Future conference technologies

Information Outlook, Feb, 2003 by Stephen Abram

Conferences do many things well. The pillars of success for conferences and industry events are the program, speakers, attendees, exhibitors, social events, networking special events, and location. What conferences do poorly is connect with those who can't attend and help attendees remember what they learned at the conference and effectively share that knowledge with co-workers and colleagues.

What impact will new technologies have on the conferences and educational events we librarians so enjoy attending? Will we, in fact, attend them electronically or virtually? Will a logon ID and password replace our airline ticket? Are the days of trying to cram as many sessions as possible into our itinerary coming to a close?

Three trends are converging that will affect our future conference experiences:

1. Attendee expectations are rising as loyalty decreases. Limiting an individual's personal professional development strategy of continuous learning to an annual stand-alone event just won't cut it anymore.

2. The convergence of the technologies needed for communication, networking, sharing knowledge, and learning is happening on the desktop. Bandwidth issues of the past are diminishing, and on-demand e-learning experiences are proliferating.

3. The environment for learning opportunities is increasingly competitive--hundreds of new entrants are beginning to market technology-based learning products, moving into the distance education arena and competing for seats, time, and dollars.

The challenges conference organizers face are increasing. They must

* Understand their delegates' learning needs on an individual basis

* Extend the conference experience beyond a chronologically and geographically defined "event"

* Build customer loyalty that is aligned with members' changing needs and goals

Most organizers are looking to the new converged technologies to address these challenges.

I think that the conference world is at a crucial point. The learning experience and the need to learn continuously are paramount to high-performing information professionals today. The challenge is to locate suitable learning opportunities; attend the events and derive value while there; assimilate and build on the learning; apply the new knowledge; then seek out the next learning opportunity.

Conference organizers and attendees can begin to implement changes now. First, the core conference event must be improved with the next generation of conference technology to allow attendees to derive maximum benefit while there. Then, these technologies must be applied to the pre-and postconference experience. SLA has experimented with many of these technologies--now is the time to make them part of the normal process for the event.

The Attendee Learning Experience These technologies are available now:

* Virtual exhibit halls for planning our walks through a trade show followed up with online interactive brochures and demonstrations.

* Itinerary builders that allow attendees to save, update, print, and download their schedules, even to PalmPilots.

* Dynamic registration lists for identifying other people at the conference by name, title, organization, or locale.

* Onsite virtual bulletin boards for creating informal discussion groups.

* Integrated virtual collaboration and conferencing environments where attendees and speakers can interact. (Check out Placeware, http:// www.placeware.com; Webex, http://www.webex.com; and Centra, http://www.centra.com.)

* Onsite and offsite polling to assess audience understanding and reactions.

* Downloadable MP3 audio files instead of conference cassette tapes. Some of these files can be integrated with the speaker's PowerPoint presentation. (Check out BrainShark, http:// www.brainshark.com, or Presenter, http://www.presenter.com.)

* Pre- and postconference discussions--virtual white boards and community rooms that go beyond chat rooms and electronic discussion lists. Building new forms of purpose-based discussion and communities of interest will ensure that conference programs meet the rapidly changing needs of the information- and technology-focused conference attendee.

* Personalized proactive advice on getting the most out of a conference. Using profiling algorithms, conference organizers can provide direction for the first-timer, the geek, or the manager. By sharing more information about their needs and profiles with conference organizers, attendees will get a better, more targeted program and increased networking and discussion opportunities.

The Trade Show Experience

Trade shows have always been the place for attendees to build relationships with vendors, ask questions, and get a quickie demo. We need to see technology used effectively to help us

* Plan our campaign of attack at huge trade shows before we arrive by being able to create a customized exhibit hall plan, with target booths highlighted.

* Identify what's really new and whom we need to see and avoid booths that don't fit our needs.

* See who is going to be there in person and plan accordingly--and not just by reviewing a hyperlinked list of vendors.