Intel Development Forum

Intel has a very great way in which people can stay attached to their general conferences and forums. Through their Intel Development Forum, you can access different keynote webcasts, audio enabled presentations, and other ways of continuously being connected to the conference attendees of Intel events. Anyone is also able to access podcasts on everything they introduce from Intel. Being a company with new technical devices every year. The fact that you are able to access all this information is very helpful. Access into each keynote helps the customer feels special. You are able to see live discussions between the people of Intel. Besides all this, you can also view any podcasts on learning how to use different kinds of product. I think Intel's website is very helpful with constant feedback, news, and press information.

MEETINGPOD = GREENER EVENTS

The amount of paper we waste and the amount of energy we waste as we print is very large when it comes to planning events. A new tool for making events greener is the MeetingPod. This tool is very useful for board meetings or small breakout sessions. Each MeetingPod contains an amount of information that is to be given out during a meeting. Also, at the end of the meeting, everything you have discussed and received can be emailed straight to you from the MeetingPod.

I think this is a great way for people to focus during meetings also. There is better concentration as the right information is set in front of you on a screen. As much as it does save paper, the actual layout of the MeetingPod seems very awkward to me. It will just be a bulky device in front of each person during a meeting. It look as tho you would be taking a stardarized test during a meeting. Although it will save from creating waste and harm to our environment, everyone will be busy looking down at their screens instead of the speaker. It would be the same as keeping a laptop in front of you while in a meeting.

I feel that there will be an ongoing issue on what exactly is the right way to present information to meeting attendees. Paper waste is horrible but it cannot be avoided at conferences and meetings. There are still large generational gaps. Some people want physical papers, and some people just don't mind going electronically. The MeetingPod does seem to look like a solution, however, there are still different ways in which people conduct meetings.

"Stealth Innovation"

Soon after Google Chrome, Yahoo is also trying hard to revamp their website. According to a New York Times article, this new website will be able to be customized like Google's homepage. However, this is a very scary move. Recently, Yahoo had announced that they may have to let 3,500 people off in order to cut costs within the company. Because of this, Yahoo must be very careful in the way they decide to edit their website.

With one single unsatisfactory application, the company can loose millions of dollars. That is why you don't see much change when you visit Yahoo on a daily basis. The article calls Yahoo's strategy as "stealth innovation." They are slowly changing aspects to their website while have active feedback from the audience in order to keep themselves from loosing millions. They use a fraction of their users to test the new yahoo pages.

"Users will be able to customize the new home page, which eventually will include more content from other popular Web sites; applications allowing people to track their activities on places like eBay, Netflix or Facebook; and social networking features." In order to do all this, Yahoo must make sure that it is possible and comfortable for the users. Their method of slowly testing the website to a control group is such a good idea in saving them from loosing millions.

Traceability

Going through BizBash's website, I stumbled across ImageID.

When creating a photo album, is it not hard to remember every face that was at a party? Even on Facebook, it's so hard to remember all those faces when it comes to "tagging" them. Especially when you want to label pictures from high profile events, you want to make sure each and every person IS the right person. There are so many times where party planners cannot provide the correct pictures because they do not know all the people in a certain picture.

ImageID works to prevent all of this through their technology, Visidot. When people come to events and register or sign in, they can be given a sticker to add to their badge or ID. Then with the sticker on, a picture is taken and the image is filed away into Visidot's memory. The sticker given to each attendee has a specific bar code. Whenever a picture is taken of the the attendee, Visidot is able to retrieve the person's name through the redundant structure of the person and the sticker that may show in the picture. Visidot is so good at picking up the barcodes that it would be okay it the barcode was only half visible or distorted.

Visidot would be so useful for conferences. Especially when it comes to filing pictures, you will never have the problem of labeling the wrong person and loosing professional credability. Clients expect planners to know exactly when and where your guests are at a party or conference. Visidot makes it very easy for planners to easily spot their guests.

SpotMe

Last week, I wrote about a type of electronic business card. We discussed how sometimes, it would hard without a physical business card to remember a the person's face that went along with each business card because we do not have a way to write anything down.

As I was searching for more technology in conferences, I came across SpotMe. Although it was created in 2001, currently it is in their third generation which means that it is newer and more technologically advanced. It is a device that has almost everything a attendee needs. No one will ever need to carry a briefcase.

As an attendee enters a conference, they pick up their SpotMe and take a picture of themselves to go into its database. At the start of the conference, an attendee with a SpotMe has more that 1500 names within its database. They can then choose a top 15 that they may want to meet during the conference. The spot me is able to show you where these top 15 might be in the conference. It can also tell you if they are near you.

When exchanging information with the people you meet, SpotMe allows you to trade information just like the MingleStick. However, something extra the SpotMe has is the ability attach the person's picture along with the information. This allows one to see and remember the faces along with their information.

SpotMe also acts like a notebook. You can keep notes in the device along with interacting during conferences. It has a great audience feedback feature that gets rid of the used of feedback cards during sessions. It also contains the conference agenda and floor map.

Mingle360

Through BizBash Washington's website, I came across a some very useful information. At the 2008 Affordable Meetings National Conference and Expo, there were many cool gadgets that were introduced to its attendees. Among them was, Mingle360. I think this is the perfect tool for networking.

Mingle360 is an object similar to a simple USB device that can hang from your key chain. As on end is a USB, the other is like a remote control. You simply point the MingleStick to another person's MingleStick and press a button. When the button is pressed, a wireless connection is made ad a green light of confirmation is made. The green light means that your information (name, company, e-mail, address) has been exchanged with another person at a networking event.

After, you can simply put the MingleStick into your computer to see all the contacts you have exchanged with others. You can also log the Mingle360 website to manage you account. You can also use it to message others that you have met through MingleManager. It also cares about your privacy. Only your "best friends" are able to see all of your information. Others are only able to see your name a the state you live in.

I think that this device is just so convenient to any type of networking event. You never have to worry about not having enough business cards. If you ever have to edit your information, you don't have to print millions of new business cards. You can simply plug the MingleStick into your computer and edit the information.

Web Conferences

In movies, I see online web conferences between two or three people talking about a situation within their company. Using a webcam make is so easy for me to contact and see my friends that may be in different countries. However, I do not see a web conference where hundreds of people are participating in.

Web conferences still seem a little wierd to me. I can see how a an online meeting withing a company could work, but I still cannot grasp the concept of the online conference. I feel as though conferences are so much more active. You visit exhibits, workshops, and networking nooks. It seems as though web conferences are becoming popular. I even cam across a website that promotes free web conferences, www.yugma.com. I really wonder how one goes about setting up such a conference in regards to fees and attendence. I would love to actually "attend" such a conference.

Digital menus and television while eating at a drive thru ..

Through Hospitality Technology Magazine's website, I came across an article about a system for a new 50's style drive up restaurant in Chattanooga, TN. Scala is the name of the system and it seems to be entertaining. A 32 inch LCD screen turns on by sensory when a car drive up to it. A menu first pops up and you can make your order. Once you've done so, you can choose to park and eat or leave. If you decide to stay, a new entertainment menu appears where you can choose to watch TV and enjoy music while eating.

It sounds like a great way to pick up a quick bite. But, I'm not so sure about whether or not people will stick around eating uncomfortably in their cars while watching TV. Also, would it not cause major congestion in the parking lot? The idea of a touch screen for a drive through sounds exciting. Instead of listening to an a server you can go through a quick menu where you can choose at your own pace. Just like ordering from amazon.

Article:
http://www.htmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=3E19674330734FF1BBDA3D67B50C82F1&tier=4&id=B52D7D74B33A4A239A99A93BE8FC5F89

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is like an Internet Explorer and Firefox. However, it's role is more like a desktop. Which means, a computer can be without Microsoft. It is based from actual applications we use on a day-to-day basis like youtube.com and many other web-based game sites.
It also creates a sense of safety because it will provide the knowledge of whether or not a website might be a bad on or good one. It also has a great search bar with many selections related to your search and previous search you might have made or site you might have visited.

Marketing Myself

time is drawing closer to finding internship for the summer. i'm working on trimming my resume and cover letter and it's just hard. writing about yourself and you characteristics in a cover letter is just so difficult. you're not sure if some words will be too powerful and make you sound like you just have a big head. i have to use action verbs and can't repeat certain ones or else i won't sound creative...

making a marketing campaign for our class project is similar to this. it was really difficult in creating the perfect vision statement because you are describing your personal event that will hopefully impact the others that are seeking to be influenced by it. it's just like writing the correct objective in a resume.

i've never seen so many pointless commercials while watching t.v.

the actual commercial never stays in my mind .. just the fact that it just was horrible does .. i wonder if these companies' marketing teams are doing their jobs. their jobs are to represent their brand without hurting its own image. i'm sure that their marketing teams are very large. the only one that still stays in my mind is the geico commericals. they consistently stick to a central them. and you clearly what is representing what.

Denise

on friday i bought the new issue of teenvogue. it's really become such a picture magazine. but i never looked at any of the advertisements. of course a paid a bit more attention to the ones with celebrities in them. kirsten dunst for louis vuitton and even mischa barton for keds. on monday we talked about how advertisements were dying out throughout the media because it wastes our time. even within magazines .. when i came by advertisements that didn't include celebrities or someone important .. i just scanned them and went on not even knowing what company it was for.. larger brand like louis vuitton get that no one wants to see pointless ads with uninteresting people.. seeing that they're using celebrities i see that they're taking the same action as the TV show 30 Rock.. while it looks like a normal photoshoot for the celebrities .. you're paying attention to what they're holding .. thats what the media has come too ..