Tales from The Reg Desk

Miami Airport Installation

Traveling from Miami last month, I came across this art installation and had to record it to watch in its soothing entirety from time to time.

If you had a gun to your head, which biodegradable badgeholder would you choose?

We're here in Pittsburgh at the GMIC (Green Meetings Industry Council) "Greening the Hospitality Industry 2009 Conference". This is a great group of passionate meeting planners, destination suppliers, and green meeting product suppliers gathering together to shape the meeting industry's sustainable future. How much thought have you given to the simple conference items that you see tossed around each show? Badges, pens, conference bags, handouts...we aim to reduce and replace each with sustainable alternatives. We enjoyed tremendously gleaning a small amount of the worlds of PLA-Bioplastic knowledge that rests in the head of Mr. Scott McKye, President of KleerTech (www.kleertech.com). We've used KleerTech's cornstarch-based badges in the past - and are excited to hear about the next era of this conference essential. Think about one large convention and the thousands of (typical) vinyl badge holders that get tossed into landfills after an event. How many shower-curtains worth have we sent to the dump? It is time for a change- and the key words will be anaerobically degradeable PVC. See our interview of Scott, as he explains the various biodegradable holders and which he would choose when faced with an armed assailant.

"This mobile app is great! You should use this at every event"

We're happy to report a successful launch of an email-to-text platform that sends personalized links to attendees via text message on their smartphones. Over 400 attendees at a conference in Tokyo last night received text alerts at the end of each breakout session with an embedded hyper link to the mobile survey for that session. Each attendee could easily fill out the 6 survey questions, and they were able to key in text (in Japanese characters) into the comments field on their phones. The title of this post is one of our favorite comments. Screen shots to follow.

Tales from the desk- worst badge typo

I have bore witness to some pretty devastating badge typos in my day, Rupert Murdock, for instance. The funniest story, though, is passed along by a nameless colleague who told me of a large show in Las Vegas in which the emergency help number printed on the backs of the badges actually rang up a house of ill-repute.  How did they find the mistake? Oh, you know, medical emergency on the tradeshow floor. Luckily 911 was also called, everything turned out fine- so we can now laugh at the story.

We heart smartphone surveys

We are really getting into mobile surveys. Do you remember the days of gathering up paper surveys after each session ended and plopping them on the desk of some poor reg coordinator to enter into a huge excel spreadsheet? Oh, are you still doing that? :)  I just remember trying to decipher handwriting and my eyes going buggy at the countless "1,2,3,4,and 5s" that I had to enter- one row per session, one column per attendee. Yikers! Perhaps after having done it so long, with an impatient speaker or client tap-tap-tapping because he wanted the scores, that I am uber-excited about all electronic survey tools (particularly ours!). We can send links to session evaluations by text message (with a link to access the survey on phones), to email, or even via Tag (more on that later).

AMS launched in spin-off from Genesis Creative Group

Attendee Management Solutions issued the following press release announcing its new identity.

ATTENDEE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, INC. LAUNCHED
IN SPIN-OFF FROM GENESIS CREATIVE GROUP

The delegate management team at GCGEvents is now Attendee Management Solutions, offering high tech, high touch attendee management, housing, and technology solutions.

Aptos, CA February 12, 2009 - Genesis Creative Group, Inc., a full-service meeting planning and production company has taken their unrivalled attendee management expertise, paired with the latest technology solutions, and spun off a new company, Attendee Management Solutions (AMS).

The new company, focused solely on event registration services and technology, looks to partner with corporate, association, third party planning, and event production companies as a full service outsource solution to conference registration needs.

“We’d been limited in the past, even with this terrific registration team and exceptional technology, by the event production focus of Genesis Creative Group.  By splitting the companies so that each may focus on their core competency, we are able to further develop the registration services offerings and invest in the greatest technology and people”, says Laura Bell Way, Managing Director of AMS.  “Furthermore”, she adds, “GCGEvents no longer must act as a technology company, and may focus its efforts simply on producing outstanding events for its clients.”

Attendee Management Solutions (www.attendeetech.com) is a full-service event technology and registration company. AMS combines the latest in data and technology solutions with the workforce and expertise to build registration sites, manage data, provide customer care, mange housing, credentials, greet each and every guest like a member of the family.  We save companies needed overhead by using our highly-trained employees to quickly and efficiently manage all aspects of registration services.  Our solutions are powered by the latest innovations in technology including smart and green technology:  the use of real-time, paperless evaluation capture and reporting, the latest in TAG and ARS systems, the ability to provide websites in multiple languages and robust list management capabilities.

Every time our clients produce an event, they are showing off their brand.  By utilizing our professionally trained staff and leading-edge solutions, our clients are positively affecting how their companies are perceived by customers, partners and internal teams. For further information, contact Laura Bell Way at 831-689-0168, ext 111.