Wi-Fi issues for a big event in specific venue: meeting planners’ cares.

This article is from Ian Framson who is a serial entrepreneur and technology innovator and it helps meeting planners to make sure of Internet needs for their coming event inside a particular venue.

Ian is the CEO of TSI (trade show internet) and he is aware of the higher expectations of attendees during an event as far as Wi-Fi. Indeed, nowadays, exhibitors’ demos, emails sending, documents sharing, apps, and critical use of smartphones and tablets are requiring Internet. The network are completely saturated and crowded. The lack of it can damaged the quality of the event on different levels:

-the practicality: use it for practical information (location, schedules, speakers information…)

- the show (to slow the presentation of online promotional video for example)

- the business (to buy online)

 The lack of technologic efficiency (Wi-Fi) can make leave some attendees from the conference center to use Wi-Fi connection in another place. Now, it is all about to know IT lingo and be prepared to understand the vital necessity of Wi-Fi for trade shows, exhibitions, and conferences…

This article highlights on the different steps in terms of Wi-Fi connection that a PCO have to consider and to apply, in order to be sure to respond to the attendees needs:

First, the event’s requirements have to be regarded:

-       the floor plan (where do we need Wi-Fi cover?, how to provide it?)

-       the needs of all attendees (attendees? Exhibitors? Which contents?)

-       the usage needs according to program schedules (peak usage?)

-       the on-site support requirements (technician support?)

Secondly, the technical aspect has to be plan: the coverage and the capacity. Indeed, if the venue pretends to have Wi-Fi connection, it is not a sufficient answer for the efficiency of the event.

            As far as our opinion, it is on one hand, the responsibility of the venue to propose different “package” of connection and advices according to the event needs. On the other hand, the meeting planner has to be well trained in terms of technology. Indeed, he has to be well accompanied (by an expert or a independent internet service provider) to be aware of what is possible and what is required for a specific event in terms of technology, Internet and Wi-Fi. All considering, both parties have to make an effort, and be up to date as far as the Internet and Wi-Fi expectations of nowadays.  It must be considered as significantly as catering needs for instance.

 More information: http://corbinball.com/articles_technology/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=8932

A ITB Berlin, Google et TripAdvisor ne vendent pas la peau des agents de voyage…

A ITB Berlin, Google et TripAdvisor ne vendent pas la peau des agents de voyage…

Article: http://www.tendancehotellerie.fr/articles-breves/marketing-distribution/1243-article/a-itb-berlin-google-et-tripadvisor-ne-vendent-pas-la-peau-des-agents-de-voyage

The social medias have been developping very much since the appearance of the Web 2.0. On a leisure basis at the beginning, tourism pros understood the potential of these IT tools for the distribution, to ensure a CRM strategy and use revenue management concepts.

There are different sorts of social medias such as Social networks like facebook or LinkedIn allowing people to build up a network and share informations with them or content sharing portals such as TripAdvisor who completely changed the tourism industry through the important numbers of feedbacks and advises the customers can give about a tourism experience in a Hotel/Restaurant.

TripAdvisor is, since 2012 quoted in the stock exchange and has become the first tourism advisor website to rise the 50 Million visitors monthly worldwide.

The present article discuss the changes the industry has known because of websites such as TripAdvisor as it could lead to a fall of the travel agencies. Indeed, the travel agencies tasks have been opened publically with the 2.0 Websites.

Are these sites reliable though ?

The principle of this website being to let the customers give their feedbacks without having the possibility to control if what they relate is true, it became a very dangerous tool for some tourism pros who can be tackled by competitors eplaning why TripAdvisor has been sued.

Indeed, the text explains that Bernd Fauser responsible for Google International travels is convinced that even if the travel agencies have to adapt their business model, they can still survive in this market as they can always propose some specific services to customers looking for complicated services for the tourists.

TripAdvisor has been a real progress for the customers allowing them to get feedbacks and favorize the best places to experience. However it will ever be a fight place for the tourism pros to criticize the competitors as long as the company doesn’t invest in softwares to dismantle the fake comments. 

“Have them at « Hello »”

Meet Charlie, the one that will help you “rock your next meeting.”

Try to picture the scene: a meeting is scheduled on your agenda, but you have never meet the person, and you might ask yourself what to say ; something quite common you would say, but how do you break the ice? Finding commonalities would be a good start, but how to do such researches? You do not have time to spend on Internet digging up information. Charlie knows that.

Charlie is a prototype app that helps making meetings easier. The concept is quite simple. Charlie scans your calendar searching for approaching meetings scheduled and once it has the names of your contact, it look into numerous online resources relevant information about the person you are about to meet. The aim is to better know the person, but most importantly, to find out if you and that person have something in common. Charlie doesn’t even stop there. It will let you know if there is any current news about that commonality. For instance, let’s say that you two are supporters of the same football team; Charlie, will first let you know that, and then tell you the latest news concerning your favorite team. What better way to break the ice and start the meeting than a victory of your common team?

In addition of personal details, Charlie will also look at where the person works, and will inform you about any news concerning its company and industry. You can now walk into the room as the most prepared person and “rock your meeting”.

Such applications are of great use for anyone that wants to avoid uncomfortable and awkward situation during a first meeting. Charlie app can be really helpful during conferences. Indeed, networking is an essential part for any events, and often, represents a main objective for many participants. Various apps already exists to help attendees to find interesting contacts that could be relevant for their career, and even help them to find those physically in the conference center. However, all the efforts are still on their own: finding relevant sources on Internet concerning, checking social networks… to find information and details about the person they are going to meet. The advantage of “Charlie” is that it saves its user a lot of time and already filters the information that would be of interest for him. It therefore enhances and facilitates networking during business events. Such apps can be particularly of interest for the youngest generation that it is says are less comfortable with face to face networking rather than online. Making meetings easier might encourage them to attend the conference and be part of all aspect of the event.

However, it can have negative aspects and effects. Indeed, it can be used in order to know what the other likes or dislikes and pretend to have this in common, such like during a date. With the progress of technology nowadays, there is always a risk that new tools, technologies, applications… would be diverted from their original functions. But, taken cautiously, apps such as Charlie can really be useful and will certainly know a great success.

Thumbnail image courtesy iStock, Lightbox; screenshot courtesy Charlie

Keyword: meeting, commonality, networking, app, contact details

More information about Charlie app at http://charlie-meeting-app.reviews.r-tt.com/.

Written by Audrey Moreno & Iuliia Nadtochii

AR you ready ?

Augmented Reality (AR) is a concept that mixes the real world and a virtual world into a single image. Two other concepts that may seem similar but offer different characteristics are Virtual Reality and Telepresence. Let’s take a look at them so that nobody gets confused.

Virtual Reality, as its name indicates, consists of the creation of a new world that may look real, but is completely virtual. It is the will of its creator to make this world as close as possible to the real world, or to build another world with completely different rules and characteristics. A perfect example of this concept is the online software “Second Life”.

Telepresence is another different concept. It allows the user to be “virtually” present in a different place that the one he currently stands in. A very frequent use of telepresence is applied during video conferences for instance.

 AR is something different. Sometimes also called Mixed Reality, it allows the user to see both the real world and some virtual elements at the same time. When speaking about AR, the word that appears the most is “enhancement”. That is exactly the principle of AR: see the real world enhanced by some virtual adjustments. Those enhancements can be found in different shapes. The most common are physical (pictures, objects, videos, and so on), and written (text, information) enhancement.

These enhancements could be added thanks to a see-through device, or a device that supports both a camera and a screen, but that also carries programmable hardware. A Smartphone is a perfect incarnation of such a device. Indeed, a very common use of augmented reality is within those smartphone applications that allow the user to add objects to a picture, or to modify the picture as he wishes.

Not only smartphones can support AR in action, another popular option is the head mounted display (HMD). First created in 1968 by Ivan Sutherland, the HMD allows a deeper immersion in the enhanced reality because the user doesn’t have to hold anything; the enhancements are brought directly to his eyes. In a very near future, some device will be offered to the mass market: Google will make the Google Glasses; Laster technologies issued some glasses for industrial or medical uses while Optinvent is already selling some AR glasses for leisure uses. Finally, Oakley has produced some AR sunglasses aimed to the sport market.  Those new HMD displays are light and convenient to carry with us all day long if necessary.

Tourism has been one of the latest industries to be approached by AR because, in order to be useful for tourism purpose, the devices hosting the AR technology needed to support active geo-localization software as well. Indeed the tourist needs to receive information that is relevant to its position: where am I? Where is the closest bus station? What is this building in front of me? What is the story about this monument? In this field, the most used aspects of AR will be the providing of information of course. The user should turn his device in a direction and see on the screen all he needs to know about what is displayed on the screen. And this can only be done with a device that can detect where the user his, and which direction he is looking at. So the mix of a GPS (Global positioning System) and a compass is needed. Both can be found in a Smartphone already. Thus, AR can be an interactive tourism guide that responds to the user’s position and needs.

Knowing the huge impact it could have on the tourism industry, it is rather surprising to find that, to this date, only a few locations (mainly cities) decided to create a mobile application (App) that can allow users to discover the said location in an interactive way thanks to AR. The first App was Tuscany +, developed by the Tuscan region, in Italy in 2010. The App can be downloaded in Apple’s App store. Then the experience begins. The user can chose to apply filters to the App. For example if he is looking for a restaurant, he can choose the “restaurant” option in the menu, and the location of the nearest restaurants will be shown on the screen. The user can choose to see the results on a map showing his location and the walking time to the destination, or indicated on the image he sees while looking through the camera of his IPhone.

Following this App, only two more examples appeared in Europe: one in Germany and one in France, in Bordeaux. Bordeaux’s AR App, called Imayana, is a little different though. While Tuscany + focuses on providing the users with useful information regarding the facilities of the region, Imayana wants to give the full experience to the user. Here, the AR will not only be used for information, but also to show the tourist how the city looked like in the ancient times. The tourist will see the progressive regression of some historical buildings through the device, until they reach their original state. Some statues will suddenly come to life and interact with the tourists, explaining them some historical facts. The aim of Imayana is really to immerse completely the tourist so that his experience would be as true and fulfilling as possible. This is based on the theory that the learning process is much more efficient if entertainment is involved, and on the prerequisite that tourists want to experience and see the city and its history deeply. Also, Imayana is not an App. The tourist has to rent the device (touch pad) at any tourism office, but cannot download the software on his own device.

As of now, a few applications for tourism purposes are in development around the world, but it seems that the trend is growing and soon, every destination will need to provide its visitor with such a product.

By Qian GE and Alexis Brenet