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Early explorers like Sir Francis Drake brought back gold and silver. But the real treasure was the maps they made. These maps were incredibly powerful – they showed ships trade routes, and pinpointed natural resources for exploitation. Maps were jealously guarded, often not even shared between companies from the same city, let alone between nations.

But slowly this changed. Smarter tech led to more accurate maps. Countries began to share the knowledge they had. Eventually, maps merged, creating one of the most powerful resources we’ve ever known. This was the First Age of Discovery.

Today we are living in what is seen as the Second Age of Discovery. Any one of us has a device that contains a treasure trove of maps and information beyond the wildest imaginings of Sir Francis Drake. But if we use this tech for discovery at all, we use it for what I think of as micro discovery. To find a good cup of coffee. To see if we can get that hoover we’re looking at in a shop cheaper online.

We have terrabytes of information at our fingertips. But for all our Foursquare check-ins we’re not the hero explorers of yesteryear. I think that’s because we’re not actually explorers. People often think mobile discovery is all about us individuals exploring the world around us.

But the reality is, our devices are much better at exploring and mapping who we are and what we do.

Mobile discovery is companies like Facebook, Google and Apple and startups like Highlight, Sonar and Shhmooze exploring you. These companies build technology that discovers where you live and work. When and how you travel. What coffee shop you like. What events you attend. Where you go on holidays. What you read and listen to. When you sleep, when you wake up. Who your friends and colleagues are. Even what you’re doing on the toilet.

These companies are not creating maps of the world. They’re creating maps of people. Facebook is mapping you. Google is mapping you. Apple is mapping you. Shhmooze are mapping you. We, the individuals, have become the new America. We’re the precious resource they’ve discovered.

The more these companies know about you, the better they can push information to you. A money-off coupon for a coffee. A conference ticket. A 69p app. A weekend break in that seaside town you like. Ads are the gold and silver of the second age of discovery.

The new people maps are patchy, incomplete – even wrong. But they’re incredibly powerful. And just like those early maps, they’re closely guarded by their creators. But as tech progresses and we get a better understanding of the impact these maps will have on our world, standards will get created, data will be shared, maps will be publicised.

We are at an incredibly exciting time in history. And with huge potential, comes great responsibility.

The gold, tobacco and fur of the New World transformed the Old World. And the diseases, weapons and beliefs of the Old World devastated the New World. In this second age of discovery, we must clearly see that bad things can and will be done with the new data. Companies creating people maps must act responsibly and handle this data with care. We must not sacrifice individuals for short-term profits or everyone will be long-term losers.

But we, as individuals, must also take responsibility. We must push to understand what the new maps ‘know’ of us, how they are defining us, how they will impact on our lives.  Everyone must try to understand how technology works. Believing that your tweets disappear forever when they’re not on the front page of Twitter is the 21st century equivalent of believing the world is flat. We can’t be that stupid. It will cost us too much.

*Transcript of a talk I gave at the Mobile Apps event organised by the fab @em_stone and enjoyed by @hakimmobile, @ballantine70, @lizziehodgson and others. See @ballantine’s transcript here.

Ladies Luncheon - 12.30-14.30
Ladies who don’t normally have time for lunch are stepping away from the mobile madness and kicking off the heels to enjoy a leisurely lunch. Starting at 12.30am at the ZINC-bar.

Media is Dead, Long Live Media - 16.00-19.00
Speakers and guests from IAB, Weve, Fairfax Media, Kiip, LoopMe and the BBC for a panel discussion that will cover how mobile has changed media consumption and explore how media production and broadcasting must change to meet new needs.

Box and Friends’ Mobile Enterprise celebration - 18.00-21.00
This is a relax and recharge event as you meet with mobile trendsetters and tech VIPs to see how the mobile enterprise will materialise in 2013. Held at the iconic Casa Fuster hotel with declious cocktails and tapas – there’s even a free prize draw!

European Leaders presents 18.00-22.30
An exclusive invite only event at an undisclosed venue, European Leaders annual panel discussion brings together the top thought-leaders in the world of mobile. Drinks? But of course!

And finally…the infamous MEF connects MWC party! Held immediately after the MEF EMEA’s AGM, this is the 11th MEF party. And it’s not all nibbles and chit-chat – the party takes place at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) for art and entertainment alongside liquid refreshment – starting at 20.00 until the wee small hours!

At 12.30 more healthy folks will start the Barcelona Walkshop – exploring the city on foot with smart tech in hand.

At 1pm the Innovation on the Fringe event (sponsored by Twilio) kicks off. It’s packed full of demos and discussions, along with the inaugural ‘Dead Technology Award’ in which we mourn not just some fine technologies and technology companies, but have a last look at some things that should have been confined to the dustbin of history before they even started! Check out the ‘In Memoriam’ shortlist video below.

After that there’s probably time for some tapas before you rub shoulders with investors, entrepreneurs, developers and execs at the eighth annual Mobile Sunday (starts 6pm). Organised by Rudy de Waele, the event is hosted at the Antiga Fàbrica Estrella Damn, near the emblematic Sagrada Família in Barcelona. At the same time, some lucky developers will also be ducking into the nearby *invitation only* WiPjam terrace party.

Whew. Tired already and MWC13 hasn’t even started!

Make sure you download Shhmooze or use our mobile web app to see where your connections are gathering!

MWC is fifteen years old this year. I think mobile years are a bit like dog years – that’s why MWC feels more like a 105 year old great-great-granddaddy than a disruptive adolescent.

But change comes from explosive debate, bright minds meeting and new ideas being sparked.

And 1% of MWC attendees are doing just that – on the Fringe. The brainchild of mobile veteran Helen Keegan, Heroes of the Mobile Fringe is a collection of 30 of the best events, workshops and parties happening in Barcelona.

“Consider this the “Off Broadway” or Fringe Festival of MWC, where you get to actually talk about the real issues in the mobile startup ecosystem in a lively debate format.”
Mike Butcher, EU Editor, TechCrunch

We’ve polled our international network of mobile geniuses about MWC. The overwhelming opinion is that it’s big, old and slow. But the Fringe? Now that’s getting people excited!

“Something MWC badly needed.”

“Go to Barcelona, skip MWC – rock the Fringe.”

“Fucking genius!”

We hope you join us at some of the most exciting events in Mobile this year.

We’re proud to announce Shhmooze as our official event app. The fabulous Michelle and crew have created a one stop shop for all our Heroes for each of the events throughout the festival, enabling you to meet and connect with the people in your network.

Fun and simple to use, Shhmooze was the obvious choice for Heroes as it embodies what our festival is all about – hanging out and meeting up with like-minded mobilists to chew over the mobile fat. The fact that you can also re-connect with contacts you may have lost touch with through the smart profiles is a neat feature, one I know I’m going to be making the most out of in Barcelona.

We will be recommending Shhmooze to all our Heroes, so download, sign in through all your social channels and immerse yourself in loads of Shhmooze loving!!

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So what do you do when you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and irritable?

Simple. Go home, get some sleep.

Seriously. You’re not doing yourself or anyone else any favours by dragging your carcass to an event where you don’t have the energy to be your best self, and you sure as hell can’t do your best for other people.

Alternatively, you could try this app that fakes a great night out for you.

Milgrim’s post war work sowed the seed for our understanding today of social networks and lead to other social scientists devising the concept of six degrees of separation, the subject of the film by the same name.

So how well connected are you?  Are you really only six people away from Tom Cruise, the highest paid actor of 2012 according to Forbes?

Apart from any (slightly questionable) cool factor that gives you with your friends, you’re probably not too bothered about meeting Mr Cruise.

But you are bothered about being introduced to that person who might be able to get you an introduction or an interview.  Or a write up or testimonial.  Something a little more useful than the ability to answer certain pub quiz questions.

By showing you who you already know on Twitter and LinkedIn Shhmooze starts to do that for you.

We’ve discovered that the best place to start when networking is with the people you already know. They’re the people we share our first coffee (or last beer!) with.

Now you don’t have to spend ages scouring Twitter trying to figure out who’s where. You can let Shhmooze do all the hard work for you – in seconds, not hours.

We all want to make a good first impression at an event or conference but first face to face moments can sometimes leave us feeling like a rabbit in the headlights.

Thankfully we can create connections with people online before actually meeting them for the first time in the flesh, giving us ready made conversation openers.

Shhmooze makes it super easy for you to make those connections.

You can sign in with LinkedIn to create your professional profile in just a few seconds.

Then, with one eye on the audience, your reason for attending and subject matter of the event (ok, three eyes), simply tailor your professional profile in the app.

Then kickstart some great conversations by telling people what you want talk about – anything from designing NoSQL databases to sheep-shearing in the Australian outback!

Need to review your professional profile?  We agree with Forbes when they say that the most important thing to think about ahead of an event is what your intention for being there is.  Read what else they say in 5 ways to make a killer first impression.

Which is a lot.

And, with the millionth app recently approved by iTunes there are plenty more apps to choose from too.

But, according to Renate Nyborg, Global Mobile Director at Edelman, 24% of apps are downloaded and then never opened while a mahoosive 94% of the top 100 apps are not even opened after a year.  So, many apps are irrelevant.

We’re plain bored of having to rid our smartphones of redundant apps every so often. It’s time consuming and a pain in the jacksy (here’s some great advice from Lifehacker on how to clean up your smartphone if you need it).

So it really doesn’t really make sense that nowadays every conference or event seems to have developed its very own, one off, bespoke individual event app.

Because they don’t need to.

Shhmooze works at every single event you attend – no matter how big or small.

You’ve probably used one of the hundreds of conference apps out there. They usually work at one event but are useless at the next.

Shhmooze isn’t like that.

We work at every event, right across the world. And even if you’re the only person using Shhmooze at an event, we’ll still show you who’s here and help you network.

Check it out.  It’s free.

New research from those funky print maestros, Moo.com, could help.

They’ve discovered that 42% of small business owners believe that if they were to hand out 100 business cards it would generate £50,000 a year or more in revenue.  That’s £50 per card!

It seems that dealing with contacts in person rather than via email or social networking is helping UK entrepreneurs and business owners to generate a potential £9.45 billion revenue a year.

Small business owners may use a variety of online and offline ways to deal with clients, customers and suppliers but many feel they do better when they can ‘see the whites of their eyes’, the study shows.

In particular, they are better able to judge a person by how they dress or look or from the firmness of their handshake than anything they may find via Facebook or Twitter.

We’ve written before about the limitations of business cards but, in case you were in any doubt, we absolutely love conferences, events and meet ups. We sincerely believe that technology can never replace face to face time.

But technology, and by that I mean Shhmooze of course, can make us smarter and make our networking easier.

Here’s how:

1. Find the best events.  Shhmooze will tell you where your LinkedIn and Twitter connections are gathering. This helps you discover great events and also means you can ping your contacts to arrange meetings – or simply be more prepared for when you ‘bump’ into them.

2. Get your homework done faster.  With Shhmooze’s professional profiles, you don’t have to spend hours researching what fellow attendees have been doing. Shhmooze has already scoured LinkedIn, Twitter and other websites for you.

3. Don’t get caught on the hop.  When you’re at an event Shhmooze highlights which of your connections are also there. With a quick glance you can catch up on what they’ve been doing so you have an ice-breaker.

Moo’s survey also reveals that, when it comes to marketing their businesses, the following tools are the most important for business owners:

- 25% say their website
- 32% say word of mouth referrals
- 21% say their business cards

And the best places to network?

- 47% say the pub
- 61% say a conference
- 29% say the gym

We think business cards, together with Shhmooze, are fast becoming an essential toolkit for every conference attendee.  Put them together and see just how much smarter – and more profitable – your next conference or meetup will be.

In this third and final of three posts for Shhmooze on effective networking our guest blogger Emily Stone, CEO and Business Matchmaker at tmtconnect, gives some simple questions that even the shyest delegate can ask at networking events.

Check out Emily’s previous networking posts for Shhmooze on how to successfully combine virtual and face to face networking and 5 questions to ask yourself before attending a networking event.

I go to a lot of networking events and have found over the years there are some questions that really help kick off a great discussion that can result in new and amazing business relationships being formed.

It’s important to note that it is about much more than asking questions when you meet someone new though, you need to be genuinely interested in the person and business you are speaking with – and definitely don’t give them a hard sell on what you do!

There isn’t anything clever about these questions, but they seem to do the trick.

Make sure you have an answer or opinion on each one to help gain interest as it likely whoever you are speaking with will turn the question back on you. Here’s a fun blog by Forbes on how to be interesting that you might also want to read.

1. Why did you come along tonight?
2. How did you hear about this event?
3. How do you know the organiser?
4. What did you think to the speaker?
5. What sort of business do you run?
6. What’s your role in the business?
7. What is it that you love about your business?
8. What sort of projects are you working on at the moment?
9. How are you finding …(question tailored to their industry)?
10. Are you on Twitter/LinkedIn and do you use them regularly?
11. What’s your twitter name?
12. How about a coffee to discuss … in more detail?
13. Will you be coming to this event again?

In our experience it takes meeting someone two or three times at a networking event before a lasting connection is formed. There are some exceptions to this rule and how you follow up can make a quite difference, so think carefully before sending your follow up email.

And don’t forget to download and use Shhmooze to help target who you want to spend time talking to at the event.  Use it to view the rich professional profiles of people you want to speak to beforehand and you can make your questions more tailored than those above.

Not every event we attend embraces technology, of course, so the before and after scenarios can also read like a useful ‘To Do’ list for some event organisers.

We agree that people are more likely to attend an event if they know their peers are going to be there which is why we built this feature into Shhmooze early on.  Time away from the desk is precious so knowing which are the hottest tickets in town is important.

Using Shhmooze, delegates are also able to see who’ll be there so they can set up meetings in advance.  Or just ‘bump into’ someone with a ready prepared ice breaker (having viewed their rich profile before hand).

And one word on conference apps – we’ve seen some really great ones and some that frankly shouldn’t have made it off the drawing board.  Our advice?  If you’re an event organiser, think long and hard about whether you need to create one from scratch.

If you’re on a tight budget (and who isn’t?) a bespoke, once off app can be an unnecessary expense. Shhmooze is a free app. Why not talk to us about how you can give your delegates what you want using us, for free (did I already say that?)

Full image and description here-> Event Technology Infographic
Courtesy of Event Manager Blog

You’ll never get lost on the way to an event again.  That’s because Shhmooze can guide you to the event venue with built in Google map functionality.

Shhmooze also gives you a brief overview of what’s planned at the event, including those all important start and end times.

And it makes it easy to check the Twitter hashtag so you can see what other people are saying about the event.

Perfect information to have to hand when as you jump in the taxi only to realise you’ve completely forgotten where you’re meant to be going next.

*25,000 people signed a Facebook campaign to encourage Brian Blessed to be the voice of TomTom sat navs.  The short clip below tells the story.

“What are some tips on connecting with high-profile people that can help your startup?

“An example: “How did you meet Ron Conway and Marc Andreesen and get them to fund your startup… How does someone get connected to high-profile people such as Angel investors, Venture Capitalists, Editor for TechCrunch, etc?”

One of the tips Scoble gave in his answer was

“Always try to see life from their side. If I wanted to pitch Ron [Conway, American Angel investor] on something I’d read everything about him, everything he’s written, and I’d ask people who know him how he views the world and what he’s passionate about. That will give you something to talk about and potentially offer him first, before asking for your needs. Certainly look for their Twitter streams, Facebook pages, blog posts, etc before calling or jumping on them at a conference, etc.”

This sounds like a lot of work.  Hours of work.  That’s because it is.  But if you know you can get even just 2 minutes of time with someone as amazing as Ron Conway, those hours of hard work are well worth it.

Unfortunately you don’t always know that someone you need to meet is going to be at an event with you. So it’s pretty hard to do those hours of hard work when you’ve just got 10 minutes to prepare. And that’s where Shhmooze’s smart professional profiles really come into their own.

You can use Shhmooze to get a cheatlist on the person you’re going to meet. We put together a profile that gives you the contextual information you need to jump into conversation. So you don’t need to do a lot of the work Scoble talks about by hand.  Shhmooze does all this work for you in seconds, not hours.

Here are Scoble’s 12 networking tips in full.

I hang around high-profile people often. Here’s some things that can help you connect:

1.  Listen. If they say your idea sucks, listen to the feedback, take notes, and ask for contact info. Then go fix the problems, or come up with another idea and demonstrate you listened.

2.  Get to the point. People like Ron Conway are busy. They are wildly rich, so the only thing that is limited in their life is time. You are taking away some of their most precious resource, so get to the freaking point. Don’t try to chit chat or ask about their kids or make small talk. Go right for the big ask. They are used to it.

3.  Ask a friend of theirs first. They are more likely to listen to a friend they trust more than if you just walk up and pitch them. Instead, find a more accessible friend of theirs (most of these people are on Facebook and you can figure out who else is in their social circles) and ask them for their advice. If they think your idea is the world’s best they will take it to them for you, believe me.

4.  Don’t be afraid. Last night I went up to Kevin Systrom, co-founder and CEO of Instagram, and congratulated him and asked him how the deal was going. Others WANTED to go say hi to him, but didn’t.

5.  Don’t wait until they are famous. I was the 79th user of Instagram. Why? Because when Kevin asked for me to help him by testing his app, I listened and handed him my iPhone. That makes trying to go up to Kevin after he’s famous a lot easier.

6.  On the other hand, don’t be annoying. Look for signals that they aren’t interested in talking, or are open for discussing. I once met Bill Gates on the show floor. I could tell he was animated when talking with others, so I tagged along and waited for my chance to speak to him.

7.  Always be networking. The reason I met Kevin last night is because I bothered to talk to the guy sitting next to me on the plane. He wasn’t Kevin, but was a VC (I didn’t know him, I do now) and he said “did you see Kevin get on the plane?

8.  Flattery is nice, but. These people are used to being flattered, and it’s always nice. But don’t lay it on too hard and don’t forget to get to the point of why you’re saying hi. You’re not there just for the story, right? You want something, so ask for it. They are used to it. I once asked Bill Gates for $300 million in front of Mike Arrington. I was turned down, but that was more fun than just telling Bill how awesome he is. I once told Bill to buy Skype for less than $2 billion, too. Not listening to me cost him, what, $6 billion, so I figure he might listen to me someday when I ask for $300 million to go do some fun things.

9.  When someone says they aren’t interested, listen. I had some guys at LeWeb who I told I wasn’t really interested in their idea, but they kept pitching, even pitched me the next day. I signal strongly what I want to see just to keep that awkward time from happening. So does Ron, etc. If you have the next big tech company Ron wants to see you for at least two minutes. But you better deliver the goods in that two minutes, otherwise he’ll tell you why he’s not interested.

10.  Always try to see life from their side. If I wanted to pitch Ron on something I’d read everything about him, everything he’s written, and I’d ask people who know him how he views the world and what he’s passionate about. That will give you something to talk about and potentially offer him first, before asking for your needs. Certainly look for their Twitter streams, Facebook pages, blog posts, etc before calling or jumping on them at a conference, etc.

11.  Be flexible. Often they are on their way somewhere else, or have someone else to meet with. Don’t force them to listen to you when their mind is already somewhere else (it won’t work anyway). Ask for a new meeting time that’s more convenient for them. It’s amazing how many people don’t respect other people’s time and believe me, if they have to run to the bathroom they will only remember how big a jerk you were for not listening to the signals they were sending.

12.  Put yourself in play. You won’t meet interesting people by sitting at home. Get to where they are. Hang out in lobbies of tech conferences, or hang out in cool coffee houses where they hang out and do deals. I do this often and it’s amazing how many interesting people you can meet this way. Tonight I’ll be at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay doing just this.

Check out the full Quora thread for more great tips to connect with high profile people from other influential people.

The good people at C&S Safety Training Videos have let us into another secret about happy workers – work shifting (or flexible working).  Check out their infographic below.

Featured By: C&S Safety Videos

In this second of three posts for Shhmooze on effective networking our guest blogger Emily Stone, CEO and Business Matchmaker at tmtconnect, looks at the simple preparation you can do before attending an event to make the most of your (expensive) time away from your desk.

Check out Emily’s previous post on how technology can help people discover the events they should be attending and how to successfully combine virtual and face to face networking.

In many people’s minds when you say ‘networking’ it brings up low value negative connotations. Why is this?

I believe the majority of people, myself sometimes included, often network for the sake of networking without having any strategies or goals in mind. This can lead to negative experiences and low quality connections being made.

With a little preparation you would be amazed with how much more you can achieve for your business from networking.

Next time you go to a networking do, try asking yourself these questions and prepare your answers:

1. Why am I going and what do I want to achieve?

2. Who is going that I want to speak with?

3. What will I say when we speak, so that I come across as interesting, credible and relevant?

4. Who else do I know who is going to be there?

5. Do they understand what I do and can they effectively introduce me to people there (and vice versa)?*

*For question 5 you may need to put a call into your contact to update each other on what you are up to.

There are many useful tools out there that you can use to help you prepare, including Shhmooze, which has been designed to save time finding and preparing for events. Seeing the events your connections are attending is a really useful way to discover great events – and plan productive meetings. The “See who you know” features shows you which of your existing connections are attending the event you’re at. This means that with one quick glance, you can catch up on what they’ve been doing, giving you an ice breaker.

Taking a bit of time for some preparation will help you get so much more from your networking.

Next week:  Emily’s third and final blog in this series gives 10 essential questions to ask at your next networking event.  Follow @shhmooze and sign up to Shhmooze news to keep informed.

The conference brings together over 30 key digital journalism experts and innovators for a day of sessions, workshops, debates and discussion.

There’s a lot on the agenda so we packed the speakers and their topic areas into the at-a-glance graphic below.

More than 150 paying delegates will hear about the latest techniques and tools for producing top-notch digital journalism, whilst gaining insights into some of the innovative projects evolving within today’s newsrooms – and outside of them.

The keynote will be delivered by Nicolas Kayser-Bril, chief executive and founder, Journalism++, who’ll be talking about how and why news outlets should place data at the heart of the newsroom.

Check out this Twitter list of delegates and speakers for the conference and, if you can’t make it in person, follow the action virtually via the #newsrw stream.

Are you going to news:rewired?  Download the free Shhmooze app to see which of your Twitter and LinkedIn connections will be there (and then use it to make new connections too).

Forbes Insights surveyed more than 750 business executives and discovered that over 80% of people would rather meet someone face to face than virtually.  They believe it’s vital for building stronger, more meaningful and profitable business relationships.

However, respondents told how the recession has meant that many companies have cut travel budgets, forcing employees to resort to technology to conduct meetings.

Key report findings

- 33% travel less frequently for business travel than the previous year

- 42% said their company’s use of technology to conduct or access business meetings had increased

- 84% preferred in person, face-to-face meetings

- ‘Building stronger, more meaningful business relationships’ was the reason respondents prefered face-to-face meetings

- ‘Saving time’ was the reason respondents prefered technology-enabled meetings

- Face-to-face meetings are the best way to foster persuasion (91%), leadership (87%), engagement (85%), inspiration (85%) and decision making (82%)

- 34% agreed that being able to combine personal travel with business travel is a great perk

- 42% agreed strongly that face-to-face interaction with co-workers is necessary for effective teamwork

- 43% agreed that “down” time at in-person conferences builds stronger client bonds

- 46% strongly agreed that there are tangible business benefits to in-person, face-to-face meetings that outweigh the cost savings of alternative, technology-based meeting methods such as web conferencing or video conferencing

- 54% think that an even balance between in-person and technology-enabled meetings represents the ideal meeting/conference

Download Business Meetings: The Case for Face-to-Face here

It’s clear face-to-face time is hugely important in building and maintaining professional relationships. What we love at Shhmooze is technology that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of time spent before and during conferences and meetups.

Here’s how Shhmooze helps you to smarter face-to-face time

1. Once you’ve connected your social media accounts, you’ll see where your LinkedIn and Twitter connections are gathering. This helps you discover great events. But it also means you can ping your contacts to arrange to meetings – or simply be more prepared for when you ‘bump’ into them.

2. With Shhmooze’s professional profiles, you don’t have to spend hours researching what fellow attendees have been doing. Shhmooze has already scoured LinkedIn, Twitter and other websites for you!

3. When at an event, Shhmooze highlights which of their connections are present. With a quick glance you can catch up on what they’ve been doing so you have an ice-breaker.

Technology won’t replace face time any time soon. And we’re here to help make it better!

One of those questions posed was “What about apps?”  The good practice answer is that your organisation should make a list of apps that are OK/not OK for work so that there is no ambiguity.

Which brings us very nicely to today’s post – our selection of 7 essential apps you need for a conference. Your boss should approve.

Here’s our pick.

1.  Airbnb

They say

Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world — online or from a mobile phone.

Whether an apartment for a night, a castle for a week, or a villa for a month, Airbnb connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 26,000 cities and 192 countries. And with world-class customer service and a growing community of users, Airbnb is the easiest way for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.

We say

Find great value and/or quirky accommodation to rent, anywhere in the world.

Visit Airbnb

2.  Hailo

They say

Use Hailo to get a cab wherever you are, whenever you want. All it takes is two taps on your iPhone or Android Phone. Pay cash or card, with no charges above the meter.

We say

Last week’s BLN MiM Award winners proved too tough to beat. Now available in 9 cities worldwide this app makes standing on cold, windy street corners in the driving rain a thing of the past. Unless you want to, of course.

Visit Hailocab

3.  Twitter

They say

The fastest, simplest way to stay close to everything you care about.

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories, ideas, opinions and news about what you find interesting. Simply find the accounts you find most compelling and follow the conversations.

We say

The best way to interact with an event, keynote speaker or delegates.  If you’re not a Twitter user (and even if you are), you can use Shhmooze to follow the Twitter stream to see who’s saying what!

Visit Twitter

4.  Foursquare

They say

Foursquare is a free app that helps you and your friends make the most of where you are. When you’re out and about, use Foursquare to share and save the places you visit. And, when you’re looking for inspiration for what to do next, we’ll give you personalized recommendations and deals based on where you, your friends, and people with your tastes have been.

Whether you’re setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, Foursquare is the perfect companion.

We say

Great for finding the best food/coffee/entertainment in your free time around an event. Or great for finding a sanctuary to take refuge in!

Visit Foursquare

5.  Evernote

They say

Evernote helps you remember everything.  Capture anything – save your ideas, things you like, things you hear, and things you see.  Access anywhere – Evernote works with nearly every computer, phone and mobile device out there.  Find things fast – search by keyword, tag or even printed and handwritten text inside images.

We say

Not sure how much I want to capture everything. But this is the most popular notepad app around with many devotees.  Not just for the super organised Monica Gellers, Evernote is also useful for capturing and keeping hold of random stuff you only need to access infrequently.

Visit Evernote

6.  Give me a break app (Doors & Rooms)

They say

Don’t question why. Just open the doors and escape! Simple yet fatally addictive. See through the tricks and find hints for your escape! Never-ending battle of wits against the developers. Be careful, though: one mistake can cost you everything.

We say

Sometimes (even at the best even) you find yourself bored silly or overloaded! Well if you need a break for a minute you could do worse than lose yourself and recharge with this free games app for the over 9′s currently riding high in the iTunes top ten. Great for a complete change of scene from the conference. Just remember to go back in to the conference.

Download Doors & Rooms

7.  Shhmooze

They say

Jason Calacanis, American Internet entrepreneur and blogger, said “Shhmooze is the conference app for all conferences,” and “Shhmooze is something the world really, really needs.”

We say

Aw shucks  Shhmooze is there for every step of your conference journey – from finding an event, seeing what events your connections are going to, seeing the venue, seeing who’s there and getting kickstarted with great conversations.

Download Shhmooze

So, what have we missed?  With over a million apps accepted to the Apple iStore last month we probably missed one of your favourites. Please share it in the comments box below!

We’re thrilled to have scooped Emily Stone, CEO and Business Matchmaker at tmtconnect, as our guest blogger for the next three weeks. Emily is passionate about building lasting and valuable connections between people and businesses and has over ten years experience in sales and marketing within the technology sector.

In this first of three posts for Shhmooze Emily looks at how technology can help people discover the events they should be attending and how to successfully combine virtual and face to face networking.

A recent survey by B.Hive suggested that 96% of women find face-to-face networking more effective than virtual. This doesn’t surprise me at all, however I feel there is an important dimension missing here, which is to combine the two.

I find using virtual networking on its own can be pretty effective if used to build credibility and trust, but it’s when you combine virtual and face-to-face networking that you get the most value and here’s why.

Face-to-face networking allows you to quickly get a sense of who someone is. You get to see how they interactive with different people and most importantly you get to see if you connect in person. The down side to face-to-face networking is it’s time consuming, often costly and is generally hit and miss. The value you gain from it is only as valuable as the follow up you do, and if you’re an introvert you have to be quite brave to go along.

Virtual networking (online) is a huge growth area and there is a good reason why – you quickly get to target who you want to interact with and you can do this at your convenience (not the event organisers). You get to build trust and credibility and evaluate if you want to invest the time and cost in meeting someone in person. Even with all the advances in technology it is still not a replacement for face to face interaction though.

So, how can you combine the two?

1. Use social sites such as Twitter and Linkedin and Shhmooze to find like-minded people, prospects and partners.

2. Listen to what they are saying and discover where they are going to influence where you go.

3. Promote that you are going to a specific event/conference through social networks, using the designated event hashtag if there is one.

4. Highlight the people you want to speak with through social media before the event. Send them a tweet or DM them through Shhmooze saying you’re looking forward to meeting them.

5. When at the event ask the host to introduce you to the people you have already been interacting with or following, and don’t forget to continue to network with new people too.

6. When meeting new people ask if they have a twitter name or if they are members of any industry social sites or LinkedIn groups that might also be relevant for you.

7. Send live tweets from the event with photos and quotes from speakers using the relevant hashtag again.

8. After the event, start following your new connections through Twitter and retweet any interesting and relevant comments they make to your followers, also publicly let them know it was good to meet using Twitter with hashtag again.

9. Send Linkedin connection requests to your new connections and look at their existing connections, if there is anyone they are connected with that you’d like an introduction to and it is appropriate ask them nicely to do so – of course do the same for them too if they ask.

10. Use Twitter, LinkedIn and Shhmooze to continue your conversation and keep your new connections engaged.

Remember building business relationships takes time. You may need to meet someone new face to face several times before anything comes of it.

Next week:  Emily blogs about how to do your homework in preparation for attending your event. Follow @shhmooze and sign up to Shhmooze news to keep informed.

Hailo

• 1 year old
• 500,000 app downloads
• 1 million trips in London
• 3,000,000 miles driven by London Hailo cabs.
• A cab is Hailo’d every 10 seconds.
• This represents just 1% of the London market. 

But my favourite fact? Hailo’s biggest single fare was £3,000. Apparently a ‘lady from Kensington’ sent her dog from London to Spain. #barking

Nowadays delegates turn up to conferences equipped with smartphones, iPads and laptops, ready to capture and engage with the conference content in many different ways.

We think it’s smart to understand how these devices are getting embedded in attendee’s workplaces. Here’s a great infographic from Biztech which poses six questions organisations should ask before implementing a own BYOD programme.

- Who buys the devices?
- What’s the right policy?
- What’s the employee’s role?
- What’s the impact on IT?
- How do we tackle security?
- How about apps?

Read on to discover the good, bad and ugly answers!

Source:  Thanks to Cool Infographics for the share.

After a series of Skype interviews, we got through to the shortlist of companies. I cancelled my summer holiday for a face-to-face interview with a panel of mobile experts. We endured a nail-biting wait before we got the call confirming Shhmooze was one of ten companies picked to represent the best mobile app companies around at the moment.

Our prize?  A challenging 13 week programme designed to get us investor ready for demo days in London, New York and San Francisco in early December. The Next Web has been following us from the beginning of the programme in September, here’s what they said about us.

Great expectations

As you can see from the video below, we were bright-eyed and bushy tailed back then (despite the lack of summer holiday!). And we all had different goals for our participation in the programme. Some teams wanted to meet smart folk, take their app to the next level and capitalise on the network. We were excited about the connections the programme offered and refining our product.

So how’s it been for us?

Well, being in a start-up can feel lonely when there’s a small team. Which is part of the reason Springboard has been an amazing experience.  It’s a mentor-led programme, so we met over 100 experts, entrepreneurs and investors in the first few weeks. It has been an exhausting, sometimes gruelling, but overwhelmingly exhilarating experience. Getting challenged and validated by some of the brightest brains in mobile tech today is awesome.

Why do it?

Yesterday I wrote a guest post for the Springboard blog explaining what it’s really like to be an entrepreneur and why I do what I do.  In the immortal words of Jessie J it’s not (just) about the money. If you like that, get yourself into Springboard’s daily blog which also hosts the weekly videos featuring three of our cohorts.

And remember to wish us lots of luck for our pitches – first up, London, this day 2 weeks. Yikes!

It’s always fantastic to be shortlisted for awards and even better to win (don’t believe anyone who says otherwise).  It can be hard work being an entrepreneur so the recognition from industry peers that award nominations provide is lovely.  It feels like a big hug.

The judging panel includes Nick Lansley, Tesco head of R&D, who says:

“Goodness you know how to make life difficult! I had a challenge even choosing a top 20 (with many others ‘bubbling under’) and it has been a formidable job narrowing my votes down to my final 12.

Every company who entered this competition – whether they make it to the final or not – should know that they really have created some incredibly innovative mobile products & services, and I wish them every success. British innovation in mobile rocks!”

Mark Littlewood, Founder of the BLN said:

‘There is no doubt that these companies are among the pioneers of the mobile revolution in British Industry. ‘

So we know that the competition is fierce (hello hailo!).  So we’re already practicing our pitch. See who the other finalists are here (boo hiss).

Wish us luck next week!

This great infographic makes interesting reading of an ever-changing market.

Source:  Researched, authored and published by VisionMobile.

He won silver and bronze rowing in the Commonwealth Games. Not surprisingly he’s known as one of Ireland’s most inspirational people.

But in July 2010 a tragic fall left Mark paralysed. I haven’t had a chance to meet him since.

Running late to the Wired 2012 event at the end of October, I quickly scrolled through the attendee list on Shhmooze to see who was at the event. And there in my contacts, I saw Mark. Mark hadn’t downloaded Shhmooze. I didn’t know he was in London. But our tech was able to detect he was at the event and through that, I got to meet and catch up with him.

This experience is exactly why we developed Shhmooze. I want everyone to have the conversation they might have missed. To have face-to-face time with the people who can challenge or inspire change.

And Mark is the epitome of that for me. His bravery blows me away. His ambition isn’t to walk again. It’s to run again. Just this week the Run in the Dark took place in 5 cities throughout the world to raise funds for The Mark Pollock Trust. If you can, please pop over to the page and contribute what you can. And if you ever get the chance, say hello to @markpollock – one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet.

The line up of speakers is impressive and includes Jessica Butcher from Blippar, Simon Breakwell from Uber and previously Expedia, Nigel Beighton from Rackspace and Jay Altschuler from Unilever amongst others.

#BLNMiM will “showcase disruptive mobile businesses so you can be inspired or frightened by the speed of change.”  Indeed.

We’re excited to be pitching Shhmooze in the MiM Awards to compete for the accolade of best customer engagement tool. It’s a chance for us to showcase the new features and design we’ve just released on Shhmooze this week as well as some killer new stuff coming for Christmas (App Store approval depending, of course).

If the pace of change is frightening then so are some of the habits of mobile phone users. Understanding your customer is important. That’s why we love this infographic. People love their mobiles so much they’re prepared to endanger their life – and the lives of those around them.

With thanks to Cool Infographics for the share.

Update your Shhmooze app now >>

As well as a beautiful new look n feel, Shhmooze has now got even more smart functionality.

You can use Shhmooze to:

- discover which conferences and meetups your peers are attending
- highlight the events happening near you

Get closer to your connections

When you know which events your Twitter and LinkedIn connections are attending or interested in, you can make the most of those all-important face-to-face opportunities

Shhmooze now helps you to be smarter about how you use your networking time.

And, if everyone else is attending that event, shouldn’t you be too?

Update your Shhmooze app now >>

Is there more?

As well as our delicious new design, Shhmooze is now compatible with iPhone 5 and iOS 6.

Coming soon…

We’re not done yet.  We love what we’ve just released, but are working on something really special for Christmas*.

*App store approval dependent…le sigh.