And this time, they’re not from me! Enjoy.

Adrian Segar on possible fixes for hybrid technology glitches/time delays (with some good responses in the comments as well)

CeCe Salomon-Lee on three technologies that may (or may not) be ready for prime time at more hybrid events.

Brandt Krueger from the sponsorship perspective. I hope he’s wrong, that others do understand just how cool the #ECTC11 sponsors are for being willing and able to go all out supporting something as audacious as this conference (and how well they performed their parts in the event). Stuff happens, folks.

Jenise Fryatt: If You’re Not Breaking Things, You’re Not Experimenting . I particularly love this part, which falls under the heading of Why Progress is So Difficult:

“We event industry professionals are perfectionists. Because we’ve seen proof that experimentation does lead to innovation, we’ll pay lip-service to its value all day long. But when it actually comes to failing publicly, do we have the guts to follow through and support such efforts?”

EventCamp Twin Cities did, and I for one applaud them for it. Our industry associations have been doing some interesting things, too, but they (especially those who serve my market niche, continuing medical education providers) tend to stay away from the bleeding edge because, well, they don’t want to get cut. I understand the urge to wait until all the kinks have been worked out.

But I’m glad there are people like ECTC11 organizers Samuel Smith and Ray Hansen out there breaking the eggs so we can all eat a really good hybrid meeting omelet. Thanks, and don’t let the critics get you down. It went about 95 percent right for this participant, which is pretty high in my experience.

Update: Here’s another one, from Corinne Kessel, a fellow EventCamp newbie who talks about her experience in the Vancouver pod. I love this quote: “I am thrilled to have been a part of such a radical attempt at event innovation. Things failed. But so much was learned.”

Update 2: Cameron Toth has rounded up a few more, plus photos and videos.

It hasn’t yet happened to me, but you hear all the time about people having things stolen out of their luggage while traveling. After reading a post where Chris Elliott explains some pretty effective thief-deterrents, I think I know why my stuff generally stays put.

• I usually just take carry-on, so it’s not out of my sight.
• If I do check a bag, it’s a pretty pathetic-looking critter, not something that screams, “ooh, she’s carrying oodles of diamonds.”
• I don’t generally tote along anything worth stealing, so it’s mainly a moot point for me.

But for the worriers/already-been-ripped-off-and-don’t-want-to-go-there-again, I like the idea of carrying luggage that looks like it belongs to a kid, too, though your attendees might look at you funny in the hotel check-in and -out lines. And I love the idea of packing a toy badge with an official-looking ID card: “The badge has a distinctive design which looks like a real law-enforcement shield on an airport X-ray, thus discouraging collusion between X-ray attendants and baggage handlers.”

How do you ensure your stuff stays in your bag when you and your luggage are parted?

Wow, hard to imagine that Cvent got more than 1,400 photo submissions for its Great Event Photo Contest. Then again, maybe not, since the grand prize was $10,000, and we all think our events look the best, don’t we?

Well, the judges have done their judging, and the company just announced that the World Balloon Convention had the $10k shot. Congratulations! The venue that hosted the event, the Sheraton Dallas, also scored $8k worth of free ads on Cvent’s Supplier Network, and the finalists get $1k and a mention on the Cvent blog for their efforts.

Behold the WBC 2010 Land of Enchantment Gateway

The Facebook entry says of the photo: “The WBC 2010 brought more than 600 balloon professionals from all over the world together for top-quality education, dyamic competitions, powerful networking, and amazing parties. Over 46 different countries were represented in the delegation and more than 500,000 Qualatex balloons were used over the course of this premiere, 5-day convention.”

And afterward, did the planner get to pop them all?

As I may have mentioned, I finally got the chance to participate, if only remotely, in an EventCamp: EventCamp Twin Cities, or #ECTC11 in Twitterese. It was my first real hybrid meeting experience. It also was one of the most interesting conferences I’ve been to in a while. Here are some of my thoughts. (Picture is of my assistant, Mango, who diligently tweeted for me on the rare occasions when I had to leave to room.)

Thought 1: If I had to use just one word to describe ECTC, it would be “overwhelming.” There was just so much stuff to do, from filling out the learning journal, to listening to the theme song, to following the Twitter hashtag, to listening to the sessions on the regular channel and on Facebook, to getting to know my teammates and working with them to earn badges, meet challenges, and otherwise play the really cool, if involved, game that Kurt Nelson designed just for us, to watching the videos people were posting about the event to YouTube…you see what I mean? Even when there wasn’t anything officially going on, we had virtual emcees Emilie Barta and Glenn Thayer to keep it all going with speaker interviews and all sorts of engaging patter. It was total sensory overload, and that was just participating remotely!

Thought 2: If I got to add one more word, it would be “exhilarating.” If, as the organizers continually stressed, this was all a big experiment, then I was one happy lab rat scampering from bell to whistle to score my virtual cheese. All that frenetic activity kept me from giving into the temptation of constant e-mail checking or even (heaven forbid) getting work done. Yes, while I had intended to just drop in and out casually while getting articles written and edited, instead I found myself hopelessly addicted to reading and responding to that Twitter hashtag, gobbling up what the speakers were talking about, unlocking badges (who knew I knew so much about mobile technology even before the session about it?) and coming up with ideas for a team name and motto that instead I ended up working late into the night to get my regular work done.

How addicted was I? Because Minnesota is an hour behind Massachusetts, EventCamp went beyond my regular work day. So there I was out in the garden after officially shutting down for the day, picking tomatoes and beans with my trusty netbook at my side so I wouldn’t miss anything. I know, right? Sad, but a true confession. Good thing my husband was out of town, because he would have laughed at me.

The strange thing is that the sessions themselves were the least compelling aspect. Well, it’s not that strange, seeing as they were also the least interactive. The Pecha Kucha presentations held my attention because not only were they short and sweet, they were also really well done. Mike Scott of Dale Carnegie Training also had me the whole time, but he did it by asking participants for our ideas on how his organization could use social media in its programs. And BizBash’s David Adler’s vision of the future of meetings design for the most part kept my attention, in part because he asked us to think about what meetings can learn from summer camp (creates long-lasting memories, relationships, community) and the famous gym membership curve (spikes in January, deep dip come Feb.). I have to admit that a lot of the sessions became kind of background while most of my attention went to what people were saying about the session on Twitter (!). Never done that before. And these were all sessions I would have been glued to in real life, led by people I’d love to hear, but for some reason it just didn’t grab me as streaming video the way I know it would have had I been in the room.

Thought 3: The difference in what you got out of it depending on where you sat, be it on site, in a pod (a group of geographically related folks who gathered together to participate remotely), or, like me, on your own. From this discussion of one pod’s experience and from some grumbling I heard from other pods, their expectations for participation were higher, and perhaps because of that their experience may not have been as satisfying as mine was.

And would all that scurrying around that kept me wrapped up in the experience perhaps have been more annoying than addicting if I had people to interact with? I’d be curious to hear from those who were on site (I haven’t seen any blog posts about it yet—if you know of one, please leave a link in the comments. Thanks!). Was all that attention given to those not in the room distracting from your experience? Did it enhance it in any way? What did we all miss by not being there?

Thought 4: Unlike previous EventCamps, ECTC was more of a traditional conference with pre-scheduled speakers and topics than a barcamp. While normally I’d much rather go with a more Open Space type of environment, in this case I think what already was jamming would have a high probability of sliding into chaos if they’d gone that route. And I have a strong feeling that we would have ended up with similar topics and many of the same people leading the discussions anyway.

Thought 5: Add my data point of one to the “not” side of all the arguments you hear about whether or not hybrid events will encourage people to just attend remotely and skip the live conference. All they do is whet your appetite for more, trust me. Better yet, don’t trust me—try one of these yourself. Watching the community build as people work and learn together just makes you want to be even more a part of it. And maybe have the chance to do a little after-hours karaoke, too. Hmm, maybe not.

A big thank-you shout-out to all the organizers, volunteers, techies, participants, virtual and IRL emcees, and especially the sponsors who were willing to get behind this great experiment. Even when things went horribly wrong, as Murphy’s Law insists they had to, you all kept it a fun, engaging, learning experience.

As to what went horribly wrong…as the organizers kept saying, remember that they’re experimenting so we don’t have to!

P.S. This post was much better the first time I wrote it. Darn you, hurricane Irene, for making the electricity flicker just as I was hitting that “publish” button! Lost the whole thing. Argh!

P.P.S. Remind me to write a post just about the game piece of ECTC11. If you were there and have thoughts you’d like to share or if you have seen someone else’s writeup about it, please let me know. Again, this was a first for me, but I have a strong feeling it’s something we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of in the future.

If people are talking about your property, it behooves you to listen, don’t you think? And yet all too many hoteliers still aren’t paying attention to what meeting goers and other guests are tweeting and Facebooking about their properties. Cara has a great post about those who are doing this well, as well as suggestions on how hoteliers can better serve their meetings specifically through social media monitoring.

Here we go on the East Coast, watching flights fall off the boards like the raindrops to come, and Atlantic City shutter its casinos and resorts for only the third time in the city’s history. While, as a colleague noted, there probably aren’t too many conventions happening the week before Labor Day, I’m sure there are cancellations to come as well. It’s hard to imagine on a day like today when there’s hardly a cloud in the sky, but I trust the weatherman on this one.

For all who, like me, are in the path of the storm, be prepared, be safe, and we’ll get through this just fine. To help keep your mellow as the winds rise and the clouds turn black, check out this amazing song by one of my town’s own musical artists, Chris McDermott:

I’ve managed to be either at an event or on vacation for the previous EventCamps, but this time around I was determined not to miss it, at least virtually. It’s a busy time for the magazine so I’ll likely have to drop in and out, but I am so looking forward to virtually attending EventCamp Twin Cities (it’s not too late to sign up if you want to join me).

One very cool thing so far is that the organizers mailed me something called a Learning Journal, which in addition to listing the program includes a My “Big Ideas” page where I’m to write down ideas I’d like to try at my next event. There’s also going to be an EventCamp Challenge (I’m on the Omnipress pod).

Here’s the theme song—love it!

If you want to follow along on Twitter, use the #ECTC11 hashtag, or follow @eventcamptc, where (according to the Tweetosphere) Mitchell Beer is tweeting his little heart out as of now.

I hope no one has to use this (stay away, Irene!), but I was impressed with a press release I just got from Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando announcing that they were offering $49 rates at its leisure hotels for Florida residents displaced by weather emergencies (with an extra $10 per day if you bring along your pet, and for another $10/night you get two adult breakfast buffets—kids under 9 eat free).

Sure, there are many (including me) who think gamifying education, including that offered at meetings, is a great way to motivate people to learn. But if you think using a rewards-based marketing strategy to build loyalty to your conference or event, read this post first: Your Customers Won’t Take a Bullet for You. Not only does Kathy Sierra dissect loyalty programs beautifully to get to the beating heart of what really motivates us, she reminds me of just how much I have missed her writing. Just one point to ponder before you head over and read the whole thing:

“In fact, when you “incent” me to “engage” with your site, deep in my heart I understand now that I have sold out. By giving me bribes/incentives, no matter how much you call them “rewards”, you have communicated to some part of me that if I had to be incented to buy/act/engage/whatever, it must have lacked value on its own.”

Uh huh. Especially now, you can’t buy loyalty to your program, or even a one-time buy-in, unless, as she says, what you’re providing will “have upgraded my personal skills, knowledge, and capabilities. They have made my life better. They have made ME better.” Isn’t that exactly why you’re holding that conference to begin with?

Just read a fascinating article about decision fatigue (thanks to Joan Eisenstodt for the pointer!). A few things I learned from this article that may apply to meeting planning:

Participants tend to default to the easiest and/or safest response after having to make a lot of decisions: Put the hard questions and those that require thought at the top of the evaluation form so participants will be fresh to answer what they really feel.

Since people tend to shift to the default option after having to make a lot of decisions (the more complex the decision, the quicker fatigue sets in), break up your event decision-making sessions into reasonable chunks, with a lot of breaks to refresh your brain.

If your session have drained participants’ willpower by making them make too many decisions or use their willpower too often, give them a quick hit of sugar before asking them to make any more decisions or avoid temptations (like skipping the final sessions to go sight-seeing or take a nap). Aha, so that’s why we always get cookies at the afternoon breaks instead of something that’s good for you…

Do you see any other possible learning points for planners in this one?