Tweetcamp ‘09 and Unconferences

4 comments so far

This video was shot during Tweetcamp ‘09, an unconference style event held in London (UK)

Tweetcamp 09 from Julius Solaris on Vimeo.

You can check all the tweets from Tweetcamp here

You can find the Flickr pics here

Blog Posts:
TweetCamp London 2009
Internal Communications at TweetCamp
Tweetcamp 2009
Impressions of TweetCamp
Tweetcamp – My first Unconference
TweetCamp
Tweetcamp: Online network moves to offline community

And Audioboos:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34228-impressions-of-tweetcamp
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34225-review-tweetcamp-london-09
http://audioboo.fm/boos/34039-tweetcampboo-tweetcamp

iMacworld and your next event

No comments

Photo by marcopako via Flickr

IDG, who is organizing Macworld 2009, released v1.1 of  iMacworld, a dedicated iPhone app for the expo. Do you need to start thinking about mobile apps for your next event?

You should hate technology. If you work with events you should really despise it as the worst of your competitor.

The problem with technology is that it evolves rapidly. With rapid evolution, users’ demands and expectations grow accordingly.

Technology is your fiercest enemy. Or is it?

Not in my opinion. I only see room for better experiences, up-selling opportunities and cross-selling chances. Technology is tangible, your event is not.

Macworld is already a success. Rumours have spread weeks in advance. They set up a community, they are well integrated with major social networking sites.

What really captured my attention was the dedicated free iPhone app that came from organizers, iMacworld (link to iTunes).

I already talked few times about how iPhones are very helpful to be more organized and productive.

IDG did a great job and released an update of the app with interesting features:

As Zdnet explains:

The Exhibitor tab gives you an alphabetical list of exhibitors which you can scroll through or you can jump right to the first letter in the company name via the letters down the right hand side. You can also search by booth number and by hall. One thing that’s missing is an open text search.

The Products tab allows you to scroll through lists by name, exhibitor and by category and the Sessions tab allows you to locate conference sessions by day, track, room and speaker.

The Messaging feature rounds out tabs across the bottom of the UI and provides updates from IDG about the show and the iPhone.

Now this is something I’d like to see at every event I will attend in the future.

I’d like to be informed as a participant, I’d like to get my name out there as an exhibitor.

As time goes by, I would stop appreciating the chance of it and start requiring it. This is what you have to deal with today.

I love technology.

Thank you LeWeb

6 comments so far

Busy typing at LeWeb08 Photo by dsearls via Flickr

LeWeb08 was a crucial appointment for Internet startups, held in Paris few days ago. The conference was packed with obstacles, but I learned a great lesson: watching events online is a great thing.

I think online and offline are seriously connected. More than most of the Internet professionals suggest. I am of the opinion that every event should have a strong technological infrastructure, to allow people who cannot be there to consume the event. If you prefer, monetizing that as well.

LeWeb was packed misadventures. They spent more than €100K for wireless Internet connection,which was completely unreliable for the whole two days. They also had a serious problem with room heating leaving attendees in freezing cold.

Eureka

A lot of people commented on the above but forgot to celebrate the great success of LeWeb, mostly thanks to rezpondr a startup funded and helped by www.sleepydog.net which equals @philcampbell and @sleepydog

These guys, who represent the only real spark of creativity in this dull, credit crunch depressed, same old London, gave me the opportunity to connect to one page where I could find:

- a Ustream streaming of the event

- all the pictures from flickr tagged leweb

- all the seesmic videos tagged leweb

- all the qik videos tagged leweb

- all the twitter discussions tagged leweb

I had a chat with @philcampbell and he told me that:

…the idea is that a user/group/event can bring together livestreams and social content into one location to make the viewing experience more rounded for the user watching.   The content is displayed in a time based manner with content running from left to right. Newest content first.  Each piece of media has a lightbox on which the user can perform actions with that media.   If the domain is owned by the user that logs in you can also do various transcoding and distribution methods to convert media in a variety of formats.

If the above link no longer works, you can see a screenshot below (click to expand) or check eventca.st :

Few results that may interest you

- I listened to the talks in my nice and warm living room & with reliable internet connection.

- I had the chance to see pictures and videos in real time from all the other rooms as well.

- I read reactions of people listening and discussed with them during the panels over twitter.

- I networked with twitter users who were doing the same thing I was and established great relationships which are still going on.

- We peaked 3000 people watching and interacting through the live chat.

My suggestions

- Don’t bother yourself trying to understand whether leWeb was a success or not.

- Think about how the way we consume events is dramatically changing.

- Think about how perception of people attending your events is changing and expectations accordingly.

- Think about new audiences in New York when you are running an event in Japan and new ways of monetizing it.

- Think about twitter as the most revolutionary Internet tool within the events arena.

- Think about all of the above soon!

Xing Event in London, good start!

1 comment so far

Last week I had the chance to attend the first Xing event held in London. Definitely great fun and spot on.

Xing has been advertising heavily in London lately. You could see the ad below pretty much everywhere on the tube.

As an active networker, I checked it out and was definitely impressed. The interface is much better than Linkedin and it serves the networking purpose in greater detail (Wants/Haves section).

I was also happy to receive almost two years of premium membership for free just inviting my network to join (you get a month every 10 new sign ups).

What got me hooked up with Xing is the focus on events. They have a large, dedicated section and they feature Xing official events. Now you know I run a Meetup called Linked in London. I’d have been much happier if Linkedin did it for me, but my emails never got a reply.

To demonstrate the difference in the approach, Xing has an ambassador program which empowers top local users to carry events and evangelise on the territory. The major concern of Linkedin, on the other hand, appears to be cashing in the premium membership, although they recently replied to a post in this blog and possibly things are changing.

Going back to the event, it was very packed. They announced 75% turn up rate which is impressive, considering that the event was free and we all know how though is to get people to show when there’s no money involved.

Food was great, free drinks and several goodies. Now this is what I am talking about.

What Xing understood very well is that online networking is a tool to network better offline. And they delivered a great event to do so.

I also had the chance to chat with Liz, UK and Ireland BDM who was very nice and welcoming.

I definitely suggest you get a profile there and join our Events 2.0 Group!

Smirnoff targeting Meetups

5 comments so far

Photo by: Cristiano Betta

Smart brands are tackling Meetups to get targeted audience and generate buzz.

I already talked about using Meetups to target your audience and create relevant experiences. Last night Smirnoff provided me a case study and possibly a good review.

The London Bloggers Meetup is one of the most vibrant Meetups of the city. Andy Bargery manages it in an exceptional way.

A great mix of professionals, creative people and hobbyists gather monthly to exchange opinions about their passion.

Several brands have taken advantage of such great mix in the last months, to name a few Berocca and Stella Artois.

Last night Smirnoff displayed a great way to engage on a very personal level.

Apart from free drinks , which are obviously more than welcome, they introduced cocktail classes. The bartender customized the drink according to your blog and your persona.

The location was amazing and the PR agency did extremely well.

Smirnoff was very gentle and did not push the night or show a “do this/do that attitude”. The atmosphere and level of engagement raised to the roof.

Some bullet points for you to enjoy:

- Engage on a personal level
- Free drinks are cool but make me learn something
- Spoil me as an intelligent person and according to who I am
- Be gentle, don’t push the night
- Use Meetups to target opinion leaders, organizers are eager to get sponsors.

Vote: 8,5