The Meeting Professional’s Guide to Behavioral Economics

I’m honoured to have an article in this month’s MPI One+. A quick recap of the article can be found below.

World Water Day – Resources for #Eventprofs

In honour of World Water day, here are some of my favourite resources for event professionals:

International World Water Day Resources:

• UN World Water Day Information – useful information about the water crisis
• Taiga Company’s Pinterest page – beautiful images and great curated content

Water Footprint Information:

• Water Footprint Network – this is my “go to” page for water footprint information. Their product gallery is incredibly useful and has strong scientific background.
• National Geographic Water Footprint Calculator – great way to measure your household footprint.
• ONE DROP’s Calculator - gives you the water footprint of what’s on your plate.

Charitable Organizations:

• Charity Water – Pledge your birthday campaign is pretty cool
• ONE DROP – Excellent resources

Industry Specific:

• Shawna McKinley’s blog post on how much water is saved using water stations instead of bottled water.
• Green Meeting Industry Council’s information page on International Water Day 2012 (be sure to click on the commitment to change form for more great information)
• A bit self-promotional, but I really like my last post on water conservation for meeting professionals (infographic)

What are your favourite resources?

Image courtesy bigstockimages.com / hospitalera

Does your event need some @kred?

In December, I had the honour of speaking about Gamification at the Next Generation Meetings Conference in Stockholm. While there, I was introduced to the Kred leaderboard for events and saw first hand how it encouraged interaction and social media engagement. The Kred leaderboard was projected on the wall of the event and it provided real time information about who has the most influence, as well as who is the most generous on social media.

What I like about the Kred Leaderboard for Meetings

1. Encourages social media interaction: using gamification best practices, including real time feedback and rankings, Kred motivates participants to interact.
2. Amplifies the reach of your event: by encouraging participants to be more active on social media, they are able to engage their networks both inside and outside of your event community.
3. Encourages pro-social behaviour: since Kred measures not only influence but also outreach, it rewards participants for recognizing others and engaging in dialogue – all things that we want in building a stronger event community.

I’m grateful to Kred’s CEO, Andrew Grill, for answering a few questions about Kred and how to set one up for your event.

My Interview with Andrew Grill, CEO of Kred

Q1. What is the difference between influence & outreach? 

Kred Influence is the measure of what others do because of you on social media. Your Influence score increases when someone takes an action because of your content on Twitter related to the event hashtag. On a Kred event leaderboard, those with the highest influence score are the ones being mentioned most at the conference, and generally it is the current speaker on stage who scores the highest for influence. Kred Outreach is the measure of your generosity. Outreach increases when you retweet, @reply a person. On the Kred event leaderboard, those being generous and mentioning other delegates and speakers by @name will rank higher on the board.

Q2. What is the leaderboard and how is it used for events? 

The Kred events leaderboard provides a real-time view of who has influence, and who is being generous at the conference. The leaderboard is reset at midnight each day, and to appear on the board, you must mention the event hashtag and at least one other @name.  Points are then awarded to the mentioner and the person who mentions based on the Kred scoring rules.  The leaderboard refreshes every 30 seconds so delegates can see not only who is at the conference and talking about it, but who they should connect with because they are driving real interest and action at the event.  A live example of a Kred leaderboard can be found at http://events.kred.com

Q3. How do meeting planners create a leaderboard?  

At the moment the quickest way is to contact Kred and we can set up the leaderboard – it is a paid service.  In the future we will provide as self-service tool allowing event planners to create, modify and curate any leaderboard they like themselves.  The elements that can be changed are the title, logo, and color scheme.  In addition, specific @names can be withheld from appearing on the board in real time.

Q4. What are the benefits of the leaderboard for events? 

The feedback from these event leaderboards has been amazing.  People love seeing their names up “in lights” on the big screen, and at every one of the 100+ events we have run with the leaderboard, there has been a very healthy competition between delegates to get to the top of the leaderboard – gamifying the experience.  In some instance, iPads and hotel stays have been awarded to the people at the top of the list at the end of each day by the event organisers and their sponsors. The second benefit to an event planner is that it extends the reach of the event beyond a physical location.  Because delegates must use the event hashtag in a public tweet to appear on the leaderboard, this means that literally thousands of other people not at the event read tweets tagged with the #conference name and start to “tune in” to what is being said, and contribute virtually.  This means that the leaderboard drives many more organic mentions of the conference by delegates on twitter – at no incremental cost.The leaderboard has also become an amazing delegate discovery tool. Many people have said that they only knew a particular person was at the event because they saw their name on the leaderboard, and decided to seek them out and renew or create new relationships at the conference.

How much water can a conference bag hold?

We’re moving, which means we’ve been decluttering the house, or at least trying to! As part of the “big clean”, I came across a suitcase full of old conference bags, with all kinds of exhibitor catalogues, flyers, brochures, etc. Perhaps with a hint of procrastination, I decided to calculate the water footprint of one of these bags. Here’s what I came up with:

• 1 cotton tote bag = 2500 litres
• 182 pages of paper = 1820 litres
• Total = 4320 litres (over 1000 gallons!)
• Estimated event participants = 2500
• Total water consumption from tote bags and materials = 10,800,000 litres

According to this National Geographic article, the global average water footprint of 900 gallons per person per day for diet, household use, transportation, energy, and the consumption of material goods, meaning that the bags and papers from this one conference were equivalent to the daily needs of 12,000 people.

World Water Day is coming up on March 22nd and I hope that these tips for reducing the water footprint of your event will come in handy.

 

My 1st #ScholarSunday goes to… @GlobalEcoGuy

Let me start by saying, I’m not an academic. I do however, have a great appreciation for academics, and particularly those that are using social media to help inform and engage the non-academic community. A few months ago, I came across the #ScholarSunday hashtag – started by Dr. Raul Pacheco as a #FollowFriday for academics. I think this is a brilliant way of helping to identify those academics that are transforming the role of academics in society. From a meetings industry perspective, finding engaging academics can add an valuable perspective to your program, regardless of whether or not you’re hosting an academic event.

What I look for in a #ScholarSunday:

1. Do they challenge my assumptions?
2. Do they tell great stories, and are they able to back them up with solid research?
3. Can and do they respond well to criticism about their findings or posts?
4. Do they actively engage with their friends and followers on social media, or do they only broadcast about themselves?
5. Is their work accessible to the non-academic?
6. Do they come across as human?

Why My 1st #ScholarSunday goes to @GlobalEcoGuy

My first #ScholarSunday goes to @GlobalEcoGuy (Dr. Jonathan Foley, the director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota) for the reasons listed above. His TED talk (see below) and thought provoking articles in Nature and Scientific American focus on a plan to feed the world while sustaining the planet. (FYI – their new publication ensia is my favorite online magazine – great science, stories and visuals.)

In preparation for this post, I had the pleasure of interviewing him about science & social media. A short excerpt from the interview is below:

@meetingchange A2: Many! But mostly to get outside the academic ivory tower bubble, at least for a bit. We usually only talk to ourselves…

— Jonathan Foley (@GlobalEcoGuy) March 7, 2013

[View the full transcript of "My Interview with @GlobalEcoGuy" on Storify]

I also put him on the spot for who he likes to follow on social media. His comments on possible generational differences to approaches to social media can be found in the transcript above, and he also provided a few names:

@meetingchange A3 (cont): Anyway, I really like to follow @revkin @bradplumer @keithkloor @ddimick @jacquelyngill @lizneeley @calestous

— Jonathan Foley (@GlobalEcoGuy) March 7, 2013

Advice for Eventprofs about Academics as Speakers

I have planned many academic conferences over the years, and I can say that some academics are exceptional presenters and others well, are not. I think that #ScholarSunday has the potential to be a great resource for event professionals because it helps us to identify academics that know how to engage and are respected by their peers. In addition, I strongly recommend finding videos of their presentations, as this helps to get a sense of their presentation style as well. A few tips to share with them before their sessions include:

• Review expectations about the presentation style that you and your participants need, including interactive and visual elements.
• Ask them to engage with your event participants using the event hashtag before, during and after the event.
• If possible, schedule a twitter chat with several speakers and your community members and send the transcript out to promote your event.
• Provide them with background information about your audience and the audience’s knowledge of the subject matter so that the content can be appropriately tailored.
• Consider an interview format rather than a standard lecture presentation, this can help make the session more engaging for the audience.

It’s Time for Associations to Transform

I’ve been struggling lately with finding relevance for associations. I’m struggling because I love associations, but I question how they will continue with current models. Here’s my problem: I think many associations have forgotten why they exist, and instead, focus on just collecting dues and holding events. I’ve spoken with several association leaders lately that are having a hard time meeting financial goals, delivering value to stakeholders, and achieving their goals. I’ve also spoken with many association members who really question why they pay to be members of an organization and whether or not the fees are worth it. We need a major transformation both in terms of what associations do, and how they are funded.

I think many associations act like cocoons: they’re insular, and keep their value hidden. On the other hand, I’m also starting to see signs of associations evolving to be more like butterflies – and I hope to see more of this. So how do cocoon associations and butterfly associations compare?

Cocoon Associations

Cocoon associations are inward facing: concerned with themselves and their growth. They focus on recruiting members and holding events. They hide their value – and showing it only to those on the inside, and are restrictive about things like sharing content. They are tightly guarded, and put up a barrier that separates them from the world. They are also stuck in one place, not able to leave their spot. This combined with their vulnerability to everything from the economy to their competitors. Cocoon associations don’t sound very promising – but they have a huge potential to emerge transformed.

Butterfly Associations

Butterfly associations on the other hand have an outward focus and they show their value to everyone around them. With their wings outstretched and open they move freely as needed. When faced with a possible threat – they can fly to a safer place. They’re not completely protected from the butterfly nets of the association world, but they have the ability to be nimble. They are also transformed with a new focus on the mission of the association, not simply the management of the association. Butterflies are fascinating, they soar to great heights and they’re loved.

The Transformation Process

Becoming a butterfly association is no easy task and involves consultation and collaboration as well as answering some pretty tough questions. A few questions and tips to get you started:

1. Start by asking yourself: How is your association relevant? Do you deliver value?
2. Next, ask yourself if your current practices are the most effective way of achieving your mission. Are you preventing your leadership from focusing on key priorities because they are being consumed by projects that while valuable, or are not the best use of their time and talent? Are there other initiatives that would be more important?
3. Develop a long-term plan, one with room for flexibility, but that ultimately commits to a transformation.
4. Develop an alternative funding model that will help ensure your long-term sustainability that is not heavily dependent on member dues.
5. Gain support for your vision with your board and stakeholders. Keep in mind that when you’re stuck inside the cocoon, it can be difficult to see the beauty that will emerge.

Hybrid events… in case you needed a reason

17,062 N. American cancels from #Sandy since Saturday. 6,500 cancels today. 1,111 cancels so far tomorrow ht.ly/eTzQj

— FlightStats.com (@flightstats) October 30, 2012

About ten years ago, I was working at a hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when I got the call from the keynote speaker… his flight was canceled and he wouldn’t be able to attend the conference. Our banquet captain at that time came up with the plan for us to do the presentation via speaker phone, and we advanced the PowerPoint slides for the speaker. I can’t say that it was a great success (the sound in particular was pretty bad), but it was better than the alternative: no keynote. Fortunately, we now have much better (and often affordable) options available to us today to bring in speakers virtually from pretty much anywhere with an internet connection. For a great example of this, see Adrian Segar’s post on bringing a keynote in via Google Hangouts.

Flight Cancellations and Delays: The Numbers

So how bad is the situation? It’s easy to point to major climate events such as October’s Hurricane Sandy that grounded over 17,000 flights, but what about the average day? In examining the data from FlightStats.com for the past 30 days, the numbers are really astounding and signal the importance of having alternative arrangements in place.

Note: these numbers are estimates. They were generated in the late afternoon Pacific time zone and may have changed by the end of the day. Also, global data is not signficantly higher than the combined numbers for the three identified regions, so there may be flights from other regions that are not included in the data.

How Do Hybrid Meetings Help?

Hybrid meetings combine live and virtual meeting elements. They enable a live meeting or event to include a virtual audience or even virtual speakers. For me, the most effective ones also allow for real time, two-way interaction between the live and virtual communities, often through the use of social media. Hybrid meetings can help to mitigate the impact of flight delays or cancellations that result in speakers or attendees being unable to attend in person by providing an alternate way of participating.

How To Prepare

Here are a few tips to help you prepare for a speaker being unable to attend your event due to flight cancellations, delays or other unforeseen circumstances:

1. Select your platform in advance: Whether you are using one of the free services such as Skype or Google Hangouts, or partnering with one of our industry’s great event technology companies, have a platform selected in advance. Collect account information for your presenters in advance so that you can easily and quickly connect with them.
2. Check your bandwidth capabilities: Not all venues will have the bandwidth needed to live stream a presentation. To determine this, I recommend the Convention Industry Council’s free and easy bandwidth estimator.
3. Train your speakers: Provide your speakers with an orientation prior to your event. This is a great opportunity to discuss the needs of your specific audience so that the presentations can be tailored to them. Ideally, offer these orientations using the platform that you would use to bring them in virtually if the need arose and review the backup plan with them.
4. Know where to go: Many airport lounges will have quiet areas or small private rooms where presenters can go to do deliver their presentations. Have a list on hand of where to go for the major hub airports for your destination.
5. Pre-load your presentations: Ask your presenters to send you a copy of their presentations in advance so that these can be pre-loaded on your platform.
6. Have a live facilitator: Have someone designated in advance to be a live facilitator for a virtual speaker. This person will be responsible not only for onsite logistics, but also for engaging both your live and virtual audiences and facilitating communication amongst them and with your speaker.