As meeting and event professionals we need to embrace this change and help our clients deliver their goals and objectives effectively and efficiently.

Companies large and small have a huge opportunity to engage with their consumers and employees, to boost relationships, trust and transparency. As  specialists in our Industry we need to keep up with constant evolving trends that can facilitate reaching these goals.

There are SO many great outlets to receive more education and learn about changes taking place in our Industry. I recently watched a webinar on the MPI website by Peter Fisk who will be speaking at the European Meetings & Events Conference (EMEC) this month. His presentation was all about the changes that will take place leading up to 2020! Currently the population is  over 7 Billion. There are 50 Billion Devices and by 2020 2.5 Trillion connections will be made! Another interesting point made in the webinar:  GE, HP, Microsoft, MTV and the iPod were all created during a recession, again, in a time when great change is taking place!

Attendees do not want to spend long lengths of time sitting and watching the same old passive powerpoint presentations. Event goers are now wanting innovative, experiential events, with hands on learning, team work, interactivity where their opinions are counted and change is welcomed.

“It is not the strongest in the species that survive,

nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

~ Charles Darwin

MPI, PCMA, IMEX are a great resource for educational content. Look at events like Eventcamp that is organized by Industry professionals coming together to lead the way with innovative conference learning styles for planners /producers /suppliers.

Also for inspiration…..checkout  SXSW a huge music, film and interactive event that just keeps growing.

And to end this post….the lastest video by Eric Qualmann, Author of Socialnomics showing what technology replaces in this digital age!

Great new conference facility at the Sheraton Fariplex, in Ponoma, CA. Construction is due to finish in January, so it’ll be an amazing space to use. Ballroom, foyer & lots of breakout rooms ALL close to each other! More to come….

Josh Linkner.

He was a great addition to a financial services conference, as our keynote speaker. Josh livened everybody up with a creative and dynamic ‘out-of-the-box’ session. He really got the attendees laughing and asking themselves ‘Why?’ and ‘What if’. We watched funny video clips and realized that our creative thinking had been drummed out of us as kids at school. Its a shame, especially as creativity is an essential building block of innovation and entrepreneurship!

Here’s Josh speaking:

Josh has a great book out called ‘Disciplined Dreaming’ and I can’t wait to read it. I have very creative kids and they need to keep this side to them

On the tables were bunches of wikki stix, molding clay and cartooning paper – which kept my tweeting fingers busy moulding and creating whilst listening.  Great takeaways from Joan’s presentation were:

• Give your attendees some ground rules to make them feel at ease……i.e.  allowed to tweet?, silence phones, walk to the restroom, get up and get a cup of coffee, play with silly putty etc
• Energize attendees, take them into another dimension, invite them to learn – and be aware, there are different styles of learning. Some people may like to be more interactive, others may like a more passive portion to the session.
• Think about different seating styles i.e. crescent rounds, high boys and stools, look at sight lines, and ask the facilities what different styles they have seen at their properties. The ‘Unconference’ Eventcamp had some great examples of this using many different forms of seating including giant exercise balls.
• Create and play with a purpose – helping non-profits with art projects, World Cafe project
• Think about different styles – Pecha Kucha 20 slides in 20 minutes, or Future of Marketing broadcast 60 presenters in 60 minutes, take out the tables like at openspaceworld.

Great additional resources;

• Mental Floss
• Learning Meetings and Conferences in Practice – Ib Ravn and Steen Elsborg
• Seating Matters: State of the Art of Seating Arrangements by Paul O.Radde at www.thrival.com
• Play: How It Shapes The Brain, Opens Up Imagination and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown, M.D.
• Conferences that Work: Creating Events That People Love by Adrian Segar
• A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink ( a fav so far, 1/2 way through)

Tumblr is a microblogging site with super easy posting ability. Its really a way to get out information: music, pictures, videos, chats, quote in a very easy fashion. Posting via an email message is also available, so there’s really no excuses!!

A quick tutorial:

Have fun

http://gallagherstar.tumblr.com/

The 1st bi-annual BHFF went extremely well. Friday 5th Nov saw us getting busy with interviews with Jonathan Antin on NBC, E! Entertainment Ryan Seacrest Productions video shoots, hair & make-up  setting up, collections arriving, last minute model fittings, festival booth set up and much much more….. EVENT PICS TO COME!!!

ConnectOC event committee met last night to finalize our plans for Thursday’s event! Everything is coming together nicely. We have so many fantastic opportunity drawing prizes, silent auction items, and gift bag goodies I can’t wait to see it all!!

Lots of thanks goes out to all our wonderful sponsors!

We will also have food provided by the Hilton Costa Mesa, Meringue Bake Shop, Dippin dots, BoardWalk Ice Cream, Gramma Betty’s Homemade candies, YUMMY!

Also lending support to our great event, will be a super fun photobooth, with fun dressing up options Check out Celebr8te which is providing us with a brand new category of event experience called SocialGraphy!

Also we’ll have a blogger’s table, and the Social Media Club of Orange County! Ask them all your burning questions about social media & blogs!!

ALL proceeds will go to our 2 charities of the night: ChildHelp and Building Futures

Mike from Mission Visual will be filming the event for us and Dana Sipper of Sipper Photography will be taking event pictures!

RSVP: http://connectoc.eventbrite.com

SEE YOU ALL AT 6pm tomorrow – 9.9.10

For more information, see last night’s video:

RSVP at: http://connectoc.eventbrite.com

CONNECTOC – Bringing OC’s Professionals, Companies, Government Agencies, Networking Groups and Non-Profits together…one event at a time!

After the success of our inaugural event earlier in the year, ConnectOC’s heading back to Hilton Costa Mesa this fall for round two!

ConnectOC 2.0: Children and Community will take place 9th September 2010

All proceeds raised will benefit two children’s charities:

Come and connect with us in a comfortable and fun atmosphere to exchange business cards, make new friends, and find business/job/charitable opportunities.

* FREE admission; parking will be $5 with 100% of the proceeds going to our 2 charities

* A 250 free goody bags with various gifts donated by Orange County businesses

* Silent auction & raffle with 100% of the proceeds raised going to our 2 charities

* Special, social-media themed drink options (Twittini, anyone?)

* Free appetizers 6pm – 7pm for first 250 attendees

* Free delicious desserts provided by Orange County’s great cupcake, candy & ice cream stores

* Special priced dinner menu prepared by Executive Chef Chad Krahling

* Fun photobooth to take pictures throughout the night

Agenda

6pm – Official event opening
6:45 – Welcome Speech
7:15 – Thank You Speeches
7:30 – Networking Announcement
8:00 – Opportunity Drawing Winner Announcement
8:30 – Silent Auction Winner Announcement
10:00 – Event Close

Connect with us on:

TWITTER: @ConnectOC

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/connectoc

LINKEDIN: http://bit.ly/ConnectOCLI