The annoying aspect of so much
of the nonsense spouted about technology is that it diverts attention from what
planners should be doing.
Take Big Data for example. Meeting planners don’t
need to bother about it because they’re unlikely ever to have to deal with it.
Big Data describes huge,
unstructured databases that need to be analysed using sophisticated systems and
specialised data analysts. Both are very expensive. Even the biggest
conferences aren’t going to produce a database on which Big Data techniques
will be relevant.
Yet we have people using the
examples of major consumer brands, which may have Big Data, to claim that
meeting planners need to get to grips with the subject. Needless to say, these
people usually have a product or service to flog that answers the supposed need
they have highlighted.
The reality is that instead of
worrying about something that will never affect them, planners should be
concentrating the data they collect now and figuring out whether they really
need it.
In most cases, the answer is no
because most of the data is never used. This means registrants wade through
pages of questions to no purpose.
So forget Big Data. Concentrate
on Necessary Data.
Originally published in Conference News
