Simon on: Data security in events

I know I bang on about data security a lot but it really is a subject that doesn’t get taken seriously enough.

I do believe that event websites are less likely to be targeted because of the short term nature of registration websites - that isn’t an excuse for not doing everything you possibly can to protect your data though.

Very recently a healthcare company in the US had a data breach and were sued by their customers. The healthcare company’s insurance paid out $4.1m in compensation, but an investigation revealed that the healthcare company had not done enough to secure their data and so the insurance company demanded the money be repaid.

Another recent study found that for the first time ever, bots are generating more traffic on the internet than people. A bot is an automated process that gathers information – Google use them to index web pages but criminal gangs are now using the same technology to look for personal information.

Our data is an important asset which needs to be protected. You wouldn’t leave your home or office unlocked when there’s nobody there so why leave your online information up for grabs?

Originally published in Conference News

Simon on: Distractions vs. Content

In our lives today we are constantly surrounded by distractions with the majority of them being digital. It’s begun to impact on everything else we do and, quite frankly, we need to learn how to disconnect.

At a conference, phones pinging or even just being available to Google something can easily claim our attention. We should really be focusing on what’s being said, but having our phones, tablets or laptops out can make it difficult.

Whether it’s instant messaging and email, or silly games and web pages, our digital devices have numerous ways to distract us with new methods coming at us all the time - but it’s not all our fault though.

Conference content needs to be gripping – probably more so than ever before – and that would make it easier to stay engaged. If someone gets bored by the session that they’re in then distractions will rule.

Delivering content that people can get excited about should enable organisers to have disconnected attendees. Yet it’s also important to help your attendees choose the right sessions so they don’t sit there wishing they’d gone to a different one and start looking for tweets from attendees of that session!

Originally published in Conference News