Speakers in a large room with a big audience never have enough time to answer everyone’s questions. What if attendees who want to hear this knowledge expert can post their question on a wiki, right on the page for that speaker? Somebody else may even know a good answer. Companies and non profits have discovered that they can get great information from the community at large. And think of the great contacts the speaker and the speaker’s company would collect.

Wikis and blogs facilitate sharing and enrichment of content about a particular subject.

We want to hear your ideas and suggestions. Take a moment to register, so you can sign into this wiki, click Edit, type your thoughts, click Save, and see your name and your contact information here.

Engaging Conference Attendees –

A Social Media Solution (solution concept v1)

By Chris Uschan, Marketing Leader, Omnipress
cuschan@omnipress.com 

Concept Overview

This concept outlines how an association could greatly increase the engagement of speakers and attendees before, during and after the conference (or session).

At this point, I am looking to see if a concept like this makes sense for a conference and its attendees. Exact details, technology, economics and processes would all need to be fleshed out at some point.

The basis for this concept has been taken from the input of internal Omnipress employees, conversations with industry consultants and personal conference experience.

Problem/Solution Overview

The Problem with Conferences  

·         Association staff is eliminating on-site printed materials and placing static content (bulleted materials) on a web site for download (web 1.0 technique) and do little to promote this content.

·         Attendees sit in a desired session to learn, ask questions, etc. When the session is over, the there are no tools or processes that facilitates post-session communication between attendees, speakers and the association. Essentially, the session dies when it is over.

·         During the session, the presenter often shares information above and beyond his bulleted slides (such as recommended books, web sites, etc.) – the highlights. None of this (ideas, comment and questions) is captured. And even if you recorded it, who wants to watch a 75 minute online video?

·         Associations want to engage their members, attract younger members and provide more value to their attendees.

·         Social networking tools exist for conference attendees, but the object (the session) for attracting attendees is missing and there is no process for helping facilitate the online engagement.

·         Social media leaders think that attendees will socially network with other like interested attendees before the event.

·         Someone (an industry blogger or conference staff) might post an article, but only a few people (who followed that blog) know about it. Nor is it tied to the conference web site. Hence, it’s lost in the fray.

·         Attendees are typically very busy people before and after events… preparing for days out of the office and playing catch up once they return.

Solution

Create online tool that wraps social media tools around the each session to generate attendee driven content during and after the session. The conference is the reason, but it is the specific session that becomes the center for engagement.

Unlike just posting handouts online, this solution would begin upstream (near conference registration). Where an attendee can hand select their personalized agenda with sessions they want to engage in regardless if they actually attend that session or not at the event.

Through a robust process (lead by Omnipress), we would help conference staff, moderators and speakers engage attendees (capturing contributions from attendees beyond that of just what is shared in a meeting room).  Attendees would be encouraged to visit the conference web site when (a) handouts are made available online, immediately after the session at the end of each day and even after the event. This solution would make it easy for an attendee and speaker to participate (ask questions, post comments, rate their speaker/session, take a poll, etc.) and stay connected (i.e., auto-email notifications when now posts are added). Even before the session, attendees could submit questions or post comments on what would like to learn at the event. This information is shared with speakers to address this feedback and tailor their presentation in advance—making the whole experience more valuable for all.

Furthermore, the opportunity exists to continue an ongoing marketing campaign to attendees (since we have all their email addresses) and even to members to drive them back to the web site which will showcase such things as: top rated sessions, most recent comments and top sessions well after the event.

How it works

Before the event

Omnipress works with the conference staff and the speakers to setup a web site that will contain all conference materials (a list of sessions, handouts, papers, etc).

Speakers are preloaded into the system and attendees are either batch loaded or seamlessly transferred into the system to activate their opportunity for personalizing their agenda. It could be that as attendees register for the event, an email is sent to them promoting the new service, the web site… creating buzz. It asks attendees which sessions they are interested in. It connects the speakers to the attendees right now. (Optionally) When session materials are uploaded and approved by conference staff, the attendee receives notification.

Attendees can submit questions to the speakers. Speakers can use this information for preparation.

We work with each speaker to include a slide in their presentation that promotes the after session online discussions.

The web site home page highlights top rated sessions, includes most recent comments and other information that may be considered “daily event news” all of which attendees can subscribe to. Additionally, links to the bookstore would be added to drive those sales.

During the session

The speaker (or moderator) makes a brief announcement on how to access the post-session online discussions. (e.g., visit www.postsession.com/ASAE/Johnson) to follow the session.

If an attendee did not select this session in advance, but desires to stay connected, they could swipe their badge on a scanner (in the rear of the room). The email addresses are then uploaded into the system, assigned to the appropriate session. The system will send automatic emails (in text format) and a URL in the system will automatically take them to the session discussion.

Since we have the attendee info, completing the profile is automatically done (profiles and preferences can easily be modified). The session page lists the title and brief overview of the session and shows recent posts, discussions, books for purchase, etc (like facebook), but it also shows how many people have signed up, how many are online (including the author/speaker).

As an option, conference moderators, staff, industry bloggers are encouraged to take notes and post articles to the web site for each session. As attendees are preselecting their sessions, they can choose to be a “session note taker” and share a briefing on that session.

After the session

Speakers or room volunteers would post follow up comments to his session (perhaps to expand on a question asked in the session). The system would notify (SMS, email) the speakers to create the post. Once he/she posts, the system notifies everyone who is following.

To not annoy attendees with 3, 5 or even 10 emails every time a new post is put up… it consolidates the updates from all sessions into a single email and only sends it out 3 to 5 times day (or some number that makes sense – go with me here).

To ensure the speaker engages with attendees, they also get an email for each post… but they and the conference staff (or Omnipress) could be notified if the speaker is not participating. Friendly reminders would be sent to the speaker informing him/her the value of participation.

After the Conference

The system would send “show summaries” for each session an attendee is following. This notification could be done one or two weeks later to keep the attendee engaged. And, as new comments are posted or if the speaker posts updates, the attendees would receive notification.

Session survey could be submitted through the system and instant feedback would be given to conference staff and speakers.  Conference staff then could mine the data for insights on future conferences.

Knowing that less than 10% of a membership attends the event… Access to the conference content (speaker materials and attendee generated content) could be granted for free or a fee.

Considerations

·         Registration system integration

·         On getting speakers to participate -- Many times there are questions not answered (or maybe not even asked) due to time or big group fear. By making the speaker(s) available online to answer questions and/or to continue his thoughts extends the session. And as we all know, getting the speaker to participate before the event is not easy (like an athlete preparing for an event), but after the session (their event), it’s more like an athlete talking to his/her fans and the media - the pressures off.

Key Benefits

·         Attendees can more easily connect with speakers before and after the event

·         Speakers have more access to attendee input

·         Information shared during the session is captured

·         More momentum going into and after the event

·         The life of the conference is extended

·         The value an attendee (and non-attendee) receives is increased

·         The ability for attendees to become more involved and contribute is increased