Event Camp a view from outside

I got involved in what has been described as an 'un-conference' at the weekend as an outside viewer and contributer at Event Camp 2010 in New York. This was a grass roots gathering of like minded professional event organisers who had collaborated to get together for a one day conference all about Social Networking in Events.

There were guest speakers and open discussion sessions as well as some social time - there is a great description of the live event here - http://ow.ly/14VG5. 

As a remote attendee as was able to watch the presenters on video through a live stream and was able to follow the discussions, comments and information from the 200 or so on-line followers on Twitter - there was a live feed from Twitter at the event and the facilitator was monitoring the Twitter feed for questions and relevant comments - so someone 4,000 miles away was able to ask a question of the presenter and another was able to ask for the camera to be repositioned during one presentation. After some of the sessions there were live interviews with the presenters, just for the on-line audience - these were a great tool for helping the viewers to feel more involved.

While the presenters did their thing, the twitterers were adding links, comments and experiences about what was being presented. One of the best examples was this diagram, featured on the PowerPoint and linked on Twitter almost immediately afterwards - it's a really useful tool to see all the different sites and services being employed by web users in the global conversation...

The overwhelming takeaway from Event Camp as a remote delegate was the fantastic opportunity it presented to engage informally with peers and professionals from different background but sharing a common interest - crucially, not through a structured trade association or involving travel, selling or cost.

I tend to concentrate on the experience rather than the content here - the content was excellent, challenging and in places inspirational - there were plenty of things to take away and go and do differently - well done to all involved in putting it together.

In many ways it reminded me of my first real internet experience on the Compuserv Group sharing with eventprofs before the internet explosion destroyed that sort of direct connection. Let's hope this sort of collaboration is here to stay.

Update on 2010-02-08 14:41 by admin

More Information on Event Camp

There is a further excellent and detailed blog about Event Camp and the topics covered here: http://ow.ly/1522L

4 Benefits of Hybrid Conferencing for Corporate Events

A hybrid conference combines the benefits of a live audience at a live event, with the power of the internet and remotely accessed content and collaboration.

Hybrid as it can be delivered now is likely to be a glimpse of the future of conferences.

Managers attend a national conference. They are usually fairly passive - they watch and listen to presentations, maybe visit breakout groups and get to vote on something - and there might be a Q&A. All tried and tested and successful if delivered well. But very passive. These are

1 - Pre-event - Community

Involve the audience in the content, provide them with the mean to communicate with each other around the conference topics. Allow them to contribute to menu selection, to discussion topics, to vote and decide on some aspects of the conference - ahead of the conference. Encourage them to share their thoughts and ideas with each other - share best practice about their jobs. The conference is just a catalyst, but the existing comms channels often become stale or underused - a dedicated conference community adds to the success of the conference through engagement with the audience, but also has secondary benefits in the wider business.

2 - Missed the Event

There are always delegates who can't make it. Some because of holidays or illness but many for simple things - they don't like to travel, they can't get a 'pass' from home, they have childcare problems or there is no business cover for them. These delegates still need to be engaged and informed and if they miss the conference they become barren and lost until the next event or meeting. Streaming video of the conference over the web has been possible for a long time but because of the limitations of local internet speeds it has been rarely taken up. 

With faster broadband everywhere and new technology in the way we process cameras at an event, streaming the conference live to a remote audience has never been better. Add to that the ability to continue the 'conversation' from the community through the forums or social networking tools such as Twitter, means that the remote delegate can feel involved and take part in the event from afar.

3 - A Second Audience

With Live video streaming so accessible, the possibility of adding additional audiences is very real. For example, in an ideal world you would invite the Deputy Manager to the conference so that there was an additional person to enthuse about the conference messages - or you might like key head office people to see the conference but don't want to provide the additional facilities and budget needed for that many attendees.

By opening an event TV channel for remote viewers to log in to, we can switch between live presentations from the live video feed, Presentation slides, pre-recorded video inserts or messages and a live host who could talk directly to the remote audience while other activities are going on at the conference - so effectively you end up with a second conference tailored to the remote audience via a live TV channel. It's not expensive to deliver.

4 - Outside-in

The final consideration with our remote audience and conference community is using social networking, like Twitter and Facebook, as well as on-site tools like SpotMe, to involve everyone at the conference and remotely viewing the conference, to talk, share, engage and collaborate. This could be through dedicated discussion sessions or through 'back channel' style Twitter feeds displayed at the venue and simultaneously on the Live feed.

These are just some of the applications of Hybrid conferencing for corporate events, without doubt the adoption of some or all of these new techniques will bring a totally new dimension to conferencing.

Shaped by War

An exhibition of war photography by Don McCullin opens tonight at the Imperial War Museum North. http://north.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.24321

The exhibition coincides with Don McCullins' 75th year and includes this video piece edited by the Cascade team...

Cascade have a long association with IWM North having been involved with the production of the permanent Big Picture installations when the museum was still under construction. The Big Picture shows feature 35mm slides projected across 13 different unusually shaped screens. The IWM North is our last 35mm slide installation and the continued maintenance becomes increasingly difficult as film, slide mounts and slide trays go out of manufacture.

The Shaped by War special exhibition runs until 13 June 2010.

Apple iPad Presentation

#eventprofs Watching the launch of Apple's latest toy the iPad on UStream Live. It's amazing that the norm now is that people are streaming live video from inside the auditorium, sharing photos of the screen and slides and blogging them live - Apple haven't finished their launch presentation and Twitter and the tech blogs are alive with feedback, comments and opinion. Extraordinary.

On a positive note, the simplicity of the conference set up is brilliant - a single large projection screen against a black backdrop, simple Keynote slides on a grey (graduated) background with single images or simple text. The presenter has the run of the stage with a lectern at the side for when its needed.

Short presentations from each presenter on a single subject with swift handovers to different content specialists.

The whole thing is simple, structured and slick - I just don't get the uncontrolled live streams from the audience - couldn't Apple have set up an official stream with good bandwidth and made it available to the press and tech blogs?

Will we buy an iPad? Probably won't be able to resist (Keynote looks particularly exciting on the iPad)

Update on 2010-01-28 22:26 by admin

COMMENT ON THE iPAD - It's difficult to say whether the iPad will be a success and change the way we work. Time will tell. Our impression is that it will be defined by the Apps that are developed for it. The iPhone in its basic form is inferior to many of its' competitors - there are better phones with better specifications, better cameras, that handle email better and so on. But once the Apps started to come, the way we use the iPhone changed and the number of things we could do with it changed - to the point that true converts would feel naked without one in their hand.

I suspect that the iPad will follow a similar route. It will be normal to have an iPad by your side on the sofa or in a meeting. There will be no need for expensive software suites, instead there will be task specific Apps, at $9.99 or similar price point and you will be able to do lots with it.

Frustrations? DRM - Apple have set out to control video, music and book content and they don't want you to share it. Where is the webcam or camera - it seems an obvious oversight.

Looking forward to getting our hands on one and seeing how it works for real.

Twitter Feeds at Conferences (madness?)

It seems that in the tech world, presenting a live twitter feed behind the presenter is becoming more common.

The way it works - the presenter presents, the audience listen and what the audience thinks as they listen, they Tweet - then the tweets are presented as a live update on the screen behind the presenter (so if someone tweets something funny, then the audience laugh regardless of how serious a point the presenter is making).

You can read an interesting article by Keir Whittaker which draws together some experiences of this in practice.

From our point of view at corporate events for UK companies, using Twitter 'live' could be a fantastic way draw in questions or comments for a Q&A or to promote interaction during a dedicated session for interaction, but the idea of having the audience accessing their phones and contemplating what to tweet during a presentation will inevitably lead to them not hearing or engaging with the very message that they are attending the conference to hear - which can only be a bad thing.

This is a video monologue from CNNs tech expert Chris Pirillo following an apparently bad experience at the Web09 conference in Paris:

Foursquare - the future?

Foursquare is being feted as the Twitter of 2010. 

The tie in between location, service and social networking are likely to have consequences for event planners in the future - in many ways the game parts of Foursquare mimmic the type of interactive team builds we have been running for some time.

For an insight into Foursquare and how it's working now...http://mashable.com/2010/01/16/foursquare-world/

Panasonic introduces 152-inch 3D 4k HDTV

Panasonic does it again, introduces 152-inch 3D 4k HDTV" - www.engadget.com 

If that gigantic HDTV above looks a few inches shy of 152-inches, its because it is. While Panasonic has shared a few details about the existence of its new biggest HDTV ever (full release after the break) it has not been shown to the public yet. We imagine it'll look a lot like its little brother pictured above, after all, it features the same 4k resolution and a relatively unobtainable price. What will make a bigger difference then the extra two inches though is the fact that this one is will display 3D content. Panasonic is giving a sneak peak of their new stuff in a bit, so with any luck we'll get a real life picture of the new behemoth in action.

The ultra-large, 4K x 2K quadruple full HD plasma panel creates a true full HD 3D world, delivering an overwhelming immersive experience

Augmented Music?

Little Boots, creator of a modern techno retro 80s electronic music style, has released an iPhone app where you create tour own unique versions of three of her songs by interacting with the iPhone, movement and the environment around you. It is intuitive, very interesting an strangely addictive - a fascinating use of technology.

More on the Little Boots website

CrowdSourcing

This concert video, soon to be released on BluRay has been compiled and edited by fans from footage supplied by fans at a concert by band Nine Inch Nails. The power of the crowd in the example has lead to the creation of an excellent video with some fantastic viewpoints (it takes a minute or so to get into so stick with it).

When we have had the likes of Pixie Lott, Marc Almond or Girls Aloud on stage, all the cameras phones come - can we tap into the power of the crowd?

Google Wave

Following the extension of Google's trial of their new Google Wave system, Cascade have signed up as a tester. We are interested in using Google Wave as a collaborative tool to replace some meetings - both with our remote based production crew and with clients - effectively, when used alongside a conference call, Google Wave could provide a medium where all interested parties can share media in a way that can be accessed by everyone instantly and can be revisited afterwards.

We expect that we will establish Waves for different aspects of a production which will grow and develop as the plan become more complete.

This is an explanation of what Google Wave is from Wikipedia:

Google Wave is designed as a new Internet communications platform. Google Wave works like previous messaging systems such as email and Usenet, but instead of sending a message along with its entire thread of previous messages, or requiring all responses to be stored in each user's inbox for context, message documents (referred to as waves) that contain complete threads of multimedia messages (blips) are perpetually stored on a central server. Waves are shared with collaborators who can be added to or removed from the wave at any point during a wave's existence.

Waves, described by Google as "equal parts conversation and document", are hosted XML documents that allow seamless and low latency concurrent modifications.^[5] Any participant of a wave can reply anywhere within the message, edit any part of the wave, and add participants at any point in the process. Each edit/reply is a blip and users can reply to individual blips within waves. Recipients are notified of changes/replies in all waves in which they are active and, upon opening a wave, may review those changes in chronological order. In addition, waves are live. All replies/edits are visible in real-time, letter by letter, as they are typed by the other collaborators. Multiple participants may edit a single wave simultaneously in Google Wave. Thus, waves can function not only as e-mails and threaded conversations but also as an instant messaging service when many participants are online at the same time. A wave may repeatedly shift roles between e-mail and instant messaging depending on the number of users editing it concurrently. The ability to show messages as they are typed can be disabled, similar to conventional instant messaging.^[3]

EiBTM Barcelona

We're just back from a fact and inspiration finding trip to the trade show where the meetings 'World' meets. Some inspiration and ideas mostly lacklustre. Expect some of the better new technologies to appear in our events in the new year.