Sunday, December 14, 2008

Blogging

In answering the question what is the value of going through the process of blogging I have to be totally honest... it's not my favorite. I think I might prefer blogging if I felt like I really had something to say or that I was truly passionate about. That is not to say that blogging is not valuable and I truly prefer reading others blogs over writing one myself. Thus far however, I have not attached myself to any professional blogs which I love but do enjoy them when I am searching for individuals opinions on certain topics.

I do think that the process have proved valuable. I really enjoyed looking into technologies that I was not aware of and reading my peers blogs and seeing what they came up with. Even though I may not become a blogger myself I know now that I will constantly tune into others blogs so that I can be on top of the changes in my industry. The most important thing I have learned is that technology is ever changing and something I really need to focus upon. Because it is quick to change, it is absolutely necessary to without fail understand how and why things are changing and be prepared to revolutionize my work with the best technology available that applies.

The two coolest technologies I have come to understand throughout the semester are Twitter and Digg. I look forward to using Twitter in my events as I enter the industry and indulging myself in news tailored to my liking in Digg.

Thanks for a great semester!

Pathable

As someone who is probably the most critical of our industry and social networking I decided to look into Pathable which we briefly discussed last week. Throughout the semester we have considered several social networking sites including facebook, linkedin and iMeet but pathable is the newest and again specifically designed for the events industry.

Pathable is unlike these other social networking sites as it is intended specifically for certain a certain conference. A planner has the opportunity to build their own personal networking site for their conference using this service, quotes are not available online. The homepage for your event will have pictures of your most recent RSVP's, statistics regarding who is attending, the opportunity to converse on a wall page and to follow attendees facebook and twitter accounts.

Okay so here is where the "creepy" or "stalker" action comes into play... you can search people interests learn more about them, find links to their twitter, facebook, linkedin pages, message them or check out the matches the page suggests you meet online or at the conference. To me, not so creepy, I think its a really cool idea like a facebook just for your conference!

You can also manage the schedule, event marketin, profile of speakers and a chatroom for attendees to talk before the conference. Of course, the service may also be used on cell phones. This is similar to SpotMe where you can check out the schedule, search the event, look up attendees names and photos however it only works with an iphone apparently. But if you dont have one you can print this info before the meeting, not very green.

Overall, I think the service is a great idea and something that planners are more than likely to invest in. First of all I would like to have an idea of exaclty how expensive the service is and how many attendees it can manage at a time. Also, if it only works with the iphone that is a serious problem at least for some groups. In knowing your group this service may not be the best if they are traditional business with blackberry's or not very technology forward at all. The industry is seriously in need for such a tool and I look forward to watching it launch.