Top technology uses in events

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1- Quick updates via Twitter messaging through cellphone/wireless networks. Ally has a good post on this here.


2- Sensors for foot traffic calculations. This has been around for a few years, but its how the data is applied to streamline traffic, staff placements and reduce risks of bottlenecks thats important.

3- Interactive Video multi-channel dispay screens. Link this up with live web-casting and you’ve done a favor to all of those people who could’nt make it.

4- For parties, having LED lighting choreographed with music adds a level of oomph.

5- Gadgets for direct attendee data tracking to use during and post event analysis.

Wishlist:

6- Blue-tooth devises to track people from online networks (LinkedIn, Facebook).

Also, Julius wrote an interesting post on 5 signs your event is web 1.0. Great read!

Social bookmarking. What is it good for?

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A background of my relationship with bookmarking: I remember the old days when I’d have a set of fancy rectangular bookmarks (something I got for myself from Barnes and Noble) lying on my desk at all times. I’ve always found it natural to organize myself while I’m working or researching with simple yet effective techniques. I used to color code the bookmarks with tags like “to show to clients”, “interesting event ideas”, or “vendor lists”, etc. Of course this was the “pre-web 2.0 era”. The era when we had to figure little productivity things out our self. Come web 2.0 and I was perhaps one of the first few to adopt online bookmarks. This is not because I’m tech savvy but simply because the concept of bookmarking is very natural for me. I do most of my research online, maintain my contacts online, I brainstorm online, I plan online and I even market my events online. What better way to manage my content than using these tools to organize the work.


Social Bookmarking: Now this is where it gets interesting. The online world thrives on sharing and community-centric approaches. So, I can tag things on my browser, cluster them up into categories if I want to, share them with other like-minded people or just open up the web feeds of the bookmark lists for public view. How does that benefit me as an event organizer? Well, I get to learn from other people, I get to rate and comment on other’s bookmarks, I get to collaborate to form richer information sets and, most importantly, I get to meet people interested in the same topics. That, to me, is invaluable for business; since my business is all about networking and relationships. Shifting bookmarks from my home computer to the office computer; or from my laptop to my team’s pcs has been as simple as exporting and emailing a single file.