Have you seen much new meetings technology lately? If you haven't, there's a reason for it: Many of the most exciting technological developments in the industry are based on wireless communication protocols that transmit data invisibly.
Although by now most of us have used a wireless Internet connection at home, in the office, or on the road, wireless communication is more diverse than you may think. In fact, as the technology has matured over the past several years, it's become clear that no single method of wireless communication can fit the needs of this rapidly expanding market. Instead, a variety of communication protocols have emerged that transmit data through the air from one device to another. Some of these new standards utilize radio waves, some use infrared light, and still others employ satellites, but all have utilities for meetings.
With that in mind, Successful Meetings queried tech experts to find the latest and greatest in wireless communication, discovering that the technology is being used in some exciting new ways.
RFID Tagging
"I think the most exciting things happening for meetings in the invisible technology arena is in RFID," says meetings technology expert Jeff Rasco, president of Attendee Management Inc., in Wimberley, TX. RFID is short for radio frequency identification, and RFID "tags," or the radio frequency chips and antennas, are small enough to be part of a name badge, but can hold 2,000 characters of information, including attendee names and contact information. "This can be helpful on the lead retrieval side. If attendees are skittish about storing personal information on the tags, the organizer may just want to program in a unique attendee code to protect privacy. That number ultimately links to the main database of registration information," he notes. "On the attendee tracking side, a real pain for many planners in the medical, legal, and other professions that require continuing education, are the readers at the doors that time-stamp everyone who enters and leaves educational sessions. We used to have to hire monitors to stand there and log people in, or trust the attendees to sign in or swipe a card." Now, RFID tags can do the same thing, but with less cost and hassle.
Portable Wi-Fi Devices
From mobile phones, to laptops, to personal data assistants and handheld computers, Wi-Fi is the word. The catchphrase is short for wireless fidelity, and it refers to radio-wave-based communication between a variety of electronic devices and the Internet. "Wi-Fi has made great strides," says Rasco. But "I'm still waiting for a cheap, clean application in the meeting room where attendees can interact with the presenter and each other, for messaging, audience response, surveys, et cetera. [Austin, TX-based meetings technology provider] AllianceTech has a great system for this, but it can't be classified as cheap quite yet. The cool thing about it is that since it's Web-based, any device that can access the Internet—including cell phones, handheld computers, and laptops—can participate. Eventually, when all meeting rooms are Wi-Fi enabled, it will become much more cost-effective to do this sort of thing."
GPS Mapping
In cars, global positioning system (GPS) navigation devices have gained popularity in recent years due to their ability to track missing vehicles and provide road directions almost anywhere in the world, but the technology also has applications for meetings, says Bellevue, WA-based meetings technology consultant Corbin Ball. GPS-enabled phones offered by providers, including Nextel, track users' locations anywhere on the planet and can give directions to chosen destinations. "The applications for the meetings industry and for business travelers are obvious," says Ball, adding that meeting planners can use GPS phones to give attendees direction to events and to track their whereabouts.