Applying Science to Science Meetings, Part 2

If we didn’t make it clear with our last update, scientific research is beginning to feed into meeting design more than ever before. Last year’s International Association of Conference Centers brought psychologists and brain scientists on a panel together with planners, architects, and accountants to discuss the future of meeting creation. This MeetingsNet article  by Sue Pelletier and Alison Hall cites Andrea Sullivan, president of BrainStrength Systems, as saying “Our biological state has a huge impact on everything that goes on around learning and meetings… We need different stimulations. When everything is firing, we are thinking better and learning better.” Sullivan stressed novelty as one of the most important attribute of memorable meetings.

The panelists discussed ways in which knowledge of a variety of disciplines is necessary to plan the most effective meeting possible. For one, if you don’t know how to measure return on investment (ROI), you’d better find someone who does. ROI is a precise, formula-based methodology for gauging meeting success—the kind of hard data companies want to back their investments.

You also should get used to designing meeting architecture with a strategy in mind. Don’t just create a layout that will look cool—work with the conference center to make a space that will help accomplish the meeting’s objectives.

Hybrid meetings—those with in-person and online components—were, as always, a focus of the 2011 IACC, but it’s not just about putting content online; it’s about what content you put online. Rather than using the conference and the Internet to repeat the same information, you can put important information on the web beforehand and center the meeting on discussing and integrating that information.

Basically, every aspect of your meeting should forward your meeting’s educational goals. If you think differently enough, you could probably improve nearly every step of the meeting process in some way. The ideas the experts at the IACC came up with are a start, but if you want to transform your event into a personal, innovative experience, you had better start thinking outside the box yourself.

Applying Science to Science Meetings

We don’t tend to think of meeting planning as a particularly scientific endeavor, but Dave Kovaleski at MeetingsNet has put together a very interesting list of science-tested tricks that can stimulate your attendees’ attention. You can tell these tips are the real deal: they came straight from Jonathan Bradshaw of the Meetology Research Institute, an organization founded specifically to “study… the sciences affecting human behavior and performance at meetings.” Take a look!

1. Play – Reduce stress, raise energy levels, and get people talking at the same time.
2. Diet – Eat (and provide) brain food: spinach, salad, fish, walnuts, eggs, tea, and chocolate. Don’t skip breakfast, and drink plenty of water. The food you eat is your energy for the day.
3. Meditate – A little meditation time during meetings will let your attendees calm down and focus.
4. Music – Organizations like Song Division will create icebreakers and team building exercises centered around composing and performing music. Or if that’s beyond your scope, a little Mozart in the background never hurts.
5. Exercise – Running, yoga, or pilates will give your attendees a break while increasing the flow of oxygen to their brains.
6. Distract them – People can only focus for so long at a time – give them some breaks every once in a while.
7. Arouse the senses – Create a sensory experience that people will always associate with the event. Marriott hotels use the same scents at every location so guests will feel at home wherever they are. Do the same thing: think about the smells, sounds, and sights attendees encounter at your conference
8. Colors – Believe it or not, the color blue tends to promote creativity while red promotes attention to detail. Choose your colors according to how you want attendees to think.
9. Stimulate – Caffeine and other stimulatory drugs might help if all else fails.

If this list intrigues you, we recommend you stay updated with the Meetology Research Institute. It may be a young company, but it’s looking to become a fantastic resource in meeting-related research. They’ve got a Twitter feed with links to recent studies and seem to have some consulting services down the line; this looks like a company to watch.

A Few More Cheap or Free Online Tools for Meeting Planning

If you’ve read this blog for a while, you must have realized there’s no shortage of cheap or free apps and online tools to help you with all kinds of business chores—probably because we keep reminding you. Well, we have a few more now, this time courtesy of Corbin Ball over at MeetingsNet.

Amiando: A multifaceted tool for meeting registration. Amiando is free unless your event is not—in which case they charge 99 cents per registration plus 2.95% of the registration fee. The tool also works with Facebook so attendees can invite friends and receive discounts.

Floorplan Genie: A tool for exhibition planning. It’s fairly comprehensive, but if you don’t want to pay anything, you can only use it three times a year, and the event must spread across 10,000 square feet or more.

Babycad: A 3D-design tool used for planning booths. You can try it for free or pay a monthly fee for the less limited Pro version.

Ootoweb: An all-purpose product for attendee management and registration. Ootoweb costs $49 a month for meetings with less than 200 participants, and $2 more for every extra attendee after that.

Google Hangout: A tool that lets you videoconference with up to ten locations at once for free. EventCamp used it to host an event across all of Europe.

Prioritizing Audience Participation

Our last post– almost a month ago, but we’re back for good now– dealt with the phenomenon of participant-driven events. That’s all well and good, but maybe you’re trying to rework your annual convention now and you’re interested in seeing some specifics. If so, take a look at this list we’ve compiled of some of the most innovative, audience-engaging meeting formats we know.

Exchange Cafe: Each table has a unique assigned topic and a facilitator guiding discussion. Attendees can move around and discuss different issues at different tables.

Round Table: Attendees suggest topics on the spot and a facilitator guides discussion.

Cards: Facilitators deal out cards containing common disease scenarios. The attendee answers according to his experience, and if he does not know what to do, he can get clues from the facilitator or the audience.

Pair-Squared: Ask attendees to pair up and discuss a specified issue or question—give each person in the pair a set time to talk while the other listens. Next, let each pair find another pair. Attendee A shares what Attendee B said, and vice versa; the members of the other pair then do the same.

Circles: An inner circle discusess an issue while an outer circle listens and takes notes. Participants in the outer circle then share their observations. The groups then switch and repeat the process.

Critical Incidents: In a paragraph or two, present a real or fictitious situation for which participants can discuss possible solutions or outcomes.

Structured Note Taking: Provide some graphical representation that frames the discussion or lecture, such as specific questions to answer or fill-in-the-blanks.

Breakout Choices: Following a keynote, offer several breakouts—one to discuss the lecture, one to work on a case study, and so on.

Body Voting: Ask the audience to take an action based on a series of questions—for example, let them stand or sit down in response to a poll.

Human Spectagram: Make a statement. Let one corner of the room represent “strongly agree,” and another, “strongly disagree”. Attendees stand along the wall according to how they feel on the issue, acting as a quick guage of audience sentiments.

Q&A via Text: Set up a system whereby attendees can text their questions to a certain number instead of speaking into a microphone—this opens the floor to those who might be scared of asking in front of others.

iPad Dinner Quiz: At each table, participants collaborate on two or three iPads to give answers to fun, engaging, and relevant questions.

Twitter Feedback: Use Twitter with PollEverywhere to let audience members respond to questions.

Twitter Questions: Create a Twitter account devoted specifically to fielding audience questions, comments, and complaints during the meeting.

Of course, don’t try to implement all these changes all at once. Start small, and make sure you communicate clearly with attendees prior to the meeting so they know exactly what to expect. Also, give the new format a few years to catch on– don’t expect immediate 100% satisfaction. Some of these ideas might make participants uncomfortable at first, but once they’ve grown accustomed, they might never want to go back.

The Rise of Participation

Adrian Segar is making a name for himself as an innovator in meeting planning. After writing Conferences that Work: Creating Events that People Love, he’s become involved in some of the industry’s biggest conferences, including the EventCamp series. Check out his interview on MeetingsNet for his perspective on what he calls “participant-driven events”—events which try to respond exactly to participants’ wants and needs.

At the beginning of a meeting, Segar asks attendees what they’re hoping to get out of the event and what they have to offer. After sharing this information, attendees can match up with others who share their interests or whose expertise lies in a related field. Sometimes Segar even develops entire programs based on topics submitted by participants during this period. Of course, this method doesn’t work for large groups—it’s difficult to meet more than 50 to 60 people in a few days, says Segar.

Segar thinks the demand for participant-driven events is on the rise. For one, networking is becoming a more important aspect of meetings because it is one of the few things which most online lectures still fail to replicate. For two, the learning process for a lot of professions has shifted somewhat away from the classroom and towards on-the-job, peer-guided lessons. It makes sense for meetings to capitalize on their attendees’ unique knowledge sets.

Though Segar recognizes that the participant-driven event is a pretty radical overhaul of the typical meeting format, his main idea is an important one. Attendee participation should play a role in every event; it allows a degree of customization and involvement which straight lectures cannot provide.

Modernizing Events for Mobile Technology

Smartphones and tablets are finally outselling desktop and laptop computers. If you as a meeting planner aren’t actively working to integrate portable devices into your events, you’re falling behind. Chris Brogan writing for One+ magazine shared some helpful thoughts about modernizing your meetings. “We live in a mobile world,” says Brogan, “so be prepared.”

First of all, in this day and age, WiFi is a must. Attendees are more likely to stick around for the entire event if they can access the outside world without leaving. Power strips are important as well; some exhibitors have apparently gone as far as to provide recharging stations. Spare no expense when it comes to keeping participants connected.

Design versions of your websites and e-mails specifically for mobile viewing. Remember that brief messages will be easier for people to process on small screens. You also might want to create an app for the event that can provide important information or reward people for scanning codes at different booths. Don’t overdo it, though—an app that tries to do everything will distract and overwhelm. If you’re lost, consider contracting a web firm with more expertise than yourself.

What else can you do? Set up social network pages for your event and encourage attendees to check it on their devices before, during, and after the meeting. If you can, film some interviews, testimonials, and reaction pieces in the halls and put the videos up for people to watch. Don’t do any more than is reasonable for your budget and capabilities, but strive for an event with a prominent online presence.

Master the Art of Twitter

Twitter as a tool for business can be a hard thing to wrap your head around. Everyone knows that social media is evolving into a powerful marketing machine, but Twitter really is its own beast. The 140 character limit is not just a constraint—it’s the medium’s defining feature. On the other hand, one ill-advised tweet can drive countless customers away. So how do you take advantage of the micro-feeds of information Twitter allows, while at the same time making sure you don’t tweet anything you might regret? For the answer, the Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Holmes took a look at the strategies of three companies she thinks does Twitter best.

Southwest Airlines uses Twitter mostly in a public relations function, entrusting ten people to answer clients’ questions about delayed flights or lost baggage. At any given time, one person from each Southwest team is monitoring the account and responding to complaints. The company maintains a casual tone—in accordance with its laid-back reputation—but will switch to a more informative attitude when the situation demands.

Whole Foods similarly tries to engage its customers, providing recipes, answering questions, and hosting a weekly Twitter chat session. One man, Michael Bepko, handles the national account, but local stores often have their own account to address smaller-scale inquiries. Bepko even keeps up with the account on weekends so no customer has to wait long for a response.

In addition to its main account, Best Buy hosts separate accounts for separate roles, including one for deals, one for news, and one for the Geek Squad alone. For their customer service account, @Twelpforce, they employee over 3,000 people to cover a wide range of expertise. The CEO also deals with some questions from his personal account.

A lot of different strategies with a lot of different-sized teams could lead to your Twitter success story, but the principal purpose of Twitter seems to remain constant. Let Twitter facilitate your conversation with customers.

What 2012 Holds in Store for Meetings

If you find yourself wondering where the meeting planning industry is going these days—whether it’s faltering in this economy, or, alternatively, somehow poised for growth—look no further. The editors of the November issue of Convene have conscientiously compiled data from 2011 and forecasted trends in lodging, travel, and other meeting industries. Of course, they can only make educated guesses, but overall the future looks pretty rosy.

The lodging sector has grown in the past two years. Convene predicts it will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace as it reacts to recent economic factors like the European debt crisis. Specifically, aspects of travel “closely linked to the economic cycle”, such as trips to exotic locales, will likely decline, and meeting durations will remain shorter than in years past, but business travel altogether will still see some growth; overall supply, demand, and occupancies are expected to increase. Also look for a rise in Internet/social media hotel deals as well as corporations offering incentive trips to top performers.

Airlines should experience a bit of growth, too—only growth of about 2%, but growth nonetheless. Domestic travel, both for business and leisure, might decelerate a tad, but international flights into the United States are expected to increase significantly. The entire sector depends on the economy and how it affects the confidence of travelers, but Convene guesses both will generally improve.

So what about the meat of the meetings industry—the conventions and exhibitions themselves? Well, that depends on the health of whatever sector that event is serving. Convene points out that while events within the sectors of healthcare or information-technology have done well lately, those concerned with government or home-building have not. This trend is likely to change as other industries boom and bust, but Convene predicts that the exhibition industry as a whole should “continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience both here and abroad”. Increasing use of digitial media will probably only add to the growth.

Whether you’re a meeting planner or just an enthusiastic meeting attendee, it seems as though there is a lot to look forward to. It’s going to be a good year.

Tech for Travel: Your Best Bets

By this point we’ve blogged pretty extensively on how to take advantage of reasonably-priced apps and website deals to make your travel as easy and painless as possible. But we haven’t really gone much into the specific gadgets and gizmos you can purchase to enhance your travel beyond your smartphone’s capabilities. For that, we can turn to Meetings & Convention’s Michael J. Shapiro, who lists some of his favorite portable gear.

First, there’s FoxLv2 Bluetooth Portable Speaker for $199. Shapiro praises the device’s full sound, noting in particular its rich bass and its clear mid-tones with minimal distortion. It also includes a headphone jack, wireless streaming capabilities, and a noise-cancelling microphone—all in a 5.625 by 2.25 inch package.

The IoSafe Rugged Portable Hard Drive, also for $199, is incredibly durable—it reportedly can “spend up to three days underwater—yet still will only take up a 5.75 by 4 inch space in your suitcase. According to Shapiro, there’s no better hardware on the market to ensure your data survives your trips.

If you’ve got an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, the $29.99 Menotek Flexible Bluetooth Keyboard might appeal to you. This bendable, waterproof keyboard attaches via Bluetooth to any of those devices so you don’t have to type lengthy messages on a touch screen. And since it rolls up, it almost certainly can fit in your carryon accommodations.

Finally, there’s the Incipio Smart Feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case for iPad 2 for $34.99. This case fits perfectly with Apple’s Smart Cover to guarantee and new level of security for your iPad against the wears and tears of travel. Be warned that it only works with the Smart Cover—but if you’re serious about protecting your tech, the pair may be worth it.

Don’t let your time spent travelling hold your business operations back. With a little investment, you can turn your airline seat into an office—and without any other distractions, who knows? You might get even more work done than usual.

The Scourge of Public Speaking

Public speaking is an art few can really claim to have mastered. In fact, most of us fear it to some degree or another. Yet in the professional world, it’s nearly ubiquitous—so what can you do to face your phobia? Elizabeth Garone of the Wall Street Journal consulted with public speaking experts to find out the tricks of the trade.

Jezra Kaye of “Speak Up for Success” has her clients fill out personality tests to get at the unique roots of their fears. Kaye teaches over Skype and emphasizes the importance of keeping your eyes forward—towards your audience—both on video chats and in front of a live crowd. If you must look at a laptop, she recommends stacking books under it so you don’t have to look down.

Lisa Wentz of San Francisco Voice Center tries to get her students to insert more pauses in their speeches, allowing them time to breathe and bestowing upon them an air of authority. She also subscribes to the Alexander Technique, which accents straight posture and deep breathing. Her hands-on approach appealed most to Garone.

Another coach, Lisa Braithwaite, will consult with anyone over the phone for a free half-hour. She was helpful in that she acknowledged the inevitable nervousness that comes with public speaking. She advocates channeling that nervous energy into positive elements of your speech.

Finally, there’s Toastmasters International, which operates something like a group therapy session:  everyone is scared, but they all support each other. At each meeting, some of the members deliver long-form speeches while others evaluate them, time them, and tally their numbers of “you knows” and “ums”.

There are a lot of different ways you can tackle your fear of public speaking, and there are a lot of different people who want to help you do it. So shop around, experiment—at some point, you’re bound to find the technique that works for you.