Staying current in the ever changing world of technology is a formidable task. Just when you think you are ahead of the curve, something new comes out. That's why a conference like techsytalk is so important.
"Techsytalk meetings are extremely dynamic -- it's like a TED Talk on steroids," says Chris Kelly, president and co-founder of Convene, which owns and operates a fast-growing network of executive meeting centers, including the Manhattan location where this year's event was held. "They show what the future looks like instead of just talking about it."
Kelly adds that event organizers are orchestrators of intellectual capital, giving them greater leadership roles. "Meeting planners are migrating from a tactical role to a more strategic role within their companies...they are helping their companies compete against a lot of very formidable competition that is out there in the world," explains Kelly.
Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a riveting speaker at this year's techsytalk, understands the importance of attracting attendees in the attention-starved world we live in. The way Sreenivasan sees it, the Met's rivals are not other museums: they are Netflix, Candy Crush, and a million other diversions that make up life in 2015.
Sreenivasan has helped the Met build up an impressive number of social media followers -- one million on Twitter, another million on Facebook, 700,000 on Instagram -- through compelling stories that draw followers in. But attracting passive followers isn't as important as finding out which of your followers are also influencers. To find these influencers, Sreenivasan has had success with a tool called Twiangulate, which tells him who the people he listens to are listening to. This helps Sreenivasan identify the Met's 100 most influential followers. Sreenivasan also says to scope out competing conferences to see who their followers are--and try to make them your followers too.
Techystalk's founder, the social media-connected event planner and award-winning blogger Liz King, says that meeting planners who fail to keep up with social media and tech trends do so at their own peril.
"So many meeting planners are looking for the silver bullet, but the reality is technology is changing so fast none of us know what that is," says King. "To find out what works, you must expose yourself to as much technology as possible. If you don't prioritize learning technology and innovating you will fall behind."
Jill Drury of Drury Design, a full-service communications agency, put it even more bluntly in a presentation titled "Techxtinction: Surviving the Next Evolution of Planner."
"It's as cut and dry as innovate or die," says Drury.