To mangle some dynamic words from Thomas Paine, these are times that try meeting planners' souls. Meetings are being mercilessly cut back as budget axes fall. Indeed, at hard-pressed technology firms like Cisco or Nortel, only meetings considered direct revenue-generators, such as sales or customer-oriented conferences, are allowed to take place. Trade shows and conferences are suffering too; the recent @d:tech Los Angeles show had just 233 paid delegates.
When times are tough, we tend to simply hunker down and endure. But instead of retreating, this is a great time for planners to become in-house experts on what's next in meetings technology. It just might allow you to save some of your events today—and make you more valuable to your organization in the future, when management must decide on the best and most cost-efficent ways to communicate different messages to employees and customers.
What's Up-and-Coming
Here are some technologies currently impacting meetings and other aspects of business:
Wireless communications: A catch-all term that includes voice communications such as cellular and PCS, data communications such as Internet messaging and wireless e-mail, plus so-called "local wireless" that may replace physical wire or network connections. Examples of "local wireless" include Bluetooth and 802.11b (commonly called Wi-Fi) technologies. Wireless technologies can keep a meeting planner connected to vendors and attendees on a 24/7 basis, and may simplify setup and communications at meeting sites.
Broadband communications: A technology promoting high-speed transmission of signals, such as DSL, cable, T1, and T3 wiring. Broadband is basically a bigger "pipe" through which signals are transmitted, making it easier to conduct meetings or conversations virtually, or to "stream" or "beam" conferences or meetings to many locations around the world, thus enhancing event ROI.
Videoconferencing and collaboration: With higher-bandwidth phone lines increasingly available, as well as better desktop and lower-cost videoconferencing facilities, real-time conferencing is finally taking off, supplementing and often replacing face-to-face meetings. Have we heard this about videoconferencing before? Sure, but the trend to have high-speed Internet access everywhere means the bandwidth needed for more lifelike videoconferencing is quickly arriving.
3-D and panoramic imaging: While 3-D images of hotels and convention centers are available right now for help in site selection, the next step—which you'll see in films like Final Fantasy this summer—is 3-D human modeling and animation. Three-dimensional talking heads are coming soon to a virtual meeting near you.
Webconferencing: Providers set up temporary Web sites where meeting attendees can view presentations, share documents, and otherwise collaborate online. Because this requires less bandwidth and fewer plug-ins than Webcasting (streaming audio and video over the Internet), this medium is catching on fast.