For the last two weeks, Brian Solis and I have been discussing events and the role that blogging has had on them. We’ve done this largely as we actively engaged in the process at a variety of events in the Bay Area. More than a year ago, my life with syncPEOPLE was dedicated to the study of the role that social media can and would play in the event/conference business. It was a difficult process filled with fear and uncertainty. I’m happy to hear that there has been quite a sea change and the tide is moving in the right direction.

One of the major trends I have been observing is the migration to media. Almost every event organizer wants to hold onto the audience they have and to grow it in as many ways as possible. Remember this simple fact, sponsorship can’t grow without growth in attendance (up to the point of saturation, that is). It is this understanding of the world that has driven a lot of the experimentation in the conference industry. The truth, of course, is that there is not much room to not embrace new media and methods. Attendees have ever-changing needs and event organizers must adapt to new models.

In the last 2 weeks alone, I’ve been approached by no less than 4 events to assist in integrating social media into the attendee experience. I think it is a definite sign that more and more, everyone is looking back to the social dimension of events. It’s quite amazing how unsatisfying many events seem now when this is not properly planned and accounted for - after all, conferences are really about the contacts more so than the content.

This post was inspired by some discussion flowing today regarding the Nielson BuzzMetric client-only conference. The official word from the organizer was that the event was intended for its clients and that there were presentations of case studies from a variety of clients. Steve Rubel’s poses a broader question in response, “Should conferences ban blogging?” My simple answer: it depends.

While there are a number of reasons that organizers should consider integrating blogging and other social media into their event experience, I can undertand that under certain circumstances they might seek some privacy - though I do beg they consider it very carefully. In this case, it was a private event and there is no requirement for transparency. Naturally, asking people not to do something is often more like demanding they do the opposite - potentially undoing any attempt to “contain” the content.

Ultimately, I think we need to be more constructive in our criticism (Scott Karp agrees). While we all are empowered with our new suite of media tools, entitlement is still something quite different.

Yesterday’s conference had some interesting discussion about podcasting. It seems like such a long time ago since I did my last Beercast, but it’s been just a couple of months since the last conference we provided podcasting for.

It was during those discussions that I realized I hadn’t really captured the experiences in any form and thought it was a good time to start. We’ll be releasing a short white paper or two on Podcasting for Events soon. In the meantime, I’ll do a few different posts on the matter.

First and foremost, we should take a look at just what it is that we’re trying to accomplish with the use of podcasting. As it pertains to events, there are two primary opportunities that exist for podcasting:

• Conference Content Archives - this is the process of recording and distributing the various speeches and presentations that occur during the conference, from keynotes to panels.
• Attendee Experience Archives - this is the process of capturing the opinions of the attendees of the event on everything from the people they met to the sessions they attended.

Conference Content Archiving

Conference Content Archiving is really a modernization of the traditional audio recordngs that are done at events. This has provided a source of revenue for events for quite some time, but it’s definitely not the top line item. Unfortunately, I’m not a huge fan of this format for a couple of main reasons:

• Length - these recordings are often quite lengthy and are difficult to carve out the time for. It’s no surprise that most podcasts call in the 30-50 minute range with many shorter ones.
• Format - these presentations are largely supported by visual aids and intended for a live audience that has view of the supporting materials. Listening to a presentation that constantly refers to the slides on screen is hard to follow at best and confusing at worst.

Attendee Experience Archives

Attendee Experience Archives are an extension of the attendee surveys that are captured during throughout and after the event. They can be thought of as exit interviews in many ways, but they provide much more than just that.

Attendee Experiences are a critical component of every event. Positive experiences lead to repeat attendance and great buzz, negative experiences lead to negative press, poor impressions, and resistance to attendance. We call this form of archiving Social Podcasting.

With Social Podcasting, we engage the participants in dialog. This dialog is designed to surface the comments, questions and concerns that were raised throughout the event, from the seats in the presentations to the tables during the reception.

Naturally, this approach has many new, distinctive benefits:

• Concise - with a minimal amount of coaxing, the audience sessions can cover large swaths of the material covered during the presentations - while also extracting the most interesting points
• Conversational - unlike a standard presentation which features extended periods of speech from individuals, attendee sessions are often filled with the natural interruptions common to our everyday conversations
• Colorful - the unique mixture of different voices drilling down on a discrete topic brings in a variety of opinions and objectives that entertains both the ears and mind
• Viral - involving attendees in these sessions naturally leads to a desire to spread the word (or more precisely, their own involvement)

Conclusions

Regardless of the method chosen (though it’s not an either-or situation) it’s clear that the incorporation of podcasting into your event will clearly yield new opportunities for your organization.

Both mediums excel at creating lasting marketing pieces for your event. We’ve said it before and we’ll repeat it again - conferences are conversations. To date, we’ve done a poor job really capturing those conversations but the times and technologies are quickly making it possible for us to not turn our backs on the undeniable.

Conference Content podcasts bring the message to audiences that would previously have never had the opportunity to participate. Attendee Experience podcasts serve to extend and enhance this message and enable a new and exciting community development platform.