A wide screen blend being set up by IMS Technology Services.
home a brand message.
Another such
technology is the use of speaker timers. Though they are very basic, they also are very underutilized.
“These digital clocks help to keep speak- ers on track in terms of following their timelines,” notes Cataldi. “Presenters don’t always like them, but for planners, they can be an invaluable tool toward keeping a program moving along in a timely man- ner.
After all, when a speech goes too
long, that can have a huge impact, inter- rupting lunch service or another aspect of the event. After all, if a hot lunch or meal is being served, it’s important to keep the event on schedule.”
Along that same vein, speaker ready rooms or “green rooms” also are very use- ful. These spaces can provide speakers with a place and an opportunity to pre- pare and refine their speeches or presen- tations, and make sure they have what they need before they go out in front of the audience. They can use this time and space to make sure they have hit on all the points they want to make to those in attendance, and to practice their delivery to ensure that they will stay on message and on schedule, or use the time to gath- er and review their slides in private and away from the main tech table.
Ultimately, Cataldi says that event tech- nology is about “ROE.” “That’s ‘Return On
50 September October 2013
Experience’,” he notes. “An attendee’s experience has to be positive at an event. One way to achieve this is by keeping people engaged. That can be achieved by communicating more effectively with your audience. TwitterFall, for example, is a great for bringing people together. Many clients want it projected live on a screen, but you really need to have some- one monitor the content and make sure that any negative comments about the event or incendiary remarks won’t appear for all to see.”
Higher interaction means higher reten- tion and higher returning attendees year after year, he adds. Corporate leaders see more value, which leads to greater invest- ment in special events, and increased vis- ibility for the department and meeting planner. Use of apps and monitors help to alleviate less stress and workload from the event staff in terms of having to answer so many questions and continu- ously give out directions.
“Using social media feeds like TwitterFall allow the event to breakout of the ball- room and reach a much greater audi- ence, even making your event publicly accessible, if that’s what you want,” says Cataldi. “Facebook polling is becoming more business oriented, as is the site in general. People just need to be careful about what they post from their personal lives, because sometimes even things that
seem innocent or innocuous really can hurt your business life.”
Ultimately, when you have a very large audience, social media can be a big help at an event. It can be used at different kiosks, for registration, and for updating attendees about last minute changes, as these forms of media allow information to be updated instantly and “on the fly.”
Paul J. Kennealy and Chris Yando are both project managers for Advanced Staging Productions, and are experts in the field of event and meeting technologies, too.
Kennealy and Yando also point to the fast rising trend in the use of mobile apps as they are becoming a key component of the industry. The duo note that mobile apps have become almost a necessity in the industry at this point, as such tech- nology can be used for everything from creating agendas to making content avail- able to attendees at a given meeting.
Tablet devices such as Apple iPads and Samsung Notes, as well as mobile phones being used to access these apps, are becoming more and more integrated.
Overall, these technologies are making meetings easier for the end user, because information is always readily available at their fingertips. These technologies also engage the audience and help to increase
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