The Meeting Planners podcast source for what’s new and exciting in meetings and events industry!
Show 21
Introductions-
Mike McAllen of Grass Shack Events & Media
Tom Hillmer of Creative Group
Jon Trask of Alliant Event Services
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1:30 Tom Hillmer reports from his trip to the ITME conference in Chicago. Smaller turnout but suppliers had a chance to conduct business and network.
5:27 Breakfast with Ritz Carlton at ITME- The New Gold Standard author Joseph Michelli who wrote a book about the service quality about Ritz Carlton gave a keynote. If you haven’t read this book Tom really recommends it. (See the link on the Meetings Podcast website sidebar to buy a copy)
7:18 WEC for MPI and InfoCom for AV guys. Jon talks a little about the AV industry conference InfoCom.
8:20 Chip Conely PEAK and his hotel philosophy. (See the link on the Meetings Podcast website sidebar to buy a copy)
8:49 Marcus Buckingham speaker and book made a big impression on Jon.
9:51 Tom is no longer 21 years old, ITME makes him realize this. A week of networking and events takes it toll.
10:47 Tom dined with the CEO/President Simon Cooper of Ritz Carlton Table 52 opened by Oprah Winfreys personal Chef.
12:04 Dolce Hotels and Resorts does a new rebranding strategy.
13:28 Alternative vehicles- Hybrid cars getting popular for rentals.
San Francisco electric time car service. http://www.etcars.com/
Maui- Bio-beetle uses biodiesel cars.
Midway car rental lots of hybrids of all sizes and smart cars.
Planet Trans in San Francisco and Boston.
Make sure to let your executives know that you are using a Hybrid so they aren’t disappointed that they don’t have a limo waiting. (if you anticipate that executive might have a problem with the hybrid) Make it fun! Smart Cars
19:58 SpotMe.com is now in the USA. Headquarters in Chicago. Can be used for groups up to 5000 people.
20:45 A-Z Tradeshow software- integrated a blogging software for events and meetings.
21:15 HSNI survey about technology- Planners us online registration extensively other technology like sociol networks, blogging are slowly getting more popular..
22:25 Creative Group has a internal tool called creative edge. It is a full blown online registration that can be customize it. Capture data to figure out patterns and ROI.
25:04 Fast Company- SecondLife article this month. Companies diving into the Virtual Worlds and social media.
29:40 Virtual tradeshows, meetings and classes getting popular.
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Transcripts:
Female: You are listening to the Meetings Podcast with Mike McAllen, Jon Trask and Tom Hillmer. The Meeting Planner podcast source for what’s new and exciting in the meetings and events industry. The information and opinions expressed in this podcast are of Mr. McAllen, Mr. Trask and Mr. Hillmer and are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of their past, present or future employers.
Please send in your question and comments to MeetingsPodcast@gmail.com and make sure to visit our website for pictures, video and show notes at www.MeetingsPodcast.com
Mike McAllen: All right, well welcome back to the Meetings Podcast, as usual we have Tom Hillmer on the line from his boat.
Tom Hillmer: Yes, right.
Mike McAllen: He is the Senior Vice-President, Account Executive with Creative Group and we also have – hi Tom and we also have …
Tom Hillmer: Hi.
Mike McAllen: We have Jon Trask, newly with Alliant Event Services. He is – what is your title there, I’m sorry.
Jon Trask: I’m the Account Executive here.
Mike McAllen: Account Executive, that’s right, okay I wanted to get it right, so and also we wanted to thank are wonderful sponsor Blue Sky Factory is our email provider of choice. Events from the Hilton family and Brand Creative and so I think that is our introduction and let’s get in into the stuff, Tom you’ve been ask to offer your – at the ITME conference?
Tom Hillmer: Yes, the ITME, tradeshow is this week, so it was kind of a fun, spend a couple of day there Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and that’s just show that, you know, the show official is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (chronic 00:1:42) play here in the Chicago, down from Chicago but you know, that show just seem to be growing every year in terms of, you know, events with supplier start as early as now Saturday and Sunday on the weekend before, you know, so if you’re, you know, invited to some of those different events and dinners and what not, you know, you could start partying three or four days in advance for the convention even starts but it’s a great show, that was, you know, it’s an annual show takes place every year in September and it’s the beginning the street tradeshow for anybody and everybody in the travel industry and specifically really for people in the meetings industry as what it really been, it’s kind of been meetings industry is really what it caters to more than anything, so it was great.
Jon Trask: So, was there big buzz there or are hearing anything new and exciting out of people?
Tom Hillmer: Yes, you know, Jon I’ll tell you it was interesting, I mean that’s – it’s a huge show every year and it’s always really well attended and but I – there was a distinct sort of aura over the show this year as it relates this economy related most specifically very obvious it was not nearly as heavily attended this year by participants is it might normally be, so you know, a lot of comments about how people travel budgets for cut back and you know, or just not traveling unless absolutely necessary for something as privilege as the tradeshow like that, may or not have been a priority for a lot of people.
So, I definitely saw a different, you know definitely saw a in the traffic this year. Now, if you’re a true legitimate corporate group meetings, incentive type travel buyer of any kind and you were there, you really enjoyed it because you have the opportunity to see, I mean all the vendors were there, although there were some people like common – they have show seems smaller this year but I mean anybody and everybody I needed to see was certainly all there and it was great because you’ve walk to the booths and selfishly from our prospective, you know, the suppliers were in fact three and four people beep, you know, trying to talk to customers and, you know, you aren’t waiting forever trying to get a hold of this people, so that made a lot more conducive to be able conduct business and see people and you know, kind reacquaint, you know, friendship and what not throughout the industry and I’m get a lot done more so then it could a normal day.
Mike McAllen: Very cool and you said there’s some cool, maybe some cool events that went on that always go …
Tom Hillmer: Yes, well you know the show is out there and during the day this main components, there’s of course just the opportunity to meet people learn about products, I mean learn about, you know, properties and destinations and new build, new hotels, you know, hear what’s going on, I mean you know, all the hotel brands have corporate booths and then all of the destinations US and around the world have their own booth, so you know, you could go to the Palm Spring booth and meet representative, smell the hotel in Palm Spring and then you could go to the Corporate Marriott booth and meet people from the Marriott and Palm Spring and as well as Marriott it’s around the world, so you know, they kind the catch you.
You know, in both areas but, so you got the business perspective of it being able to kind the, you know, conduct business, meet people that you’ve spoken to on e-mail or telephone, and now they put names and faces too. Finalize business if you’re in contact negotiations or simple learn about destinations and new properties or any properties if you’re, you know, interested and haven’t had the chance to see them in person, so that’s sort of the day time business educational opportunity there and then the night time entertainment sort of, you know, kind of enjoyment opportunity of the party that a lot of the suppliers host and most of them are invitation only, so you know, if you’re kind of on those list and you get those invitations, you have the opportunity to enjoy those but that’s kind of fun element of it as well. So, every evening there’s dinners, there’s you know, there’s reception start with there’s a big party of the House of Blues, Marriott with their big party this year, you know, all the major brands do the big, big events.
I’ll tell one of the neatness event I went to was a, it was invitation only, it was about a 125, 150 people maybe at the most but on Wednesday morning, I went to an invitation only breakfast with Ritz-Carlton and there’s a book that recently came out if anybody who read it or seen it but it’s, I think it’s entitled something like The New Gold Standard and it was a gentleman at Ritz-Carlton gave, this gentleman names, Michelli, Dr. Michelli. He’s an author and psychologist and he was given complete access for month to the internal working of the Ritz-Carlton Organization and wrote a book about the service philosophy on which Ritz-Carlton is base and the success of their organization and – then wrote his amazing book about it and if you haven’t read, I highly recommended to anybody who’s looking it, trying to bring a different level of service to their organization. It’s an awesome book.
And I went Wednesday morning and I got to see Dr. Michello. He actually was the keynote speaker at the breakfast that morning and just incredibly powerful, very, very well spoken, great delivery of the message and talking about Ritz-Carlton and how Ritz-Carlton is sort of you know, really click, kind the got their arms around this whole kind of the mystic as Ritz-Carlton called in them of service and walling the customer and yet it’s no secret, I mean the funny part of it is there no secrets to the mystic. It’s been published, anybody can get their hands on a credo card, anybody can hear all they want about how Ritz-Carlton does it but Ritz-Carlton is one of the few organizations that truly does it, so with me to hear this man sort of you know, outside prospective. He went into the whole thing, wanting to find something wrong with it and wanting to figure out how it’s broken and came out of it going, there’s nothing wrong with it and it’s not broken and it’s an amazing corporate philosophy on which the – base their, you know, their success and their service to their customer, so that was kind the cool.
Mike McAllen: That’s very cool.
Jon Trask: So, very interesting, yes.
Tom Hillmer: It was, it was really interesting.
Jon Trask: It remind a little of couple of others shows what’s the – the WEC has found that way when everything is right on at the WEC for MPI, I’ve just had an amazing time and they have some of the other outside events and parties and things going on and yes that’s where a lot of the actual networking goes on and where you really get to know people, you know, what their ties of that kind of thing.
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: And InfoCom is much the same way in the AV side of things that may not be a show that a lot of meeting planners are familiar with but InfoCom is a huge gathering of the audio visual guys every summer and once again the same kind of thing, a lot of real nuts in both stuff. Everybody who’s – anybody has a display their and you get to look at all the new equipment and all the new technologies and how they’re rolling out and they have a series of parties and they’ll be showing off those technologies at the party and things, you know, lighting and new video technologies and so InfoCom is kind of that same way, it’s like the week when the whole industry kind the comes together and connects with each other.
Tom Hillmer: It’s cool.
Mike McAllen: Yes, it’s very cool, very, very cool. I saw Chip Conely speak a little while ago, the guy who does Joie de Vivre, Joie de Vivre am I saying that correctly? In all those hotels, I think there center around the Bay Area I think here but he had a very cool physiology too with his whole talking it about a book about how he run his hotel which kind of interesting too, we got all the lines of books about hotels, that’s really kind of a cool read, how his open up his hotel here at San Francisco area anyway …
Jon Trask: Well, if you going to read anything by Marcus Buckingham, I heard him speak at one of the MPI conference ones and it was, I came only so impress, I mean you hear a ton of speakers at various events that you’re doing and not all of them make a real huge impression on you but I really walked away from his talk with a lot – went and bought a couple of his book and read them and this is more of personal – a personal self improvement kind of thing, finding your strength and maxing those in the work place and I’ve really, I’ve really enjoyed reading his work, I think his put in a lot of research, has a lot of interesting ideas and his studied some corporations and groups that have been really successful and sort to talks about how they’ve done it and why they did it and with philosophies behind some of the CEO’s and things like that.
Mike McAllen: Very cool, very, very cool. Well, it sounds like a good time Tom?
Tom Hillmer: Yes, it was, you know, it’s a long week, I mean, you know, it’s may annual reminder that I’m not 25 years old anymore because I can’t pace myself like I use too but now on Thursday and it was, you know, it’s long days and it’s good days, it’s long days, you know, you’re talking to people all day long and then you’re out, you know, try to see people socially all evening long. Las Vegas to Las Vegas visitors and convention authority did – they did their big annual party as they always do on the Wednesday evening and this year they took a back to a great night club in Chicago call the Crowbar which they’ve had there for like 3 years in a row and it was huge blow out party and then they change the venue last year and I think they didn’t have as greatest success with it as I thought, so you know, as they wanted, so they took it back, you know, don’t screw up at works kind the deal. So, Wednesday night was the big party and having a lot of fun, so that was always good and then same with MGM Resort, they do a beautiful event, pre the Vegas party, so on Wednesday is kind of a big Las Vegas night.
It’s an amazing week, I also and that’s – I’ll go back to the Ritz-Carlton thing but I also had incredible privilege on Tues evening to dine in a very intimate environment with the CEO and the top executive over Ritz-Carlton where our company is a – he account to Ritz-Carlton and so we were fortunate to be chosen to be included in a dinner with Simon Cooper who’s the CEO, President CEO of Ritz-Carlton and his top executives and really beautiful restaurant down from Chicago called, Table 52 which is owned by the gentlemen that you see Oprah Winfreys personal Chef and it’s a tiny little, like a raw house cottage kind of a thing that they converted – to a dinning experience, it was outstanding and food is outstanding and you know, it was a really [00:11:24]. It was a great week, it was a great sort of very long but it was really great week, so highly recommend that show to people in the future if they’re looking for an opportunity to meet people, network, learn about, you know, destinations, hotels, hotels brands, what’s going on within a brand, builds, renovations that kind of thing, it’s a great one stop shop to go and meet all those people in one place.
Mike McAllen: Fantastic.
Jon Trask: Cool, we’ll have to, love to join you in Chicago next year and check this out.
Tom Hillmer: Come on out.
Mike McAllen: Sounds great.
Tom Hillmer: Maybe want to could broadcast the show from there and that would be fund.
Mike McAllen: Yes that would be fun, so Jon did you have something …
Jon Trask: I had a couple of things that I’d come across and yes, I’m sort of popery guy again, I just keep finding a little tidbit here and a little in there and want to bring them to the table here. Meeting news had a couple of things that jump out, I mean one was Dulce which is been conference center Management Company, just re-branded them self. They owned some properties and they’ve now change to Dulce Hotels and Resorts and I’ve meet some people from there before through the years and they’ve got some nice properties and some nice people that work there and I’m just, I’m happy to see the re-branding, they did a $100 million in capital improvement to some of their exciting properties and it just sounds like they’re on a real nice place specially considering as we’ve talked about some of the financial uncertainties. It’s nice to see people who were sort of acting in a positive way moving forward on thing and not pulling back and sort of being cautious I guess would be one word but just you know, you like to see the capital investments in our business and you like to see that the hotels are improving and doing those sort of things as well because it’s speaks to kind of long term strategy.
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: And anther thing added the same issue was on alternative vehicles on particularly out here in the West, they mention a couple of different sources for those if a planner is looking for like Hybrid limousines and things like that, again it kind the going back to green sort of like we have to mentioned and every time now on a show but, you know, there are a lot of people not paying attention to this stuff now and so you know maybe picking your attendees up in hybrids or finding rentals that are electric car and things like that makes little bit of a statement of the direction you’re trying to go and what you’re trying to do with the meeting. They mentioned in San Francisco, they have two and four seats GEM which are Global Electric motor vehicles from a company called the Electric Time Car Rentals service and they come with GBS tracking in a audio of tour.
Over in Maui There’s a company called Bio-Beetle, they rent vehicles that run on a 100% biodiesel which is basically solid oil, at one point it says, “They had an operation at LAX but they’re currently not working in that area, so it looks like that’s just the Hawaii thing right now. Midway Car Rental has a whole bunch about 25% of their car fleet and limo fleeter are hybrid now because they’ve been getting so many request for – that ranges into the Lexus 600 and 400 and Prius and the Chevy Tahoe and they also have smart cars because they get about 50 miles to the galloon and because they’re such a huge waiting list for folks to buy a smart car right now, they’ve both this fleet – they rent them out to people who just – people want to experience and sort of test drive.
Mike McAllen: That’s interesting.
Tom Hillmer: That’s cool.
Mike McAllen: What’s the company – I’m sorry Jon there’s a company you guy use, I think we’ve talked about them before Tom, what’s the company you guys or was it out in Boston, what was that, there’s a company out there.
Tom Hillmer: Yes, we’ve used them, it’s called the Planet Trans and there are in Boston and they are in …
Mike McAllen: They are here …
Tom Hillmer: Yes.
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Tom Hillmer: I don’t know if they started – they started in one of those city, I’m so aware they are in Boston and San Francisco, I know and I think they’re the kind of growing company, we’ve used them before. They primarily use, you know, it’s all hybrid vehicles, what we use with them ones with mostly a Toyota Prius, although they had a couple of like Lexus hybrid, SUV for bigger move of people if they need –.
Mike McAllen: Yes, very cool.
Tom Hillmer: So, it was interesting though and I think I might have mentioned this in on of our earlier show, is to be interestingly about that and this is a word of caution or word of warning to people who might use it, coming like that is makes for your communicating that you’re doing that with people like VIPs and what not because we had a program where we, you know, we use them and we transfer the VIPs and yet the VIP came down to meet their vehicle where they were suppose to meet you know, meet them and they came down and there is row after row after row after all of all this black you know, Lincoln town cars and limousines and Cadillac and all that as you would typically expect and then there was like this you know, stage color Prius and the driver was there with his name on it, it was kind the like, you know, and just felt sort of the feedback came back that it was like – and then I got into a Toyota and everybody else was getting into a, you know, and so the whole initiative was related to being green and more, you know caution as suppose to the big gosh, gosling kind of vehicles and yet.
Mike McAllen: Right, right
Tom Hillmer: VIP was taking back that it wasn’t transferred in – more them, you know, inappropriate or unexpected vehicle, so.
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: You definitely got to manage that expectation and let them know upfront don’t you?
Tom Hillmer: Yes, because until the luxury market meets the efficiency green market which is happening, it’s come along but it’s just not their yet until that happens green and luxury aren’t necessarily one of the same, so I think you know, I know that, you know, Lexus is doing a pretty decent job over it right now but you don’t usually see a lot a Lexus vehicles as you know VIP transfers events, so.
Mike McAllen: Interesting, so that all of the companies, Jon I kind the cut you off …
Jon Trask: Yes, that was it’s not any extensive list but it was just more of something to keep in mind that as we’re looking to green up a meeting they’re a lot of interesting ways like airport transportation that you can start looking into hybrid, there electrics and I mean I think If you approach this right, you can make it a fun thing, so that it’s not a shoot if somebody walking out and not seeing a town car but, you know, coming out and getting in a smart car, I’ve test the smart car in the freeway down here and you can’t help but look at them because they’re unusual, they standout, they very different and so if it’s presented right and it’s put it in the right context for people, it’s a really cool thing that you’re doing for them …
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: Not like an insult.
Tom Hillmer: Right.
Mike McAllen: Yes, yes, we have a lot of them around here in the area there’s a ton of them …
Jon Trask: I’ve seen a couple and you know it’s funny I’ve almost thought it sort of fun to get one to drive, they just – they look fun in a really sort of green, be good to the environment way.
Mike McAllen: Well, yah also when you’re at the gas station and filling your car now when you, it also makes you think, maybe I should get one of those too, yes.
Jon Trask: I look at them and I’m sure I want to be hit in one, so.
Tom Hillmer: I just actually read an interesting thing about that, they’re so small that the wheels of almost any other vehicle that would hit them actually would impact the wheels on the smart car, they – you can almost not hit the passenger compartment without avoiding hitting other more structural parts of the car.
Mike McAllen: Yes, they’re surprisingly, I’ve sat one before and I’m 6’5 foot and I feet, I could fit in it which was interesting, they did a good job on them, yes. They’re interesting cars, I would – I think I drive one anyway …
Jon Trask: Tom – what the price plan on those? Not the business become automotive weak, you know that sort of.
Tom Hillmer: I think they’re under 15 grand. It seems like they really won’t that expensive, I look at their website once because there was an article in the local paper about some people who had them and that, you know, of course they have the eye catching photo in the newspaper of two them parked in one parking space.
Mike McAllen: All right.
Tom Hillmer: And …
Mike McAllen: Or you can part it the other, you can go straight end.
Tom Hillmer: Yes,
Mike McAllen: How about that – so how they were park – you don’t have to parallel park them, you can park right up against the curve.
Jon Trask: Just straight into the curve. But the other thing that I had out of this meeting news the current issue was something we talked about previously here in the podcast which was technology Spot Me and they compared it in this article to Swiss army knife kind of a little pocket tool that has a multitude of uses where you can send questions to other attendees and text back and forth and keep your agenda on it and keep notes on it and all of that and we talked about pretty extensively on a previous show but it’s now not just in Europe, they have rolled it out. In America they’ve opened up a headquarters there in Chicago where you at Tom and they have a sales office in New Jersey and they’ve adopted the Stop Me name for the US operation, so knowing that they’re out here, they’ve rolled out in a few different show but they’ve use it for groups that set up to 5000 people.
So, it’s an interesting technology and add on the same kind of technology realm, A to Z which is other tradeshow management software provider has ruled out a like blogging integrated event software into it’s software, so you can almost social network with a particular show and contact people within a show and that just kind of an interesting too and this all just sort of highlights of things that – to drop into here, the – there was survey by HSNI about technology that meeting planners are deploying at their events and it’s says that 57% of planners are deploying online registration but I thought it was kind of striking with the next highest technology was only 20% and that’s for video conferencing. Social network were 18% and blogs were 14, so everybody sort of embrace the registration software and the online registration but it looks like some of this other stuff is still sort of lurking under there and it’s not quite either getting deeply into the market or people just don’t know how to use it or they haven’t taking the plunge or trying it yet I’m thinking.
Tom Hillmer: Sorry we’ve come a long way with online registration, we’ve – I would say I mean almost all of our program anymore online registration and was just 3 years ago where you had to explain to the client, you know, of what the benefit of online registration really were and why they should consider it, so it’s come a long way and a very short amount of time.
Jon Trask: Yes and it seems like, you know, it’s time saver and you know got accurate information, you’ve got the person hopefully typing their own stuff in, it just seems like they’re so many benefits to that, it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t have almost everybody moving to that sort of thing.
Tom Hillmer: Right.
Mike McAllen: Yes, amazing huh?
Jon Trask: Yes.
Tom Hillmer: We got around proprietary online registration, you know software programming that’s, it’s a whole data management system, it’s not, you know, it’s start with online management that – I mean online registration but then goes on from there with regards to just all kind of you know application to just business management with the customer and tying into the survey pre and post and measuring ROI and tracking total spend and all that, it’s a great tool and you know, it’s an become a very, you know, a very hot an required capability of anybody in our end into the because by most of our major corporate, you know, clients to be to provide all of those things, so we’re just excited because …
Mike McAllen: That must great for them.
Tom Hillmer: We’re excited because it’s out proprietary program creative edge and it’s, you know creative group design it. We’ve spend million of dollar developing it and you can only get through Creative Group versus other kind of shelve product that are other there right now and don’t have nearly be the capabilities and or the ability to be able to customize the tool like our can, we have – intimate amount of ability to customize it, so it’s kind the cool, it’s little plug for creative edge but you know, your point Jon it’s a significant part of doing meeting anymore.
Jon Trask: And being able to capture and use that data in effective ways to figure out patterns and things is really the next step from it, some of things you’re talking about there with your company software, just being able to not just have a long list of people but get really good information that you can use when you’re planning the next meeting of spend and who’s staying where and what the patterns are and all of that is a huge amount of knowledge that are apply and they can gain about meeting that they have didn’t have access to 5 years to 10 years ago without a huge amount of leg work to create.
Tom Hillmer: Exactly.
Mike McAllen: It’s amazing, all this new technologies a lot – given a lot more insight into what’s, you know, what you get out to your meetings, it’s pretty amazing, I mean even the website along with that, you get the information, you get back from the sign up website is just, you know, I mean not having that just not having the proprietary, you know, software along with it, you’ve also just in website you can get back so much information now from Google for free, I mean …
Jon Trask: Wed base, right
Mike McAllen: It’s interesting how technology now is just, you know, opening the doors to kind of more of the ROI.
Jon Trask: Well, it’s kind of funny because that actually sort of ties in to the last thing that I had today which came of a Fast Company and it was just an article I was reading about Second Life which I know Mike has used a lot of – for different things in the past and it’s really familiar with but it was sort of the point that a lot of people who drove into the whole second life world drove in a more traditional model I thought I was relevant to the meetings industry simply in the sense that they missed the point about engaging their audience one to one and that the point of getting in to some of this social networking places and thing like that is a personal connection that you start to feel to people and that you’re actually involve deeply in the conversation, you’re not just being sold to.
One of the analogy someone in the article use was, if you’ve never been to Manhattan before and yet you cross the bridge and walk there the first time and somebody hands you a guide book, you’re not going to look up where the stores are necessarily and go shopping for first. You want to see the site, you want to see the people, you want to experience the place and it less about being sold to and more about being in an environment and learning from it and being connected to it and so I just, I thought that’s kind of an interesting reminder of what we’re saying here with all this technology instead of rolling out, it’s really easy to get lost and them.
Mike McAllen: Right.
Jon Trask: And forget the overall idea of what we’re here for which is putting people together in a room and creating things.
Mike McAllen: Yes, with the Second Life when it first came out a couple of years ago, it’s a Virtual World online, I know Tom you’ve never been in there before but it’s kind of a – have your own avatar that look just like you if you want or they can look like anything you want but when I first got in there, I saw that as another way to do meetings or to simulcast meetings because you know how expensive it is to bring a satellite truck in and you know, push it out before but now there’s all this different revenues of like use stream which we have on our Meetings Podcast site which will use eventually once we get together and do one together. I just found in Second Life.
I did at some meetings and they’re actually produce some meeting for some clients and I was showing people around and there and then actually in successful meetings magazine interviewed me and I was on cover of that and it was just the craziest thing because of course there’s not money in this for me. So, for me it was like, okay well, you know but I started to see that you know there’s to much of a learning curve for anybody to go in there to learn to do this, so I felt, you know, I stop, kind the stop going in there and doing it but it is, it’s kind of having a researches again now but some companies like IBM are doing very well in there and they do all their training in their, not all their training but they do a lot of training because they’re a worldwide company so they can all go to one place in there and kind of have a physical presence when they can do, you know, meetings in there and they had built giant places in there for there …
Jon Trask: …that could be a cool topic for another, for a future show for us talk about little more education as long as with all that.
Mike McAllen: Yes. We could really drive into it and I know that there’s a whole meeting planner area in there called MeCo Meetings, it’s called the Virtual List or something, anyway we can talk about it later but they have a whole meeting planner area in Second Life and I’ll put link to it on our website that you can go in there and learn about meeting planning, Corbin Ball who is the technology speaker. I just interviewed him the other day couple days ago to put on the meeting podcast, to put up for the interview and he did the first, he gave the first industry talk about event planning in their which is kind of interesting. So, he talked a little bit about that too, so anyway it’s an interesting world, the Virtual World but it doesn’t, you know, the face to face stuff is what really works but …
Jon Trask: Just again it’s keeping side of the bigger picture and remembering that it’s really about, you know, knowledge and connections and people and all of that and not just the cool technologies, that’s what I’m try and keep in mind when …
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: …when I’m looking at all this stuff.
Mike McAllen: What they’re thinking that’s going to happen is that companies will have their own virtual world, you know.
Jon Trask: Right.
Mike McAllen: They actually go in – it will be a close world that you know, like this larger companies will have their virtual world and they’re already doing like tradeshows too, I don’t know if you guys get those in the e-mails about, you know, a virtual tradeshows where you go …
Jon Trask: Sure.
Mike McAllen: You know you open for so many hours or then people can come in and look at your stuff through the internet, it’s kind of an interesting dynamic.
Jon Trask: Well, you know the education market is gone deeply into some of this streaming online type of about things, I’m actually taking a cup of college class as may or may not mention here but just going driving back into school and taking a little bit and it’s very convenient for me to take the classes online and the teacher streams them so I can watch them pretty much anywhere in the country or anywhere in the world that I have the internet but what I’ve notice is sometimes it’s very hard to concentrate and there’s so much destructions going on because your sitting in your own familiar surroundings and, you know, your wife has the TV on or whatever it’s harder to stay focus in the same way that you would be if you’re sitting in the classroom making eye to eye contact with the teacher.
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Tom Hillmer: Yes.
Jon Trask: And so that’s I think the thing that you have to find a way to overcome and I don’t know exactly what the solution is and I’m sure there are people smarter than me who are working on it but that’s not sort of last bridge you’ve got to make is getting the same experience you get when you’re face to face with the person, when you’re watching them through a remote technology.
Mike McAllen: Yes, I agree.
Tom Hillmer: Cool stuff.
Mike McAllen: … stuff, yes. So, and actually I had some things for if you’re going to do a virtual event some, you know, because the things are getting more expensive and I had a few little tips which I use just happen to have here in front of me.
Jon Trask: So, timing perfectly.
Mike McAllen: It really is.
Tom Hillmer: … or again we could do a whole show on the virtual thing, I think that would be cool.
Mike McAllen: Yes, that’s true.
Tom Hillmer: [00:31:30]
Mike McAllen: I could say that – maybe I should just save this we’ll just do a virtual world Jon.
Jon Trask: Running or running a little longer than usual here, so I want …
Mike McAllen: Yes.
Jon Trask: …that people pick that up.
Tom Hillmer: There you go, we’ll come back and talk virtual shows next week how about that?
Mike McAllen: …virtual, how about …
Jon Trask: That would be cool.
Mike McAllen: How about a virtual show next time?
Tom Hillmer: Sounds great, let’s do that.
Mike McAllen: Okay, well I guess then we’ll let’s cut this off and meet again next week.
Jon Trask: Very good.
Tom Hillmer: Very good.
Mike McAllen: And, so do guys have any, are you have anything plan coming up? Tom any travels at all or are you in the Chicago area now for awhile or?
Tom Hillmer: I am in the Chicago area for the next couple of weeks.
Mike McAllen: Nice.
Tom Hillmer: So and then the next trip will be out to, out to San Diego, so they had me back out lost again in a couple of weeks.
Mike McAllen: Great, how about you Jon?
Jon Trask: Well, for me with the transition to the new company I’m still kind the getting, I mean that introductory phase where I’m letting everybody know where am at and finding out the they’ve already found out because I put it on LinkedIn and you know, making phone calls and just getting in contact with some folks. So, right now nothing in the immediate future probably closer to November before I hit the road again.
Mike McAllen: Nice, nice guys. Yes, I’m having the same, I’m around here, we got a big event yesterday in Hawaii which I didn’t get to go to which was too bad but it went well that’s all that matters and somewhere around here too for a little awhile till November and so that it’s, so thanks again guys …
Tom Hillmer: Bye guys.
Mike McAllen: And I will talk to you both next weeks.
Jon Trask: We’ll talk to you next week.
Tom Hillmer: Both see you.
Mike McAllen: All right, bye.
Female: We appreciate and thank you for listening to the Meetings Podcast. You can find Mike McAllen at grassshackroad.com, Jon Trask at alliantevents.com and Tom Hillmer at creativegroupinc.com. The Meetings Podcast theme music comes from the Delgado Brothers which can be found at delgadobrothers.com. Special thanks to riptidegraphics.com for the audio editing of this podcast.
