Social Networks & Your Meeting

The launch of Facebook Connect, a single unified, sign-on application that allows users to go from one protected site to another without logging in again, is going to be a game-changer in many ways. Take me for example. I have 'social' profiles on Yahoo (email), LinkedIn (professional), Facebook (personal), Pharma Planners Connect, iMeet and, sad to say, MySpace (though I only use it to sign in so I can see others' pictures!). In addition, I have separate passwords for PayPal, banking, frequent flier programs, blog, eTrade, eBay, Amazon, email marketing, instant messenger... you get the picture.

Keeping track, protecting and manually entering this information for each site becomes quite cumbersome, especially to busy professionals whose time is crunched and are used to having everything else on the internet so user-friendly. While Facebook Connect and Google's OpenSocial projects are primarily focusing on 'social' sites for the time being, you can clearly see where this is headed.

How do we, as meeting professionals, use this to help strengthen our programs? A great way to start is to build online communities surrounding your most important events. If you are not doing this now, pick one of your most important events and test it out (there are plenty of consultants out there who can help you like QG Partnership - Obama used BSD).

Rather than diving in head first, you'll want to dip your toes in to see what works and what doesn't. The idea behind this is to connect and interact with your audience, giving them the opportunity to participate and influence your program content thus enhancing their experience with your brand/organization. Here is a list of how 35 large companies are using social networking tools. Click here for a terrific list of reason why social networking is great for business.

There are so many applications where social networking can be useful before, during and after a meeting. Picture the usefulness applied to planning an internal sales meeting. One of the main objectives should be providing ample opportunity for reps from different regions to start discussions pertaining to challenges or best practices in the field. Providing an online community with different topic forums will allow reps with similar challenges and interests to gather amongst themselves, discuss and talk about solutions to their individual difficulties. If you're planning a convention, perhaps you'd like to start online discussions before their arrival to the event; to solicit hot topics from key demographics. Keeping your fingers on the pulse of your key targets will allow your team to implement and highlight the subjects of most interest to them into your exhibit presentation. The most important thing to remember is the value of connection, which will allow you and your team to have a better understanding of your constituency- by providing them the forum to connect. But none of this will happen magically, it will require a good deal of planning and a comprehensive communications plan.

With new applications such as Facebook Connect and OpenSocial, it will be much easier for audiences to connect across a variety of previously unavailable platforms. For instance, if one of my suppliers sees my LinkedIn profile through his MySpace account, he might be encouraged to connect with me that way, where previously we would not have had the visibility. Perhaps someone reads this blog and finds out that through my iMeet profile the services my company provide are a perfect fit for what they have been looking for.

Event-specific social networking is also terrific for post-program marketing & communications. I have seen so many events where a tremendous amount of momentum was generated and the audiences were so charged-up, only to have that impact flatline within a week. Design your site to gather feedback and opinions and ask them how you can improve subsequent programs. Continue to update content that will provide your audience incentives to return. You won't get there immediately, but like they said in Field of Dreams "if you build it, they will come".

You will not know exactly how, or even if your strategy is going to work at the start, but the main point is allowing those who want to participate in that fashion the option do so. They will be the ones who will tell you what your strategy should be moving forward, not by words, but by action. One thing I can guarantee you: if you do nothing, you will get nothing in return.

VIRTUAL WORLDS
There is something nerdy about virtual worlds and the folks that inhabit them for hours on end. When I see avatars that look like velociraptors, trying to solicit virtual sex with virtual prostitutes in virtual red-light districts, I picture the person behind the keyboard to be a 30-something programmer, surrounded by empty Mountain Dew bottles and Dorito bags, who hasn't left his mother's basement in two weeks.
The kind of guy with three custom-modified computers, nine MySpace accounts who gets extremely upset if you even glance at his collection of Star Trek action figures.

While that stereotype is very creepy, one thing is certain: virtual worlds are going mainstream, in one form or another, and will continue to have more and increasingly real-world applications. It might take a few years, like the wireless revolution we were all hearing about 10 years ago (which, by the way, is happening NOW!), but one day very soon virtual worlds will revolutionize the meeting planning industry.

While you may have dismissed the thought of hosting meetings & events in virtual worlds in the past, many of the world's leading companies are placing big bets on the power of meeting online. The new generation of information workers will have a different attitude, as their education was heavily dependent on technology that didn't exist when I went to college in the 90's. All the Gen-Y kids coming out of Stanford, MIT, and Princeton, the business leaders in 10 years, all have "In-World" avatars reflecting their own preferences and personalities. One day very soon, these same avatars will be a confluence of Facebook profiles, V-Cards, LinkedIn profiles that will be their definitive 'online presence'.

Watch this video to see how some of the world's largest companies have been heavily investing in Second Life:As meeting planners, how can we afford to ignore new technologies that will impact the future of our industry so profoundly? Particularly in a down economy. Imagine completing 10 site visits in one day, without ever leaving your office. Having five regional sales meetings in two days where there are no travel expenses. Complete compliance training for various certifications from the convenience of your own office. Start thinking of the look on senior management's faces when you demonstrate the cost savings gained by having no airfare, no accommodations, no F&B costs.

Are any of you currently using this technology past the demo stage? Is the push coming from your team or your IT department? If not, are any of you in discussion about it? Who is driving it, Meeting Planning, IT, Marketing/Sales or Senior Management?

Here is an interesting example: Virtual Forbidden City developed by IBM in partnership with the Palace Museum. It was designed to encourage people from all around the world to explore and learn about Chinese history and culture.

Starwood's new hotel chain aloft actually launched it's brand with virtual tours in Second Life before any of the properties were opened.

Dell Island (video) is another great example of how consumers can interact with products online. Not a believer yet? Check out the infinite possibilities at What is Scion City. While this is nothing more than an extended commercial, approaching it in a different fashion allows for more engagement. It's only a matter of time until the graphics in Second Life are as good as they are on Grand Theft Auto IV on X-Box 360.

Obama's In-World Presidential Campaign:The business applications for meeting planners are endless, but once again a cultural/consumption shift will have to occur to make it useful. Planners need to anticipate the needs of their customers and attendees and be there waiting for them when they walk through the door. Being prepared to offer this to our internal customers before they ask for it is what makes us valuable to our organizations. If you'd like to learn more, check out Millions of Us.

Instead of a hosting a mandatory compliance training meeting in a boring conference center in some random suburb of Boston, you can host it in your virtual meeting room 'In-World' at your own branded meeting space/swim-up pool-bar, on a Pete Dye-designed golf course sitting on your private island in the Carribean.

Hey, you can dream, right? That's what makes Second Life so interesting.