Simon on: ITCM - Virtual meetings

Virtual meetings are nothing new - in fact they've been around for several years under the technological guise known as teleconferencing.

Although in that form the concept of virtual meetings never quite took off, today the idea is much more accessible - yes there are still limitations but it does have its uses.

Recent developments have certainly made these kinds of meetings a much more serious possibility and we can now meet with anyone, anywhere.

But there is a downside - to find out what that is, read the whole article featured on ITCM, by clicking here.

Change doesn't happen all of a sudden

As I prepare to travel to Las Vegas to work on IMEX America 2014 I can't help thinking back to when we started working on the systems for the show in 2001.

This chain of thought started when I was in Germany for IMEX Frankfurt this year. I was staying in a hotel and eating in restaurants that didn't exist when we did the first show in 2003.

In May 2014 we had the 12th show in Frankfurt and this will be the 4th show in America and I think it's fair to say that there have been some dramatic changes in the world since it all started.

We've had the first black President of America, a number of countries that were dictatorships now aren't, fully electric cars are on general sale and BlackBerry has gone from world leader to struggling also-ran.

In that same time, the events industry has moved forwards, but I don't believe we've seen any dramatic shifts in the events world. Of course, if you compared the first IMEX Frankfurt 2003 to an IMEX 2014 show then you would definitely see some significant differences but these haven't been "big bang" changes – they have occurred much more gradually over time and will continue to do so.

Back in 2003, the iPhone was just a glint in Steve Jobs' eye and when it was released in 2007 it was definitely a defining moment that ultimately transformed the world we live in. That said, the iPhone was the culmination of years of work and gradual improvements in technology (battery life, touch screens, processors, memory) and while the world did sit up and take notice, proper penetration of smartphones into the general business world took a fair while longer. So much so that it has only been in the past 4 years or so that event apps have really started to become much more commonplace.

The iPad was released in 2011 and we soon saw those appearing on show floors as a useful alternative to laptops. This was partly because of their portability and partly due to the fact that most people only want to browse the web, compose emails and write documents on their devices.

Equally, in 2003 I doubt if free public Wi-Fi existed in most places but these days it's fairly normal for a café, bar, hotel or restaurant to have it and it transforms the experience of being in a foreign country. Now I can sit in a rooftop bar on a beautiful sunny day with a nice cold beer while keeping up to date with my email rather than having to be in the office!

There was no social media of any note back in 2003 – Facebook and Twitter were founded in 2004 and 2006 respectively but took a good while to reach any kind of market penetration and while people were talking about "web 2.0" we didn't really see any discernable effects of it in the events world until much later.

I think it's fair to say that the changes we have seen have mainly come in the form of technology in one way or another and whilst there has been some incredibly significant changes in the world, they don't happen overnight and don't effect the events industry quickly.

So the next time someone asks me "how is this going to change the events industry" I think the most appropriate response is "gradually".

Simon on: ITCM - Time to consider our own data security

With recent stories of celebrities' iCloud accounts being hacked, it's time that data security became a serious issue for everyone.

We wouldn't leave our doors unlocked so why do we leave our personal information up for grabs? 

With nearly a third of us choosing '123456' as our password of choice, the question is: are you doing enough to protect your data? 

Read the whole article featured on ITCM, by clicking here.

Some companies clearly don't "get" the web

Recently I found a document from ages ago where I'd made a note that my daughter would love a 1kg bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk. I thought that it would make a good Christmas present so I decided to try and find one.

A quick Google later told me that although this product has existed in the past, it's rare if not impossible to find at the moment. Perhaps it's a seasonal thing but one website did turn up a result – a website called DebenhamsWeddings.com and not only that, they show that the price has fallen from £10 to only £3 – result!

The problem is that the only action that's available on the page is "Add to gift list" which I didn't want to do – I wanted to buy it so I rang the customer services number which is where it started to get a bit weird.

I explained my problem to the lady who answered the phone and she said "yes, sometimes Google show pages for products that are no longer available". She took the product number from me and looked it up and sure enough – this product was no longer available.

I said "why wouldn't your web team update the page to say that this product isn't available" and she completely failed to see that it is totally Debenhams fault and said "no, it's Google linking to the page that's the problem. You shouldn't use Google to search for products on our website" – erm HELLO...what sort of moronic response is that?

Honest to god – if Debenhams leave a live page on the internet that shows a product as available then it's not Google's fault because nobody (including Google) can tell that this product isn't available any more. The fact that she gave me a response without any hesitation shows that this obviously happens reasonably frequently.

It just goes to show how dumb some company's attitudes to the web are which is quite scary. Thankfully, it does make it far easier for retailers who have a clue about what they're doing to take business away from idiots that haven't a clue.

Simon on: Suitcasing

There seems to be an increase of interest in ‘suitcasing’ - the process of taking advantage of networking opportunities at conferences without paying the registration fee. Even the New York Times has written about it.

It’s easy to see why it annoys organisers: people are gaining benefits from the event without contributing anything. One organiser quoted in the NYT article claims that between 1 and 3 percent of attendees are ‘suitcasing’. If you have 500 delegates at a conference each paying €1,000.00 registration, you could be losing up to €15,000.00.

There are proven technologies and techniques that can be used to combat the problem but this issue also raises a question: why are people doing this? It’s because they want the networking benefits of being at the conference.

That’s something that you don’t get with virtual or hybrid events. The promoters of these technologies will disagree but recent experience suggests that trying to be a virtual visitor can be a frustrating business. The technology works but people at events don’t want to stand around talking to a tablet on a stick.

People want to talk to people. The best way to do that is face to face. That’s why people are ‘suitcasing’.

Originally published in Conference News 

Good UX is harder to find but it does exist

Sometimes I get fed up with the amount of bad UX that's out there. It's much easier to find than good UX and therefore I find myself writing about it more often than good stuff. There are plenty of good lessons to be learned from bad UX but it is nice when you come across something genuinely good and that's what happened to me recently so I thought I should share it.

It's not unusual for me to order things from the internet - in fact I do more shopping there than anywhere else these days. Delivery companies are hit and miss to say the least but for a while DPD have stood out for me as a good example of user experience in the delivery sector.

The main reason for this is that some time ago they started sending me a text saying when my delivery would happen down to the hour. For example - "Your order will be delivered today between 14:22-15:22 by DPD driver Keith". They also give me the option to reply to the text and have the package delivered to a neighbour or reschedule for another day.

This is really nice for package recipients because the last thing they want when they're having a package delivered is to have to stay in all day hoping the package will arrive. More recently, I've had emails from DPD too with a link to a website that provides even better information. When I click on the link in the email I see this.

For me this is a brilliant linking of various technologies to improve the UX. The vans are all satellite tracked now and linking that data with the data from the handheld computers you have to sign to acknowledge delivery means DPD can tell me which delivery the driver is currently on and how long it will be before my delivery. This also means I can keep an eye out for the driver if I live in a place that's harder to find. That should ultimately cut down on the number of failed deliveries that they then have to put extra effort into - a win for the company.

As I said at the beginning of this article - it is really nice to find something that makes me go "wow, that's a great idea". I just wish it happened more often!

Simon on: ITCM - UX stretches beyond websites

User experience is something that most people believe only applies to websites, and while the UX of a site is important, when it comes to the events industry, it is something that should apply to the whole event.

Despite UX being very easy to get wrong, I think event planners need to look at their event through the eyes of an attendee to have optimum user experience and with it, a successful event.

Agree with me? Read the whole article featured on ITCM, by clicking here.