID,and NFC—no more

digging through lists trying to find the name of person registered among thousands of people (a list, of course, still works if there are just a few attendees). Smartphones—with their

talk, text, andenormous informa- tion-sharing possibilities (remember- ing the days when pagers and walkie-talkies were the fastest way to communicate at large conven- tion/conference venues andhotels). SMS/Text—to pay for trans-

portation and for voting. Thomas H. Hallin President HTH Business Solutions

TECHNOLOGYDOESNOT revolutionize events, people do. Seriously. Traci Browne Show Producer LiveWell Expos

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