Gaining control is to provide an air of no control, yet the underlying guide is controlled to achieve a collaborative agreement or outcome.

The media has changed, however the methods employed remain as though people were sitting side by side in one room. The challenge is in the facilitation. It is best, in my opinion, to either employ or hire a consultant facilitator for the event. This will provide beneficial experience for your company employees to take the reign in small workplace events online.

Those numbers are great to see. I am extremely surprised at how fast they have risen, but I guess when you look back at how fast internet registration has come along in just 12 years I shouldn’t be.

I am very happy I got involved in this conversation as I missed a huge part of your presentation, that being the social part as it pertains to the actual time at the show. Thank you for helping clerify this for me and I look forward to hearing of more great ideas from you, Dave, Velvet Chainsaw and others in the industry.

Thanks.

I don’t equate social with being the life of the party either and you and I are in sync about much of what you are proposing as any of my PCMA columns on related topics would suggest.

But as you suggest social does relate to the human desire to connect and interact. People have very different levels of interest and preference for both the quantity and quality of how they engage in that manner.

As they always have had to, planners can’t forget this. One persons’s engagement is another person’s exhaustion.

Thanks for the comments and you’re raising some great questions. I’ll keep them in mind as I write future posts and try to address some of them as it would take too much space to address all of them here.

Midori hit it on the head that I was referring to “social” in a much larger context than just online “social media.” I’m talking about conference organizers making a fundamental shift in conference planning from passive audiences, sitting in chairs for 8 hours listening to talking to heads, to mixing it up and providing opportunities for attendees to engage with each other, and engage with the content.

In regards to your questions about how many people use computers, The December 2009 Pew Internet Study of Online participation in social media has some interesting stats:

77%-79% of adults use the Internet
63% have broadband at home (& thus computers)
85% own a mobile device (thus texting components)
54%-56% connect to Internet wirelessly
2/3 use the “cloud”
More than 50% of Americans have a Facebook page (from Facebook stats)
80% of women in Facebook fan a brand or organization
My primary care doctor, who is in her 60s, uses a iPhone to explain medical conditions and diagnoses to me. She also communicates with me through an online private eCommunity.
My dentist uses an online appointment process, eCommunity to answer questions and has a Facebook fan page. More dentists are using technology and computers than you think.
74% of the members in my previous job used social media daily, and they were C-Suite insurance executives.
98% of the attendees at the national conference in my previous job texted from their mobile device or laptop during opening general sessions.
350 attendees at a conference I attended this summer all had their laptops with them blogging, texting and tweeting from the event. (And the audience was very diverse representing all ages, races and split 50-50 men and women.) Imagine the WiFi and electricity needed at that conference alone.

So, I think the online social piece for conferences is growing faster than 30 years from now. Yes, you’re absolutely right that some conference audiences will not be bringing their laptops to the event or engage online before the event. Yet, most conference attendees would like to see a focus of less talking heads and more engagement with each other.

Is there any type of knowledge as to the average attendee and their computer usage on a daily basis? Of course this would have to be specified by industy because we all know that some industries are much more computer hands on then others. I ask because before a show the only method is going to be a pc. This could be a hand held, laptop, phone or traditional desktop…but a pc none the less (expect for the growing Mac world).

I do agree with Dave that most of the solutions to date have been driven by the need to create revenue through the process and that is a lose/lose situation for everyone in this case. I do remember a few attempts with message type systems and threaded conversations that were driven by sessions, speakers, groups and exhibitors. They were completely driven by the user taking the initiative. Those seemed to be well received in the right conference, but not the more trade/prof. conferences.

I do love the lounge and mingling aspect of shows and know that Dave and Velvet Chainsaw can pull those off extremely well. I have seen that first hand. I guess in my initial reading of the blog and the powerpoint I missed that concept.

Dave, I will always take the Pack, and points are greatly appreciated. Good Luck with Cinci, I guess you need to stick with an Ohio team.

John Badger

@johnbadger I think the point you make about a2z, BdMetrics, Experient and CompuSystems is valid. Many of the networking, matchmaking and social media solutions have been intended to help exhibitors pinpoint and engage with key buyers. I think all of those solutions didn’t realize that the attendee/buyer is in control and we need to build solutions that help them (not solutions that help the people trying to sell to them). Classic case of chasing revenue vs. adding value. In 2010, the attendee rules!

The world is changing pretty fast as more attendee focused solutions are being made available via mobile devices. Instead of pushing info on the attendees, attendees are now doing more pulling of what they want.

I like the Packers on Sunday, but I’ll take AZ and give you a point. Deal?

Dave Lutz – @velchain

He is a major advocate for adult white space/downtime for the absorption of knowledge…maybe having a comfy lounge or mingling area where attendees can loosely gather and do what it is they need to do to meet and process their new ideas. (I love the idea of an illumination gallery from Jay Smethurst for this http://www.illuminationgalleries.com/).

I would also add that there are several other ways that attendees can be involved or aware of social media without actually having to sit at a phone or computer. Interactive kiosks, digital signage and strategic projection can simply increase awareness.
With that being said, there have been many times where I (as the AVGirl) want to spring all the technological solutions on our eventprofs crowd, but usually the response is let’s keep it simple and provide innovation in the way an attendee interacts with a session (ie group activity, perhaps the oldest, most non-technological trick in the book). I really LOVE what @Brandon Klein says about not looking at the back of someone’s head – even something as simple as seating arrangements guides the transformation to a social conference!

I think my long-winded point is that it doesn’t mean we have to bury our faces in a computer to garner the benefits of a social conference…
btw, Jeff, my inbox has made me laugh several times today as the subject line only reads “New Comment On: Screw You…”
Midori