E-venting.net

At the Intersection of Social Media and Events is... a Widget

I'm more than just a geek. I'm actually two geeks - an Events geek and a Social Media geek. So when Freewebs asked me to produce a conference for them on Widget Marketing, I happily accepted, and WidgetCon was born.

You've seen widgets - they're those little mini-applications that are all over the social media web: slide shows, games, music playlists, YouTube players, etc. All these are widgets. You probably have some on your own blog.

WidgetCon is about how advertisers can use widgets as a new type of media. Which is interesting and all, and I'm doing the programming for it. But what's more interesting (at least to this audience I trow) is the widget we created for the conference:

Introducing the world's first Conference Registration Widget:

Here's what it does:

• WidgetCon is by invitation only. If you’re invited, the WidgetCon widget will confirm your RSVP based on your email address. It's linked to a database on the backend with invitees' info, so it recognizes you.
• But that’s not all – you can also use the widget to custom design your conference badge for WidgetCon. You can even upload a picture which will display on the website (but not on the actual badge - we opted to keep it only online because of resolution quality concerns)
  
• “Attendees” on the widget displays a slide show of all the RSVP’ed attendees and their custom badges. It's a list of who you'll be able to network with, and a photo album of badges combined.
• And if you have colleagues who are not yet invited, they can request an invitation using the widget. Their info and badge design go into the database until their request is reviewed. Clicking a box on the database backend accepts their invite and adds their badge to the "Attendees" slide show.
• It also pushes out updated content. We chose to include tabs with the Agenda and Speaker list, but could easily have included one with a RSS feed to the show blog, so all updates were pushed in real-time to the widget. And yes, if we elect to stream live video from the conference, we can do that through the widget as well.
• Finally, like all widgets, you can easily post it to any blog, profile page or website.

We put the WidgetCon Widget into a WidgetCon website, but it's also distributed all over the web. And that's its magic, really - distributed content. Wherever it shows up online - on this blog, on speakers' blogs, on ad agencies' corporate intranets, whatever - the entire conference has a presence there, not just an ad banner and a link. It tells a pretty complete picture of what the event looks like, invites interactivity, and encourages participation. And because the event is on Widget Marketing, it's naturally an ideal proof-of-concept of the show topic.

But it's also something I can see show producers getting behind no matter what their focus is.

So try it - monkey around with it, turn it over in your head, even put it on your own sites if you want by simply clicking on the "Get This!" button. Would love to hear your thoughts.

Cause Related Initiatives

So it's officially 'Holiday Season' again, the time of year when the call to do-some-good-in-the world is a little louder and more frequent than usual. But this year to me feels a little different - like more people are listening, and accepting the invitation. Maybe it's just me and a case of Yellow VW Beetle Syndrome (once you notice one, you suddenly see them everywhere), but it seems like a bigger movement than ever this season.

I could list a dozen examples, but will refer specifically to what Shop.org is doing with Cyber Monday. They coined the term a couple of years ago to designate the online equivalent of 'Black Friday' - the day after Thanksgiving that officially kicks off holiday shopping, and on which retailers move from the red to the black for the year. Cyber Monday is the following Monday - Today - and is the day that traditionally posts huge online shopping numbers. Largely a PR initiative, Cyber Monday was created to call some attention to the rise in e-commerce and certainly to position it among shoppers as a stress-free alternative to mall madness.

But what's interesting this year is that Shop.org has coupled the initiative with a cause. CyberMonday.com is an online mall created by Shop.org which features deals by over 400 retailers. Shop.org receives a commission for everything sold through the mall, and the commissions all drop straight into the Ray M. Greenly Scholarship Fund. Ray worked at Shop.org until a battle with cancer ultimately claimed his life. The scholarship was set up in his memory, and funds students embarking on Interactive Marketing and E-Commerce careers.

Shop.org is a former client of mine, so when Scott Siverman (Shop.org Executive Director) asked me to mention the initiative here, naturally I wanted to comply. Apologies if it's off-topic a bit, but I'll try to tie it back here:

1. If you've got some holiday shopping to do, start at www.cybermonday.com.
2. Consider a cause-related initiative to your next event. Not because you can legitimately ask bloggers to write about it, but because you could actually do some good in the process.

Speaker Self Promotion = Symbiotic Conference Promotion

My friend Rob Leathern over at AnalystBlog.com is needling Plaxo for a press release that promotes their speaking role at an upcoming conference.

I agree with Rob that it's a crummy topic for a press release. It's certainly not anything any member of the press would be interested in, and seems to belie a gross misunderstanding of trade marketing vehicles - particularly for a Web 2.0 company like Plaxo. In fact, it's almost as if the CEO came out of his office and proudly declared, "I'm speaking at a conference!" to which his assistant snidely remarked, "I'll alert the media." And then did just that.

But...

As foolish as it makes Plaxo's PR department look, the conference producer - Supernova - is likely thrilled with their efforts. If each speaker at a conference promotes their role through their own channels - whether Press Releases or blogs or client / prospect newsletters - it can create a veritable groundswell of mindshare for the show itself, boosting Search Engine results, building relevance for the show's brand and assets, increasing the authority for everything related to the show. This translates into more attendees, happier sponsors, greater coverage of the event itself, and on and on.

So if you're speaking at a conference and you want to be invited to speak at additional conferences, by all means talk about it, blog about it, shout it from the rooftops in every way short of issuing a clumsy press release about it (Rob's right - the reputation liability isn't worth the payoff, which is tiny) - knowing that your primary audience is not your audience, but the show producers themselves.

I'll even go a step further and say that while promoting your involvement at a conference today makes you a more valuable speaker/partner, it's going to quickly become the cost of doing business in the conference biz, and failing to do so in the very near future could get a speaker blackballed.

UPDATE 6/28/06:
Tim Bourquin over at New Media and Tradeshow Startup just called my attention to his post from yesterday, where he rants a bit about what NOT to do if you're a prospective speaker. It's definitely worth a read. Subscribe to Tim's blog (like I just did) so you don't get this day-old second-hand perspective from me.

Bumbling or Brilliant?

This is troubling. Or gifted. I'm not sure which.

The DMA is sending out a survey via e-mail with proposed brochure design to prospective attendees and asking them to comment on it. I don't know if they're sending it to everyone, or a select panel, or what. No idea why they're sending it to me, except that I signed up to receive info on upcoming conferences. I'm not a DMA member. I wonder if they're sending this to everyone who signed up to receive info on conferences?

Anyhow, if you click-through the link in the email, following the design is a 2-question survey. One is "How likely would you be to attend our conference if you received promotions using this design?"

Are they kidding? If they think a decision on conference-attendance is made because of brochure creative, without any indication of show content or speakers, then their events business is not long for this world.

But if this is just a clever way of saying 'save-the-date,' it's brilliant.

In Which I now Link to Seth Godin

Seth Godin and I are a lot alike. We write about a lot of the same things, and our thought processes are remarkably similar.

Only he writes more eloquently than me, and on topics I never really consider until I read what he's written.

Actually, I guess I just write about Seth Godin a lot.

Required reading before you go to your next event (particularly if it's one I'm programming):
Going to Meetings. By Seth Godin.

Remember, you read it here first. Unless of course you read it at Seth's Blog first.

Extended by Popular Demand - Free Consultation Day

Actually, it's more of a current-client commitment. But Free Consultation Day is now tomorrow, March 31. I still have a few spots if anyone else wants to pick my brain on:

• Event Strategy
• Event Marketing
• Speaker Proposals
• Launching a New Event
• Agenda Format and Composition
• Pricing
• Programming Strategy
• ...or anything else I've written about here

E-mail me to coordinate.

Answers to Search Engine Referrer Questions #1

Sometimes I get visitors to this site through search engine queries, even when I don't have the answer posted.

Like this one:
marketing what attrition to expect at a free event

My Google ranking to that is #1. But the answer isn't anywhere on my site.

Until now. 50% is about average, though I've seen above 60%. It's all about must-attend content.

March 30 is Free Consultation Day

My calendar on Thursday March 30 is wide open. I'm wrapping up a massive show on March 28th and have some ongoing projects afterwards, but my bandwidth is about to increase by a lot. So I'm designating Thursday March 30th as Free Consultation Day.

You may have a few questions about Free Consultation Day:

You: What is it?
Me: Anybody who wants to schedule half an hour with me can do so, and ask me anything you want - about an event or road show you might be planning, suggestions on which shows to sponsor or exhibit at, feedback on constructing a show P&L, speaker recommendations, programming strategy, tips on pitching a speaker, whatever.

Y: Why are you doing this?
M: I could use a new client or two over the summer and beyond. I figure having a candid conversation with anyone interested in interactive media, marketing and advertising events is a better way of demonstrating value to prospective clients than sending out pitch emails.

Y: How does it work?
M: Send me an email. We schedule a time to talk. We talk. I act like someone on your team, not a consultant trying to scare up business by half-answering questions, or working hard to identify challenges (that naturally I'm equipped to solve) rather than address whatever ones you bring to me. Maybe you'll think I know my stuff and hire me. Maybe if I give you everything I've got in 30 minutes, and not keep curtain #1 closed until you sign a retainer agreement, you'll start to think of me as a prospective partner, not just a hired gun. Is that possibility worth missing the last half of Oprah to me? You bet.

Y: Who the heck are you to do this?
M: I'm no oracle or guru or vigorous self-promoter. I just happen to have some knowledge, experience and perspective that some of you may find profitable. And I'd much rather work with someone who reads this blog and is already in my head a little bit, than pitch some company I've never heard of, who has never heard of me, and end up competing on price instead of value.

Y: Anything else?
M: Yes. Now would be a very good time to forward this to a friend or colleague who might not read this blog or know who I am, but might make an excellent client.

Y: How do I get started again?
M: Drop me a line. Operators are standing by.

UPDATE: Re-scheduled for Friday March 31.

My Next Project

It's actually two projects:

Project 1: Speaker Wiki
For the MediaPost show I'm working on currently, I'm in speaker-headshot-and-bio hell. I'm collecting about 100 high-res headshots and 100 bios (via website link, on PDFs, in Word docs and in the body of emails), organizing them, and then sending them via www.yousendit.com in 1MB chunks to my client for publishing in the conference book.

Every other conference producer is does the same thing, and everyone in the interactive industry is doing the same thing with - in many cases - the same speaker bios and headshots. The process is rife with redundance and inefficiency. Worse, it puts the burden on the show producer - and not the speaker - to get all the information right. So the likelihood of error is massive.

So I'm going to create an Interactive Industry Speaker Wiki. As soon as I confirm any speaker for an event, I'll ask him or her to update the wiki him/herself. Even better, I'll work with PR agencies and PR departments to update the wiki even before a speaker is confirmed. Anyone who wants to speak at an interactive industry event should have his or her info up there. Not only will this make it easier for conference producers to assemble show content, as they'll just be able to select by show and pull down everything at once - as a programmer, having a real-time database of who is available to speak on what topics is a huge asset. It's essentially a mass-collaborative speakers' bureau, for any conference programmer to use. (And press and litigators, for that matter - it's a catalog of talking heads and experts.)

Project 2: Interactive Industry Event Calendar Wiki
During the same week at the end of this month, three separate and overlapping shows are running: OMMA Hollywood, iMedia Breakthrough and Digital Hollywood. And it's not the first time - last September, shows by MediaPost, IAB and iMedia all ran simultaneously as well. Think that's bad? Try scheduling a road show this summer. Just try it.

So we need another wiki - an Interactive Industry Event Calendar Wiki - one where everyone can post confirmed or tentative dates for their events in order to avoid conflicts. True, some will use it to create conflicts, but at least there will be some transparency in what different show organizers are doing, and why.

It will also include call for speaker terms and deadlines, various contact and promotional information about the show, a list (with appropriate links to aforementioned wiki) of confirmed speakers, etc.

So those are my next projects. Anyone want to chip in with suggestions, advice, $upport or feedback?

To start, can anyone make me a recommendation of which wiki software I should use?

First E-venting.net sponsor?

On Friday of last week I got an email from "The Sprint Ambassador Team" inviting me to join the Ambassador program. What this means is that they're giving me a new Samsung A-920 phone and 6-months of all access service to the Sprint PCS Power Network so I can watch TV and download music and connect my laptop to their high-speed internet and take 1.3 mega pixel pictures and 30-second movies and all the stuff the kids today are doing with their phancy phones. In exchange, all I have to do is give them feedback about the phone and the service, as frequently or infrequently as I choose.

The only indications I have about why they chose me is this:

1. The invite email says, "The Sprint Ambassador Team recently visited E-venting.net and wants to invite you to participate in our Ambassador Program."
2. The email arrived a little after 10am EST on Friday AM.

So something about my blog and that timing are clues. On Thursday evening, MediaPost published my article about Compensating Citizen Publishers, so it's possible that the folks at Sprint saw that and tuned in (especially given that MediaPost's circulation is about 1000x greater than this blog's...).

If that's the case, then maybe adding me to the program is Sprint's way of accepting my proposal and sponsoring this blog. By my calculations then, since the've given me a $300 phone and 6 months of service at about $120 per month, I owe them about 1000 words.

Naturally, I accepted the invitation, but countered with one of my own:
I invited the folks at Sprint to come and speak at OMMA Hollywood about the Ambassador and other programs within the blogosphere. I'll let you know if they take me up on it and, if so, what they say.