Event Tech Blog

July 2, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

One of my roles in the Meetings Industry is to seek out and explore new technology and innovations.  As true for many entrepreneurial ventures, some of these new inventions succeed while many fail.  Each new product or service impacts the marketplace.  They also provide insight on market preferences; what the market can and cannot sustain and what is truly useful in contrast to those things that are just cumbersome.  All these new inventions, successes and failures, have one thing in common – they influence what works and doesn’t work in our industry.  They often establish new buyer behaviors.

One new technology I discovered at the recent Interactive Austin 2008 conference is Viewzi, currently in its beta stage.  Viewzi touts itself as “a new and highly visual way to search that brings all your favorite stuff togeth...Read More

July 1, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

We all know that we should keep up with the latest innovations.  Staying current on software solutions allows us to handle our own business processes quicker and faster, thus technology just provides us with an overall richer quality of life.  In business, and especially in Tradeshow industry, staying abreast of the latest technological advancements is paramount – if you don’t keep up, you get left in the dust – it’s the evolutionary principle of “Survival of the Fittest”.

While many of these posts have stressed the importance of technology educations, sometimes it is difficult to recognize our environment evolution.  It was only a few years ago that early adopters were harnessing the power of the internet with a computer, a floppy drive, and a telephone line.  Now, it is difficult to find computers t...Read More

June 27, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

In the last week, three different people have approached me regarding an idea related to tradeshow tools enabled through a cellular phone.  This recurring topic offered enough evidence of market interest to warrant further exploration.

The availability of these new solutions is directly related to the advancements of cellular features and bandwidth.  Given the increased opportunity for sending and receiving more information at a faster speed, cell phones are becoming the ubiquitous platform that everyone can use to access information.   Exhibitors would rather spend money on software that captures data from their own cell phone, removing the additional cost of renting a proprietary device.  Attendees almost always carry a cell phone to an event (one recent research study indicated that 97% of attendees carry their cell phone).  The marriage...Read More
Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

June 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

During a casual research on technology topics, I stumbled across an interview in which the discussion included a reference to the Internet breaking from the demands of video.  I have heard this hypothesis before, but it recently has taken on additional momentum with the expectation of growing consumer adoption of 3G devices.  In other words, the Apple iPhone is going to have a significant impact on the pipes responsible for delivering adequate bandwidth.

So is it possible that the ever-increasing volume of video and the related bandwidth demand could 'break' the Internet?

The answer is Yes and No.  Yes, with today's infrastructure, the growing demands of video would soon overwhelm the Internet as we define it today.  This catastrophe will probably not happen, given the flexible nature of the Internet.

You see, the...Read More
Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

June 19, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

In a quest to expand my knowledge with social media, I attended FGSquared's Interactive Austin 2008 today.  Probably one of the best conferences I have attended in the last 12 months.  A bonus was the fact that the event was in my backyard, so I did not have to spend time on the road away from Team Nold, my family. 

The presentations provided an interesting picture of the tools that are designing, defining and delivering internet communities.  I realized that face-to-face marketing, is poised to become one of the greatest contributions to the expansion of these interactive tools and one of the biggest benefactors of these new solutions.

Some of the epiphanies relevant to the tradeshow industry that I have carried away from this e...Read More
Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows