Building Alliances Blog

Fragmentation and Attention

2010-02-24T13:15:04-08:00

As I cover various events for my Conference Bites website, I rely heavily on Twitter, Live Streams and various blogs. The maxim I used when I started the site, "We can’t be everywhere we want to be", is especially true in the event biz these days. Today, I sent part of my attention span to at least three and a half events: 1. The Virtual Edge Summit in Santa Clara. I laughed at first that there was an in-person expo and conference about virtual events, but they live streamed several sessions (very effectively) and I sat in on a couple...

Google Wave powering more 21st Century Event 'Attendance' Options

2009-11-15T14:26:41-08:00

Continuing on my last thread about the different ways that technology is changing the way we relate to events, I want to point out a couple of great posts last week: First was from Fresh Networks blog about the potential for Google Wave to build on (or even surpass) twitter as an event tool. Even if you don’t have your copy of GW yet, this one is important because as Charlie Osmond says “I suspect it’s going to take a couple of years before this goes mainstream. But it will. And the impact on conference organizers and speakers is significant.”...

21st Century Event Attendance Options

2009-11-09T20:16:00-08:00

It used to be the choice was to either attend an event, or not to attend. Now there are a whole range of options, including: A. Attend B. Attend, but keep half your attention on your smartphone or laptop C. Stay home (or at your desk), but “attend” virtually via twitter, twubs, livestream, blogposts, etc… Saturday, I couldn’t make it down to LA for OpportunityGreen, so I followed the tweets and such from here. Check out hashtag #og09 if you want to do the same. Last week, I went with option B, spending the day in San Francisco at Green...

The search for Event Video best practices…..

2009-10-09T12:30:27-07:00

For many months now I have been struck by the increasing confluence of video and events. Here are some examples: > Sitting at my desk watching Chris Sacca live on UStream from Amsterdam discussing Twitter and other web ventures. > Attending Always On Going Green, where they have an outdoor mini-studio/spin room set up to schmooze with the key presenters after each talk, all of which, talks included they send out live. > At GridWeek in DC, they hired a crew to do man on the street type interviews with the delegates that were then edited and played back to...

Finding time for reflection admist a swirl of events......

2009-09-28T12:35:09-07:00

The last couple weeks have been a blur of events. I hope to write something more reflective here in the near future, especially about Next Agenda, which promises to be a new frontier in the integration of live events and online experiences. In the meantime, I am posting quotes from each stop on my recent journeys at my website, www.conferencebites.com and I invite you to look in over there at the latest.

"The people formerly known as the audience" raise the bar for the Events Business

2009-03-19T14:06:00-07:00

Growing evidence points to both the mounting challenges facing the conference business right now, and the fact that somewhere within those challenges lurk great opportunities. Consider: 1. The recent 4A’s conference (American Association of Advertising Agencies) Conference, as reported by Michael Bush in Ad Age, came up short both in numbers of delegates (off some 30 or 40%+),and in the delivery of practical solutions the delegates were looking for. 2. There are several amazing blog posts and a vibrant tweetstream about the "New Models for Old Publishers" Panel at SXSW Interactive this week. I highly recommend searching through this stream...

6 ways (and counting) that Twitter is transforming events, Part 2

2009-02-12T14:06:00-08:00

When it comes to what Twitter means for events, there are far more unknowns than knowns at this point, but here are some of the early indicators: 1. Twitter is the new back channel for communication: In any event that appeals to early adopters, and increasingly a greater and greater segment of the population, people will be using Twitter for the digital equivalent of passing notes back and forth in class. All events will want to establish a designated hashtag (#ted, #davos, etc…) to allow these users to connect with each other easily onsite, just by including it in their...

6 ways (and counting) that Twitter is transforming events, Part 1

2009-02-09T13:44:00-08:00

Maybe it’s the Buzz of TED (see favorite quotes here, gathered from afar and mostly through Twitter), but as I turn my attention to the specific new technologies that are transforming events before our eyes, Twitter seems to me to be first and foremost. As Evan Williams, Twitter’s Co-founder and CEO said in Friday’s talk: "We had no idea Twitter would be so big to cover events". He made this comment while fans were live tweeting much of his talk. He was sharing his own "Wow, it's bright up here, and lots of people are staring at me. (Giving my...

Meetings 2.0

2009-02-06T08:00:00-08:00

In starting to explore further about the Conferences and Events business and the role of social media tools in making them better, I came across this brilliant must-read post by Seth Godin (who incidentally used to be one of my (and everyone’s) favorite speakers back in 2000 when I was involved with Sponsorship matters for Fast Company’s Real Time Conferences): "I think the standard for a great meeting or a terrific conference has changed. In other words, "I flew all the way here for this?" is going to be far more common than it used to be. If you think...

I hate conferences.

2009-02-05T14:17:00-08:00

I would much rather work from home in my bathrobe rather than wrestle with figuring out how casual is “business casual” these days. I’d rather not drive and deal with parking much less airport security and delayed and overcrowded flights with too little leg room. Beyond the hassle and expense, there is the ROI factor. Even when I get truly inspired at a conference, there is always the question of what next. How do I make those insights real in my life the next Monday morning back in the office? But I’m not by nature a whiner. I am actually...