Posted By: Anthony Story Date : 08 Oct 2008 1:17pm
What impact is new technology going to have on the future of the ‘humble’ event? Cast your mind back (if you’re not too young) to the mid eighties and that jaw-dropping moment when you saw your first fax come off the fax machine.
Someone on the other side of the world had a picture and, in less than a minute, you were looking at exactly the same thing (more or less). That one simple act made complete sense of a new technology. The implications were grasped immediately, and almost overnight the fax changed the way we worked and communicated. The letter is dead long live the fax!
So, as new technology changes the balance of the conference hall, is there anything powerful enough to have that sort of impact?
It’s not so much that the events are changing, but the audience is. In a digital world, they’re bringing a new mind set. It’s started with the bloggers; actually, perhaps it started with the laptop – can the two be distinguished? They certainly can’t be prised apart! All of those people sitting near the power sockets typing away aren’t interested in taking notes for just themselves, they want to share their thoughts with the world.
This highlights a growing feature of modern life - a desire to be counted. Communications mediums are being increasingly democratised. People want more say on the internet (hence the rise of social networks); on TV (ditto the reality TV genre); even in schools - where half the parents think they know better than the teachers.
How seriously do event organisers need to consider this? There seem to be different levels of involvement depending on the type of event. At digital media events you can’t move for tripping over a blogger, compared to a public sector business support forum, where you’ll be lucky to find a couple.
The reality is that (unless it’s a blogging convention) a conference hall will never be filled with people blogging – it doesn’t appeal to everyone. Once you've provided enough electrical sockets around the room to power those that do, the real opportunity lies with the people reading the blogs, not writing them. It's an ingenious way to connect with a far wider audience.
In a large and busy world, failure to attend an event is, frequently, a symptom of circumstance over willingness. However, suppose an event is motivated by sharing knowledge, the blog can help ideas reach the people who can’t make it. If the event is designed to make a profit, then monetarising content could open up a new revenue source.
If it's not an area you've encouraged before, perhaps the first step is to appoint someone as an official blogger, ideally someone already with a following in the field you’re discussing – promote the blog's availability - and see what interest is generated.
Blogs are just one new way to engage. On their own they are probably not the ‘new fax’ of the events world, but they lead some interesting developments. The others include video streaming, instant messaging and virtual wolrds - but more on those next time...
Someone on the other side of the world had a picture and, in less than a minute, you were looking at exactly the same thing (more or less). That one simple act made complete sense of a new technology. The implications were grasped immediately, and almost overnight the fax changed the way we worked and communicated. The letter is dead long live the fax!
So, as new technology changes the balance of the conference hall, is there anything powerful enough to have that sort of impact?
It’s not so much that the events are changing, but the audience is. In a digital world, they’re bringing a new mind set. It’s started with the bloggers; actually, perhaps it started with the laptop – can the two be distinguished? They certainly can’t be prised apart! All of those people sitting near the power sockets typing away aren’t interested in taking notes for just themselves, they want to share their thoughts with the world.
This highlights a growing feature of modern life - a desire to be counted. Communications mediums are being increasingly democratised. People want more say on the internet (hence the rise of social networks); on TV (ditto the reality TV genre); even in schools - where half the parents think they know better than the teachers.
How seriously do event organisers need to consider this? There seem to be different levels of involvement depending on the type of event. At digital media events you can’t move for tripping over a blogger, compared to a public sector business support forum, where you’ll be lucky to find a couple.
The reality is that (unless it’s a blogging convention) a conference hall will never be filled with people blogging – it doesn’t appeal to everyone. Once you've provided enough electrical sockets around the room to power those that do, the real opportunity lies with the people reading the blogs, not writing them. It's an ingenious way to connect with a far wider audience.
In a large and busy world, failure to attend an event is, frequently, a symptom of circumstance over willingness. However, suppose an event is motivated by sharing knowledge, the blog can help ideas reach the people who can’t make it. If the event is designed to make a profit, then monetarising content could open up a new revenue source.
If it's not an area you've encouraged before, perhaps the first step is to appoint someone as an official blogger, ideally someone already with a following in the field you’re discussing – promote the blog's availability - and see what interest is generated.
Blogs are just one new way to engage. On their own they are probably not the ‘new fax’ of the events world, but they lead some interesting developments. The others include video streaming, instant messaging and virtual wolrds - but more on those next time...
