Events 2.0 - losing control
I read a great blog post the other day by Julius Solaris on the Event Manager Blog about the trend of ‘user generated events’.
With Barcamps and Unconferences being the latest in a surging trend of what I am going to call Events 2.0 (see great blog post also by Julius on 5 signs your event is Web 1.0) , giving the control back to the user seems to be the way forward for event organisers, with no going back!
It is like a revolution is taking place. Potential delegates are forming online Communities and rebelling against the Event 1.0, and doing their own thing, either as completely alternative events, or as ‘fringe’ style events, going against the grain and doing their own version of a well known big event. You only have to check out what was going on at F-ALT (A fringe event coinciding with ALT-C back at the beginning of September) to realise that this sort of thing really is happening and isn’t just a phase.
Delegates or ‘users’ as Julius calls them have immense power. Julius believes, and I agree, that you can’t compete with these guys:
“You can’t compete with your users. You can’t tell them that what you planned is better than what they will achieve in a community effort.”
So what do we the event organisers have to do? We have to start accepting the fact that we need to lose control a little and rather than telling delegates what they want to hear or know, start listening to them. Julius lists in his blog post, top 10 tips on how to keep up with this new trend, which really do give food for thought.
I do think however (the hardcore barcampers out there will probably disagree) that there is still a place in the conference and events world for a structured programme, some people like that….but we need to start thinking outside the box when putting together programmes in the first place, and adding that element of creativity.
One idea that was suggested to me recently which got me thinking was perhaps as part of the pre-conference online networking and discussion, ask delegates to post ideas/questions/themes that they want to talk about, let the discussion start online and then choose the top 10 open online forums (perhaps conduct an online vote?) and give them a physical space on the day, whether thats a corner somewhere, a proper room, a couple of sofas, or whatever, and allow them to continue the discussions on the day, and blog about them.Now there’s a thought…giving delegates freedom to talk about what they want to talk about? Whatever next! 
Hotels not buying local
A small but important article in this month’s Meetings&IncentiveTravel magazine highlights a survey carried out by Conference Care rating venue sustainability. It appears that despite 74% of venues surveyed claiming they have a corporate social responsbility (CSR) policy only 22% of the venues actually buy ’significant amounts of locally-sourced produce’. This is quite surprising as sourcing local produce is surely a key factor in any venue’s efforts to reduce their impact on the environment and subsequent Co2 emissions.
As the article points out, this revelation highlights that the ‘grass isn’t necessarily greener even if a venue or hotel has a CSR policy in place’. For example, a venue could be doing as little as putting posters above light switches reminding people to switch off lights when they leave the room, and claim to have an energy saving programme. The problem is that although venues and hotels are now increasingly aware that meetings and events buyers make venue purchasing decisions based on the venue’s ‘green credentials’, most hotels still focus predominantly on gross profit, at a huge cost to the environment.
More and more venues are starting to pull their green socks on now and introducing their own sustainability and CSR policies. However event buyers need to make sure they read the small print to find out what the policy entails.
The Conference Care survey does at least show that the majority of venues have woken up to the fact that they need to take responsbility for their impact on the environment. This is good news. Many are doing really good things, for example Cavendish Conference Centres in London have 4 venues in central London all of which are Green Mark accredited and they aim to be landfill neutral by the end of this year.
The more event buyers ask venues about their sustainability/environmental/CSR policies the more venues will realise it will benefit their business by having policies that actually do meet the new demands of their customers. It benefits everyone, but most of all the environment!
The ‘Green’ League
I am impressed to read that Manchester Metropolitan University are making big steps forward towards reducing their carbon footprint. They have apparently jumped 24 places up the ‘Green University Tables’ following the implementation of a whole host of measures to get the Uni back on the sustainable track. Including:
- recruited a carbon reduction manager
- begun integrating sustainability learning into staff induction programmes
- spent tens of thousands on water conservation
- signed the national ‘Green Education Declaration’
- run a Zero Waste Week to recycle tonnes of items left in halls of residence
Very impressive and a pat on the back deserved! They also have plans for a new whizzy Business School/Student hub which they claim will the greenest building in Manchester when it opens in 2011.
A quote by Prof John Brookes the VC struck me as the point of all this and which I totally agree with: “Reducing our carbon footprint is not simply about recycling, it is about changing our culture,”
That is what we at JISC have to do, change our culture, if we are ever going to even begin to shave a few inches off the probably very big JISC carbon footprint. I hope that more Universities and likewise conference venues etc. start to think about the future in this way. Who knows, maybe the Green University Table might become something of great importance in the future and the ‘greenness’ of Universities starts to figure in the prospective students choice of institution. How green a University is will also surely help their credentials as the pressure of international competition turns on.
Incidentally Leeds Met tops the table, with Plymouth and Hertfordshire following in hot pursuit. The ‘Green League’ table was actually created by People & Planet a student action group campaigning against poverty, human rights and the environment. I am proud to say I was a member whilst a student! It actually makes interesting reading and I have to admit did not know that it existed: http://peopleandplanet.org/greenleague
Their main point behind the exercise is to try to get institutions, governments and businesses to take responsibility for their impact on the environment. If they don’t, they say, no matter what we do as individuals, we will never reduce our ecological footprint to sustainable levels. A scary thought. So come on all you institutions, pull your green fingers out! Shame on all those in the Fail category!
treehugging
Well, I am feeling rather pleased with myself this afternoon. I have finally discovered how to put the little tree with a windy path symbol into your email signature to go with the ‘Please consider the environment..’ sentence, thanks to some eager treehuggers on www.treehugger.com. Most of you techie webbies reading this probably already know that the tree symbol is not in fact some special logo, it’s actually a Webdings character in Microsoft Word symbols!
In my quest to make the JISC events corner a little ‘greener’, I thought perhaps putting one of these messages on my email signature would be a good start…even if I’m not sure whether that’s being pro-active and actually making a difference or just easing my conscience (a bit like carbon-offsetting..oops did I say that out loud? Best leave that subject for another days blogging). Let’s face it though, my conscience is pretty heavy being part of an industry that creates as much waste as the events industry. A very useful blog which my colleague Matt Jukes pointed me to back in April (http://blog.web2expo.com/2008/04/reduce-reuse-recycle-in-that-order) makes some very good points about needing to think about reduction before recycling…not generating the waste in the first place is far more beneficial to the earth surely? ‘Reducing’ is indeed the real goal. The 3 R’s is now my mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (and in that order)!
It is with this goal in mind that I embark on the next stage of my ‘green’ quest: to put together a list of ways in which we at JISC can make our events greener.
I have already managed to infiltrate into our events the policy of ‘electronic delegate packs’, whereby delegates don’t receive a wad of documents in a pretty card folder along with a nice new paper notepad. Instead they receive the necessary documents as a pdf or url link to a webbased document in an email. These can be downloaded onto a PDA, saved onto hard drive of laptop or if they really wish can print themselves. Finally, we encourge delegates to bring their own notepad, which means most don’t bother and type notes straight onto their laptop. The point being JISC don’t print anything. This caused a few murmers as you can imagine…but on the whole well received. The main thing you have to ensure, if you are not giving out printed copies of the programme, is that there are plenty of monitors and screens around the venue, showing the electronic version of the schedule for the day.
The other trend I have noticed on the JISC and partners event circuit is the gradual abandonment of the old favourite money spinner ‘the delegate pack insert’. A brazen and shockingly wasteful, yet rather effective way to raise a bit of cash for little effort. Yes, we at JISC Towers are guilty of this act in all previous annual conferences. I am determined to put the delegate pack insert to rest, firstly by killing off the delegate bag in general. Lets face it, the only reason we give a delegate bag out at JISC Conference is to put all the inserts in! Some organisers seem to be offering potential sponsors the electronic alternative of a pdf document included on a USB stick, which is handed out to delegates. A step in the right direction, but I believe equally useless as slinging an insert into a bag which the delegate is never going to take notice of. Is Mr Delegate really going to put the USB stick into his laptop and open every single file over a nice cup of tea at refreshment break and mosey through all the adverts? I think not. If however you offered sponsors the chance to buy 1 or 2 slides on a rolling presentation which is shown on monitors around the venue, this might be a more effective way of reaching a captive audience. Particularly if the monitors also show the schedule for the day and information in general about the event. So JISC Conference 2009 will see the dawn of the ‘electronic advert’. The paper delegate bag insert is officially dead, may it rest in peace.
JISC National etextbook debate - 14 April
The JISC National E-textbook Debate debate is taking place the night before the JISC Conference from 5.30 to 7.30pm near the ICC (details below)The event will be live blogged:
<http://librariesofthefuture.jiscinvolve.org/>Tag: librariesofthefutureIf you wish to attend the debate please register at:
http://www.jiscebooksproject.org/events/national-e-textbook-debate/audience-registration-form. The JISC National E-textbook Debate provides a unique opportunity to quiz a panel of experts and to openly debate the future role of the library in the provision of electronic textbooks.JISC’s Executive Secretary, Malcolm Read, will be chairing the event. The panel of experts consists of publishers and librarians. Representing the publishing community we have Tom Davy, CEO of Cengage and Dominic Knight, MD of Palgrave. Representing the library community we have Sue McKnight, Director of Libraries and Knowledge Resources at Nottingham Trent University and Mandy Phillips, Information Resources Manager at Edge Hill University. Each will have their own viewpoint, some arguing that in order to meet expectations and demand the institution/library purchase model must continue and some arguing against the institutional/library purchase model of e-textbooks on the grounds of sustainability and diversity of needs.
If e books are restricted to electronic facsimiles of the printed book and this stifles does not support innovation
Event Details:
Date: 14th April 2008
Location: (2 minutes walk from the ICC) Kingston Theatre, Austin Court, 80 Cambridge Street, Birmingham, B1 2NP
Maps: Google Maps or Street Maps
Times: 17:30 - 19:00 - Wine and nibbles will be served in the Lounge Bar from 17:30 and the Debate will start at 18:00 and run till 19:00 in the Kingston Theatre
Charges: This event is free
Hello world!
Well I have finally entired the ‘blogosphere’, with trepidation might I add and a small dialemma over what I’m going to blog….I’m sure I’ll work it out but I’m finally here so hello to all in the world of blogness….. Am I supposed to feel any different now I’m officially initiated? Perhaps I’ll just rabble on about my daily thoughts in the world of JISC events? Lets see!