Now you’ve got THAT tune stuck in your head (oops sorry) and images of the youthfully exuberant Julie Andrews bursting over the crest of some Alp, breaking into The Hills Are Alive imprinted on your retinas (sorry again), don’t zone out! There is a point to this opening ramble.

We all know (and mostly believe) the mobile-enabled will inherit the earth, particularly those equipped with the almighty smartphone or tablet right? That, like it or not, app culture is upon us and life will never be the same again? We also all know the stats. They’re mind-boggling! By the way, where did we go wrong that more people on this planet allegedly have access to a mobile phone than running water or a toothbrush?

The Showmanator has previously commented on the published research about smartphone addiction (Have an ‘Appy Day, March 2012) underlining the impact on our lives of these extraordinary devices. But who needs stats and expensive published research to issue what is really a statement of the ‘bleeding obvious’? Smartphones ARE changing our lives. Just imagine what your life would be like now without yours? Try sending a txt using a feature phone! It’s REALLY hard to do!

All this fanfare is simply leading up to is the point that smart people should be factoring the smartphone/tablet effect into their plans. This is particularly true of event organisers for whom the potential gains are so high. The moment is coming — and it’s not far away — when an event without an app will be a couple of kiwi fruit short of a lunchbox … like Posh without Becs … like prawn cocktail without the prawns … Etc. Etc.

SmartShow and other purveyors of assorted ‘appery’ are skilled at painting enticing pictures of happy punters connecting, collecting, scanning, tweeting and generally having a fab, high return on investment, paperless time at events while their paymasters back at HQ revel in all those extra leads and improved bottom line. All perfectly feasible BUT … and there is a significant but … this halcyon picture will not just paint itself! App suppliers provide the tools and varying degrees of support in how to deploy them successfully. But this alone will not guarantee the good times roll. App culture needs to be embedded in every facet of organizational and event thinking if everyone involved is to get the downstream benefits that should be delivered every single time an event app is deployed.

This will take some genuine shifts in thinking and behavior. The above picture really is a possibility. The numbers of smart devices in play are increasing by the minute and the tipping point where they become ubiquitous, at least in the major economies, is galloping towards at the speed of a bolting race-horse. A few bold event producers are getting behind the paperless event and no longer printing programmes and floor plans — mobile web enables even people without smartphones to access them. But too many are still sitting on the fence and offering both options (paper and digital). Taking the leap of faith to paper-free means everyone wins because it will drive uptake of the app and give event participants an incentive to experiment with and benefit from all the powerful functionality on offer via their phones.

If used effectively, event apps offer significant cost reductions for producers, exhibitors and sponsors without compromising the value of their offer. Delegates and visitors get out from under the oppression of the guilt-infused increasingly weighty ‘goodie bag’ which not everyone wants and which, if The Showmanator is anything to go by, gets dumped as soon as is decently possible. Now that airlines are charging so much for excess baggage (or not allowing it at all), forcing wads of paper on people is not necessarily a startling way to go.

The environment is the other clear winner!

But really getting into the zone takes guts! A lot of stakeholders will resist; the vested interests in maintaining the status quo are strong. As we all know, convincing people that they still get as much if not more if they open their minds to change is not always easy or popular. This is particularly true if they’ve already had a bad experience with an event app and consigned the entire genus to outer darkness.

Making sure everyone clearly understands what’s in it for them requires education, patience and an app strategy that includes an app champion who gets the medium and is responsible for the deployment and accountable for its success. The strategy also needs to put the app at the centre of the planning for the event and make it an integral part of its choreography, rather than an under-resourced afterthought.

Currently in the Middle East, CEO of SmartShow Ltd, Marie-Claire Andrews commented ‘We identified that event organisers in the region, recovering from the economic downturn, have been looking for technology that could deliver more value for participants and better align events with how today’s attendees operate’.

‘Harnessing web and smart phone technology to make it happen is an obvious solution; a simple way of putting events in the palm of the hand to drive efficiencies and achieve more connected experiences for participants. We are thrilled to have a representative in Bahrain – the calibre of events here is outstanding – and I’m sure ShowGizmo will create some additional magic”

read more…

And another article here from twentfoursevennews.com

SmartShow Ltd, the creators of ShowGizmo (the mobile app platform for events, tradeshows and conferences), has appointed Bahrain based Megan MacLeod as Middle East Representative, alongside John Quinn from the UAE, to represent the company throughout the region.

“We identified that event organisers in the region, recovering from the economic downturn, have been looking for technology that could deliver more value for participants and better align events with how today’s attendees operate,” CEO of SmartShow Ltd, Marie-Claire Andrews, said.

read more…

Press Release also featured here: AMEinfo.com

The Showmanator can imagine some readers nodding knowledgeably and feeling smug because they’ve already been there, done that, flown over it, worn the t-shirt etc.

But there are likely to be an equal number of people scratching their heads in bewilderment, wishing the 21^st century was happening to someone else!

OK, so you’ve just got up to speed with hashtags and you’re tweeting your heart out during your events.  You might have introduced a Twitter wall.  Many of you will be cosying up to the members of your event LinkedIn Groups in the other spirit of our age, community building.  You might even have employed a community manager.  You’re also likely to have at least contemplated using an event app or gone the whole hog and used one at one or many of your events.  And these are only the tip of the iceberg … so many more comms tools coming to an event near you soon.

All good (as we say Downunder).

But, it’s not enough to do all the of the above social media integration and mobilisation.  You need someone to co-ordinate it all. Enter your SMC stage left!

The Showmanator is sorry but if you don’t yet have a social media concierge (SMC) in play, you’re  … er … em … well … a little behind the eight ball.  A bit last year so to speak…

OK, all joking aside, the SMC is the  ‘must-have’ accessory for event producers.  SMCs are the indispensable people in the halcyon hemisphere of hybrid events who act as the glue that holding the virtual and physical audiences together, using social media as the channel and function as the mouthpiece for the virtual attendees, asking questions and sharing knowledge and providing a conduit for the organisers to get real time feedback about the event.

Strikes the Showmanator that this role should be extended to all events, not just hybrid ones or, at least, those that aspire to use communications technologies like event apps and social media channels to really build buzz and engagement at their events.

As things stand, Twitter and LinkedIn Groups provide useful commentary and dialogue between participants and informal feedback to producers about audience responses to every aspect of their event.  But surely there is a way to use it more proactively?  To do more than simply share what people are saying on a Twitter Wall or moderate discussions by weighing into the debate with their own perspective?

A effective SMC should function like an good MC at an awards ceremony, measuring the pulse of the event and including the buzz in his or her sets between awards, so guests feel included and challenged rather than remaining passive spectators.

Producers are progressively including new tools and technologies into their event production.  All too few do this based on an overarching strategy.  Establishing the role of SMC at events aggregates all the strands and enhances the experience for everyone meaning people will come back to your contemporary and relevant event next year because they loved the experience.  It also opens the door to extending your event’s reach to much wider audiences without necessarily staging a full hybrid.

In other words, your efforts, if done well, will be rewarded by happy campers and big bank balances!