A "Turk" chess machine that inspired the name Mechanical Turk

Compiling, completing and sharing all the relevant links (like twitter and linkedin profiles, personal & company websites, etc) of the speakers and attendees, or performing other long & mechanical tasks for your conference might seem as a particulary time-consuming burden of your event management activities… but not anymore thanks to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk!

Marshall Kirkpatrick (Linkedin, twitter, web), Co-Editor and Vice President of Content Development at ReadWriteWeb, shares how he recently did just that and much more for the Techonomy Conference while spending just one night and 50 usd. His tips are especially useful for conference organizers and event bloggers alike.

Let’s say you are going to, or hosting, a conference and you want to make a good impression with the attendees and organizers. One way to do that is to create useful and thoughtful original content and resources regarding the event.

Thanks to tools like Mechanical Turk, Google Custom Search and of course Twitter, you can now do incredible things around conferences that would have been very inefficient to do before.

With the aid of Mechanical Turk Marshall did the following:

• A Twitter list of all the conference attendees who use Twitter -  for keeping track of what people were saying during the event and stay in touch in the future
• A Twitter list of women and a list of people from outside the United States participating in the event – to create a special view into the conversations of some groups of people who can get lost in the noise of the [sometimes homogeneous] audience
• A Google Custom Search Engine that searches the archives of all the websites of the organizations the conference attendees work for – as reference for the blogging during the conference

Read the original article, including detailed how-to instructions, here.

Duncan Davidson in action at TED Global 2010

Conferences are a totally different beast when it comes to photography. Duncan Davidson (LinkedIn, journal, twitter), the photographer that -amongst other things- has covered the last six major TED events, shares some practical tips that matter when reporting what happens at conference. From equipment that can handle high ISO or high shutter speeds to setting correctly your white balance right from the start, these tricks will help you improve the photos of your next event.

Duncan’s goal as a photographer is to “catch the speakers on the stage and try to communicate a little bit of the emotion in place at the event to those who may not seen it and even for those that have seen it to try to communicate a different viewpoint than they might have had”.

At TED Global 2010 he also used a special camera case to reduce the shutter sound (see photo). This is particularly relevant in events where the sound of the camera’s shutter might become really disturbing, especially during moments of silence.

Duncan Davidson showing his Nikon Ds with a special case to reduce the noise of the shutter

My friend and South African technology journalist & writer Simon Dingle (web, twitter, facebook) recently tweeted the following:

“Thanks for coming to our event. Here, have a bag of rubbish.” (original tweet here)

How many times have you participated to an expensive or so called high-profile event and during/after it you got a cheap congress bag full of meaningless advertising brochures, mediocre event-branded ball-pen and a non-fancy notebook?

Why ruin your event’s experience by giving away cheap stuff that most probably has a strong environmental footprint? If you want to give something out, make it memorable or worth keeping/using everyday. Isn’t it better to spend the same total amount of money (just a few cents/bucks per unit) in just one giveaway? One nice notebook (with your conference logo on it) or a small good quality booklet with information from your conference, sponsors and some original content are much more memorable. Even a [good quality] sticker is always more appreciated than mediocre swag.

Often sponsors expect/demand you to include their promotional material in the congress bag: the next time it happens, explain them that it works against them if the attendees will end up throwing it away in front of their own noses. Demand that they make a quality piece in line with the experience you are trying to create for your audience (it could even be a small brochure but with some real content that adds value to the reader, not the typical marketing yada yada).

BTW [almost] nobody needs another cheap pen… get over it and move on!

A good speech depends on several factors, for sure it’s not enough to invite/hire a good speaker. While she might have good public speaking skills, willingness to engage with the attendees or the [good] habit of practicing her presentation over and over again, some of the variables necessary for success are external to her.

It is the role of the conference organizer (program director, curator, etc) to coach the speakers so that they get to know and understand the audience even before they meet, helping to customize the message that she’s trying to push from the stage to the receptors. Do they speak the same language? Do they have enough knowledge on the subject she’s presenting on? (a typical mistake is to deliver basic content to a group of experts or -even worse- to present highly complicated concepts to an audience that doesn’t have the faintest idea of what the speaker is talking about). Physical variables like stage and conference room layout, lighting, audio/video support are also very important to a successful speech.

Bruno Giussani, European Director of TED and curator of TED Global, was responsible for coaching speakers at TED Global 2010 in Oxford, and he shared with me some tips on how to coach your speakers.

Bruno’s advice is:

“Speakers deserve to be helped. They are experts in their subject matter [...] but you, the conference organizer, are expert on how to tell a story on a stage and you know your audience better than anyone else. So what you can do is help [...] the speaker frame and configure their talk for that specific audience and stage”

“Don’t be afraid of suggesting new ideas for a talk, even on subjects you might not be familiar with. You’re familiar with the format”

“Make the subject and the format have sex until they really come out to something great”

Each role inside a conference’s organization team has it’s own challenges but probably one of the most demanding is that of the Program Director. It’s her main responsibility to assure content that is great, new, relevant, inspiring, useful, well told (having good public speakers and storytellers), etc.

Program vs Marketing

The tension between a conference’s Program Director and the Marketing counterpart is a classic situation: the marketing manager wants to have a complete (and confirmed) list of speakers from the start so that she can promote and sell the event immediately while the program manager not only needs time to book the most interesting names, but also wants to wait until the last possible moment to tweak the content to obtain a better “flow” of the program, which is possible only when you have all the elements available (and that hardly happens at the beginning of the process).

“You want to wait to the last day”

Making Sure That a Speaker is Good

Sometimes you can see how good (or bad) a speaker is at other conferences but hardly you’ll be able to see all the speakers. Often you look for those that haven’t spoken elsewhere or are less well known because you want to have an original show and not just a bunch the usual suspects. This is especially relevant when you are booking non-professional speakers, researchers, entrepreneurs or other people that aren’t used (or comfortable) to be in front of an audience.

“I try to find people who know the speaker, who’ve seen him or her. I follow on Twitter the responses to other events [...] but you never know for sure”

The Flow of the Program

Monique says that one of the most important lessons is to always finish with yout best speaker because it’s the one that molds the last impression people keep in their heads. You should also try to avoid ending your event with a panel session. It’s tempting to put everyone on stage for a final conclusion but from the event-experience point of view it’s usually a big turn-off.

“[When] people go home, they remember the last thing”

Big Names vs Small Names

You need big names on the program to justify the purchase of a ticket, but it’s not uncommon that the biggest satisfaction is given by those unknown names that the audience discover for the first time at that particular conference. The contradiction is that it’s difficult to have people coming to an event if you just feature new, young, rising start-ups, entrepreneurs, etc. The big names act as a sort of live bait.

“When they are there, they actually really enjoy the smaller names. But they wouldn’t have come if you had only had those start-ups and new people”

There are plenty of online tools for sharing your events: from the classic Upcoming to Facebook and Linkedin events. Plancast is rather an evolution of Upcoming on steroids, offering the extra layer of “social” that allows you to follow the events of your friends and contacts and then spread the voice on Twitter and Facebook too.

Plancast is a service for sharing your upcoming plans with friends. It’s a social calendar of sorts. Just submit the things you’re thinking about doing in the future, and your friends will be able to hear about them – and maybe join you, too!

The offering is still limited to the basics and an iPhone App is underway. I’ve been using it for some time now and found it particularly useful  during South by Southwest, where dozens of official and unofficial events take place simultaneously and are often difficult to find otherwise except from your peers.

If you’re a conference organizer, consider adding your event here too… you never know where the buzz is going to start from.

Subscribe to Conference Basics event calendar on Plancast here.

Subscribe to my personal event calendar on Plancast here.

A typical mistake of many stage setups is that of hiding the speaker from the audience by adding (or not removing) obstacles between both. The most obvious obstacle on the podium is the lectern.

The TED team is famous for taking care of details that might seem minor but that have a huge impact in creating a positive atmosphere inside a conference room. During TED 2010 in Long Beach, California, the lectern is still there but it has made invisible by using a transparent material. The lectern still has a useful function, that of supporting computers or papers necessary to the speaker, but has disappeared as an obstacle in the line of vision that connects the attendees with the speaker.

Follow some photos from Jamie Oliver’s talk during TED 2010 (watch Jamie’s TED Prize wish presentation, it’s very good, inspiring and courageous too).

The lectern does not obsturct the visual of the audience

The speaker is visible behind the lectern

The effect is the same that Philippe Starck achieved when he designed the “ghost chairs” for Kartell (see photos).

Loui Ghost chair designed by Philippe Starck for Kartell

La Marie chair designed by Philippe Starck for Kartell

H1N1 strain of Influenza A

International conferences are a sensitive spot for the dissemination of highly contagious diseases like Swine Flu (H1N1), Bird Flu (H1N5) or just regular flu. This is because they gather lots of people and travelers in particular, who have a higher possibility of being exposed to someone carrying it while going to the conference (think of crowded places like airports, train stations, etc).

Not only conferences usually take place in a closed environment where air is being constantly re-circulated but also people tend to meet each other and shake hands (yes, that’s what networking is all about).

One extreme way of reducing the risk of contagious would be not to shake hands at all -as TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington seems keen on (see Hand Shaking Is So Medieval. Let’s End It) but I think there are other more practical methods for doing so.

The most simple way of reducing the risk of catching a flu is washing your hands often, especially before & after going to the toilet and before & after eating. To further reduce this risk I suggest the event organizer provides disinfecting substances at several strategic spots inside the venue.

Hand cleaning product dispenser at Triennale di Milano

Example 1: place dispensers containing disinfecting solutions in high transit spots like the entrance to the venue, registration area and catering/coffee break area.

Example 2: provide the attendees, speakers and staff with individual doses of the cleansing substance so that they can use it during the day.

Hand disinfecting product

Providing disinfecting substances is indeed an extra cost for the conference organizer but it could also represent an opportunity to find a new sponsor. Look for commercial brands that sell those kind of products (in drugstores, pharmacies and supermarkets) and offer them visibility/branding in exchange for a free supply of the product.

Another positive side-effect of providing a disinfecting substance is that it reduces the anxiety some people have about catching the flu while at crowded places. You are showing that you care about your audience’s health, not only their money.

Some advice to more effective hand washing:

There’s a five-star way to wash one’s hands: Use warm water lather for 15 to 20 seconds, wash under fingernails, rinse well, and dry with a fresh, clean paper toweling that’s then discarded (or use an air dryer). If possible, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet. (Source: H1N1 HandWashing — How Often? “Washable Moments”)

Marco Montemagno

Marco Montemagno (blog, twitter) followed the live streaming of Le Web Paris 2009 and was terribly bored. He’s no ordinary spectator though. Montemagno is an Italian technology speaker & evangelist, web entrepreneur, TV host… in a few words a 360 degree communicator that has been running an  “internet evangelizing show” throughout Itally called Codice Internet. As most true-heart entrepreneurs, he likes to create (as opposed to destroy) so he compiled a list of 19 suggestions to improve Le Web.

I attended Le Web 2009 and shared many of Marco’s concerns so I decided to re-publish some of his points and build up on top of them. Before going on I warmly recommend you to first read Marco Montemagno’s original article: Why watching LeWeb2009 (and 95% of the conferences) is so boring: 19 things to change

“I started asking myself how it’s possible for a video to be so boring if the speakers and moderators are top level in their business, the content is rich and full of information, the online streaming was excellent and the room was full?” Marco Montemagno

The 19 suggestions issued by Montemagno can be grouped in 3 blocks that are part of the global “event experience”: Format, Show and Interaction. To maintain the correspondence between my comments and those of Marco I will indicate between brackets -like this (1), (2), (3), etc – the link between his suggestions and mine.

The Format

The Format is the structure that holds your event upright and makes it stand out (or not) in the city of skyscrapers made by other events. Like with a building, many elements are at play: design (looks, user experience, etc), functionality, location (venue), the content (who works inside the building)… Marco writes “LeWeb2009 has amazing content ’served’ in a conference format that’s 30 years old” (1)

Round-tables and Panels are ineffective (3) (13), boring or just irrelevant… at least in most cases. The usual symptoms are: high number of participants, short time for each one, slow paced, no real interaction taking place or dull content being produced due to a lack of or lame moderator. Possibly the worst sin of panel members is them pitching their own products shamelessly.

Even though you have good content, you have to find novel ways of communicating it to your audience, creating a conversation and differentiating your conference from the rest of the competitors out there.

The Show

The Show is the Format put into action, and it may take place through several channels both physical and online. If your event’s life extends outside of the physical world, that experience has to be curated too. This sometimes requires tweaking the physical presence (8) to better satisfy what’s transmitted through other channels. TED Conferences are a good example though according to some delegates it sometimes risks to transform the main room into a TV studio.

For example if you’re live-streaming your conference, what do the watchers expect? How can you improve their experience? One of the reasons I often discourage live streaming is to avoid the lots of idle times that are uninteresting to follow on a screen. A solution is to slightly delay the release (hours, days) of the videos to allow a proper edit. This is also a good tactic for extending the duration of your event. If there is any real news happening during the conference, the “outer audience” -including the media- can find it out through the Twitter feeds, live blogging, etc. like during Apple keynotes. If there is a very high-profile session taking place that you want to absolutely transmit live, you can make a live stream of it and promote that specific moment as an event people can save the date for.

The flow of the show is very important and the key to it is having outstanding public speakers (4), not just intelligent, expert or successful people that are not used to giving presentations AND entertaining the audience. As Carmine Gallo writes in his book “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” (my book review, Amazon link),“most business communicators lose sight  of the fact that their audiences want to be informed and entertained”. After all, why do you go to a physical event apart from meeting people? (if there is no breaking news involved, most of the content can be found online, in books, etc).

It’s not only who you put on stage but how she gets there, how she moves, what she does and how she gets down. Enter the  Stage Manager -or Speaker Director (5), a ruthless ruler coordinating all that happens on and around the stage. From managing the flow of people on/off stage to interacting with the audio/video crew members to adapt the conditions for a better show or with the technical assistants to make sure that the speakers get microphoned, computers & presentations are ready on the podium, or with speaker assistants to make sure that they show up in time for the stage tests.

The role of the Stage Manager ends where that of the Moderator starts (10). The latter is responsible for running what happens on stage during the show by introducing, moderating or even interrupting the action (for example when the speaking time is over). Finding a good moderator is not easy. The role requires good public speaking skills, charisma, attention to detail, humor, respectability, timing and some knowledge of the topics being discussed.

Where is the Story?

“One thing is the “theme” of the event (real time, energy, ..) an other thing is the “fil rouge” connecting all the dots of the event.
I never see an event as a number of isolated slots and speeches. I see it as a whole story that you’re telling to the audience. You need an intro, a start, a body and a conclusion. Everything written in an exciting way. 
Where is the storytelling at LeWeb?” Marco Montemagno

What about PowerPoint (or slide presentations in general)? They are the most abused show-killer in any kind of business events. There are very few exceptions and if you have to, please use it right. Montemagno’s reference to Garr Reynolds‘ Presentation Zen (and now Presentation Zen Design too) and Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology are valid ones. Remember that PowerPoint presentations are just a tool, like prezi.com, videos or no audio/video support at all. To deliver a good presentation you have to be a master in the art of using whatever you chose.

Interaction

One of the main reasons for attending a real event is the interaction: delegate-delegate, delegate-speaker and delegate-organizer (the “delegate” can be inside the room or behind a computer screen at home, office, etc). Make the audience part of your show (11).

Action, emotions and… Interaction. Gary Vaynerchuk (web, twitter) (2) is not only an entertaining speaker (thus adding to The Show) but he’s also very keen on generating interaction with the audience (live, online, etc). His presentation during Le Web lacked interaction because it took the form of a conversation with Loic Le Meur and not with the audience (he even complained about that on stage!). Vaynerchuk suggests that you pump up interaction by going one-on-one through Q&A (find out more on my interview to Gary Vaynerchuck).

The venue should be studied to comply with The Show (6) and to offer the best possible conditions to maximize interaction opportunities… like a relaxed atmosphere free of ambient noise…

If you make a mobile application for your conference, make sure that the list of attendees is there (with their prior consent of course) and that they to connect with each other directly. A photo taken during the event can help people find each other, as it happened during TEDxAmsterdam (see description of the iPhone app by Frog Design at the end of the article)

A friend calls me for advice: she wants to attract some “bloggers” to her business conference in order to 1) make her event more “modern” by being present on the blogosphere and 2) satisfy a request from the company’s management to… be more “modern”. While her request was a valid one, product of a sincere will to improve the prestigious conference she was organizing, two aspects turned on an alarm bell in my head.

• The fact to consider “bloggers” a general category
• The fact that she asked how could she control what these people produce

First of all “blogger” is a qualification I’m not fond of because it’s almost as generic as saying “male” or “female”. What is a blogger? Searching for this on Google produces results such as:

“a person who keeps and updates a blog”

“A contributor to a blog or online journal”

“blogging – is the act of writing in one’s blog. To blog something is to write about something in one’s blog.”

“blog – a journal or diary that is posted on the Internet.”

Well, that’s interesting… how many people that satisfy those statements come to mind? From a 13 year old girl that blogs about barbie dolls to a General Motors executive that blogs about cars or a bunch of journalists using it as an extension to other media they work with.

It’s not the word “blogger” I have a problem with but the indiscriminate user people make of it. Who is an interesting blogger for -in this case-  your event? Is it a journalist specialized in business affairs? An executive that’s active online and has a good reputation? A business school student eager to make a live coverage of your event and interact with other attendees? I guess that in this particular example all of these profiles could be interesting but as you can imagine all of them require to be approached differently though through a common channel, be it blogs, twitter, facebook or whateverotheronlineserviceyouwant. When saying “blogger”, please identify who you want to attract under this category and who else from your audience falls under it. Even a competitor might be present during your conference and be willing to blog “against” you…

Forget about control, you have none. You can’t prevent people from exercising their free-will online (unless you’re hosting your event in China or Iran… no pun intended). From my experience in conferences I can offer the following advice to stimulate the creation of a favorable and healthy environment for online activity:

Give them connectivity (wi-fi)

Many might have access to the web and other online services through their mobile phones or Internet USB-keys but if you want to maximize the amount of people present at your conference that engage in online activities (be it twitter, sharing photos live, etc) provide them with free Internet through wi-fi.

Give them (electric) power!

Energy Point at Fronties of Interaction

Another basic element is electric power. Most laptops or cellphone batteries won’t last a full event day if used actively so it is handy to provide power inside and outside from the conference room. In some events they even provide tables for people with laptop computers so that they can work better (often reserved as a special service for journalists).

Define a hashtag so that you can track what they say about your event

This is a key issue! Create and communicate which is the hashtag that identifies your event. This will help you group and track the conversation (Read more tips on live online coverage for your conference).

Participate in the conversation

This is possibly the most important piece of advice I can offer: interact with your audience! Comments on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) or articles on blogs are a very powerful way to measure the mood about your event, sometimes even better that making a survey (read more on how to make a survey for your event). They love you? Great! Thank them. They hate you? Even better, ask them for ways to improve and make them part of the process. Do not [only] broadcast your content or provide useful information. Find out what they think, how they feel about the experience you offer and find ways to make it better.

Offer visibility as a motivator (or ego-booster)

Use a widget on your website’s homepage that shows the online activity connected to your website. Select the best blogposts, photos, videos and tweets produced by your audience and highlight them on your website (always ask for permission!). People like to see their names or content promoted on a prestigious website and this stimulates more people to participate. Re-tweet interesting comments.

Promote interaction amongst attendees (and the external world)

By giving visibility to what happens around your event online, you are providing an extra element to boost interaction between people. Create a twitter backchannel with screens inside the conference room or in the coffee-break area (more on this topic in a further article).