Conferences 3.0

To get the latest thinking and network with their peers, managers used to jump on a plane and go to an industry trade show or conference. Now with the Internet and Social Networks, managers can do a lot of the same things right from their desk. Conferences and trade shows are facing disruption from blogs, webinars, and social media. The economic downturn hasn't helped matters as companies have slashed education and travel budgets.

To survive, conferences will have to harness the power of the very tools that are threatening to kill them. This means the logistics requirements and characteristics of conference events are changing. In today's digital world, conferences have the ability to spill beyond the four walls of the event and grow their platform at the same time.

TED, with good reason, is widely considered the leader when it comes to utilizing digital media into their approach to events (including their wide distribution of recorded video content from their events). Outside of TED, of the different approaches to integrating digital and social media into conferences that I've seen, HSM Americas has the most innovative approach.

HSM Americas really seems to understand the important role that digital and social media can play in not only augmenting the experience for attendees, but also in expanding public awareness of the event and increasing the desire of non-attendees to attend the next event in person.

I had the opportunity to sit down with George Levy and Becky Gee of HSM Americas to discuss the Bloggers Hub concept from the World Innovation Forum and asked them the following five questions:

1. How did HSM Americas decide to do the Bloggers Hub at the World Innovation Forum?


• We wanted to expand the wisdom being shared by the speakers beyond the four walls, to expand the reach and impact to those that would like to come to the live event, but for whatever reason were unable to.



2. What were the key challenges to executing the Bloggers Hub concept?


• The greatest challenge was building a process - inventing as we went. The selection of the bloggers was particularly challenging.
  We had to look at what the make up of the group might be, where the Bloggers Hub would sit in the event space, and other big questions.



3. Do you feel that HSM Americas got a positive return on investment on the effort?


• This was a very good play, both from an exposure standpoint but also from a satisfaction standpoint (sponsors and bloggers). The value that attendees received from the event went beyond the timing of the event - "Continues after the curtain goes down."



4. Do you plan on repeating the Bloggers Hub concept?


• Yes, we will do it for the World Business Forum, although the organization will be more complicated because the conference will have more topics (more difficult to select the bloggers).



5. What were the biggest learnings for next time?


• We think that there are opportunities to better integrate the activities in the Bloggers Hub with what is happening on the stage. We will have to identify ways to expand the learning and interaction during and after the event.

The take-aways from my experiences and the conversation with HSM Americas, was that to put on a truly excellent conference today that is capable of extending beyond the four walls of the event, you should consider doing the following:

1. Create a selection process for inclusion of the digital press into your press strategy. Organize your digital press corps in advance of the event and arm them with digital media, speaker bios, discount codes, etc. so they can help build awareness for the event.


2. Make sure there are plenty of power plugins, WiFi, and suitable work surfaces


3. Build one community for the press and another for attendees on LinkedIn, Ning, or another social network in advance of the event so they can start familiarizing themselves with each other. Use these communities to also solicit feedback from both groups to help the speakers evolve their talks to be as interesting as possible for attendees.


4. Organize a face-to-face social event for all of the press you have invited to attend


5. Publish a list of web sites covering the event in advance so people know where to find videos, articles, and podcasts from the event (both before and after)


6. Create a Twitter strategy and a Twitter hashtag and begin using it in advance of the event. Announce the Twitter hashtag at the beginning of every event session, and display the Twitter feed on your event web site during the event, in public areas at the event and on the big screen during event breaks


7. Encourage mixing between attendees and the press. This will enrich the coverage of the event.


8. Consider working with the speaker to provide course-changing input based on audience sentiment from Twitter, but DO NOT put up a live Twitter feed up behind the speaker or let the speaker monitor the Twitter feed during the event - Too Distracting!

Can conference organizers avoid sharing the fate of COMDEX? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure - leveraging digital and social media are the only ways to avoid being disrupted by them.


What do you think?


Braden Kelley (@innovate on Twitter)

Washington Innovation Summit Roundup

I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the Washington Innovation Summit by the event organizers. It was a great event that attracted over 400 attendees interested in technology and innovation to Bellevue, WA on April 9, 2009.

The event was headlined by Senator Maria Cantwell and Gifford Pinchot, followed by other area technology and innovation dignitaries. (event schedule)

Predictably, there was a lot of attention given to what government is doing to provide an economic environment that encourages innovation, and of course to technology innovations under way in the region.

There were four technology breakout tracks:

• Sustainable Energy


• Innovative Materials & Manufacturing


• Urban Sustainability


• Healthy Ecosystems

Despite the name change from Washington Technology Conference to Washington Innovation Summit, the focus of the event was still more on technology than innovation. I attended one breakout session from the Innovative Materials & Manufacturing track that focused on nano-structure and micro-structure applications and one from the Sustainable Energy track focusing on energy generation from waste.

Most of the sessions I attended were very interesting, but because there was more of a focus on technology than on innovation, there are less learning to be extracted and applied by attendees back in their own organizations, and for me to share with you here.

The key takeaways for me from the event were the following:

• There are a lot of opportunities for our economy and the environment to generate energy from waste - while also improving the lives of those who live near it



• Nanophotonics is a technology area that will help extend the lifespan of Moore's Law while also helping to reduce the energy footprint of the Internet


• The forestry industry is exploring nanotechnlogy alternatives to growing and cutting trees, but at the same time sustainable forestry may provide a better solution than alternative building materials


• Researchers are doing some very interesting things with micro-scale and nano-scale structures


• PACCAR and McKinstry are two companies that are doing very interesting things that others may be able to learn from

What do you think? - Say it with a comment!

@innovate

Live from the Washington Innovation Summit - Miracle Materials

Here are my notes from the Miracle Materials breakout session:

Dr. Jim Dangerfield
EVP of FPInnovations

We found way to break apart cellulose and create nanocrystalline cellulose - 20nm long and 10nm wide. We have built a pilot plant with the ability to make one ton of nanocrystalline cellulose per day.

We've used nanocrystalline cellulose to make paper. As you create nanocrystalline cellulose you can tune the color by getting the substance from different plant beginnings.

We have looked at blending nanocrystalline cellulose with plastics and found that it increases strength 3000x times.

It costs $100,000 per ton to produce nanocrystalline cellulose.

Renewable wood construction may increase over the coming years as the energy invested into materials is counted in the overall cost structure of competing materials.

We've advised on the construction of a 10-story wood building in Europe, we expect two demonstrations in Canada in the next 18mos., and we would expect there to be one in the United States maybe in the next 5 years.

85% of residential construction is done using wood.


Dr. Michael Hochberg
University of Washington Nanophotonics Lab

I am here to speak about Silicon Integrated Photonics.

A standard firewire cable might transmit 500mb/sec over up to 2 meters, while an optical Luxtera cable is capable of transmitting 40gb/sec over 2 kilometers.

In a data center, the fastest switches now have to be located in the same location and cables are huge antennas.

The University of Washington is the world leader in Silicon Photonics. These technologies will allow for lower power communications and all optical logic is even a possibility with optical transistors.

In regards to bio-sensors, we can detect anything you can detect with an SPR. We might be better with pathogens. In an SPR system you have a piece of glass and a thin layer of metal and then you bounce light off of it. Optical bio-sensors can use all of the same kinds of biochemistry and with light you can measure phase changes. We can put an awful lot of complexity into a chip for the same money that someone might spend on an SPR device.

If you look at data centers and computing, the compute cycles are not used very efficiently (probably only used at 20,30, or 40% computing efficiency). There is a huge overhead from moving data.

• If you do some very basic things with optics, you can probably increase efficiency 2-3x


• Doing clever things that take advantage of moving data around quickly and cheaply you could do even better


• Multi-core processors don't take advantage of communication between cores very efficiently


• There would probably be lower heat disappation from optical connections as well (lower HVAC costs)

Commercial tools for building solar cells and other applications still have significant limitations.


Dr. Vipin Kumar
University of Washington Microcellular Consortium Director

Microcellular polymers are 10 micrometers wide. A human hair is 100 micrometers wide.

Manufacturers are very interested in reducing the materials that go into production and packaging.

We can make nanoforms in bulk (recent innovations)

• PEI Nanofoam


• PEI Microfoam


• Microcellular Recycled PET


• Microcellular PLA thin film

We have a grant to investigate continuous creation of recycled PET and corn-based PLA. With recycled PET it is possible to make six or seven 12oz. cups from a 2-liter bottle. The enabling technology has been licensed to MicroGREEN Inc.

Does anyone have any idea how much plastic is used in toys?
- If we can reduce that and increase impact strength, just imagine what is possible

One of our technology licenses is a diffuser sheet in LCD televisions. At the end of 2008 our Japanese sub-licensee using our technology passed the 6-millionth television sold.

Question: Are there improvements in insulation properties from these nano-materials?
Answer: You do have the air voids and the insulation properties of these and of the material itself.

Live from the Washington Innovation Summit - Gifford Pinchot

Gifford Pinchot is the co-founder of Bainbridge Graduate Institute and is credited with creating the term "intrapreneur" and today brought up the term "ecopreneur", and he is also an angel investor.

Here are my notes from the session:

He spoke about several social topics including Grameem Telecom, access to safe water, and the disappearing frontier forests (old growth).

It's no coincidence that the Naval War College's predictions of where wars will be fought overlaps with those countries without access to safe drinking water.

Defintion of Sustainability

• "Sustainability is meeting the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." - Brundtland Commision -- 1987

Rate of innovation in depressions is about six times that of the rate during boom times.

Is it possible to do enough to avoid disaster?

Jim Gosling saw microchips in hotel doors and got inspired to create. He proposed creating a gui-based remote control and he was rejected. Then someone wanted to use his OS for a set-top box but Silicon Graphics got the contract and so things were killed again. Then he had the opportunity to meet with Bill Joy thanks to someone in human resources and JAVA was born after these two previous failures.

I'd rather have a class A entrepreneur with a class B idea than a Class A idea with a Class B entrepreneur. This distinction in the source of a venture is why VC's outperform the corporate venturing arms.

Ecopreneurs, intrapreneurs, and entrepreneurs - "Dreamers who do"

Entrepreneurs sometimes have the reputation for doing the following, but it is actually Promoters who are:

• Driven by greed


• High risk takers


• Intuitive thinkers


• Dishonest

Challenging people with the first potential cash-flow killing problem and gauging their response is important for distinguishing between entrepreneurs and promoters

• Entrepreneurs will be able to respond to challenges


• Promoters will re-focus your attention on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Entrepreneurs:

• Driven by vision


• Moderate risk takers


• Intuitive and analytic


• Honest rule breakers


• Persistent

The stimulus money is going to shovel-ready projects and it has been very difficult for us to create proposals fast enough to qualify given how quickly the government wants to spend the money. This approach is not sustainable and the stimulation of our economy will return to something much more driven by innovation.

Economic development is so often focused on bringing in big organizations and giving them big tax breaks. An investment in green infrastructure in small and medium enterprises will help to lead us out of this economic crisis and we need to be teaching entrepreneurship everywhere.

Live from Washington Innovation Summit - Senator Maria Cantwell

The senator spoke about smart grid technology and how it is top of mind for Obama and even appearing in Super Bowl ads. What does smart grid really mean for us?

Here are my notes and key insights gathered from the Senator's talk:

Right now people turn on a switch or turn it off and the lack of intelligent power management places an increasing strain on the power system to manage demands. The power meters in our homes were invented before television.

Power outages from shortages cost the country over $100 billion. The demand for power is projected to grow 40% in the next 20 years. Luckily Washington receives 70% of its power from hydropower, but this is projected to decline over time.

We are fortunate to have smart grid related companies like Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and iTron in Washington state, and utilities like Avista and Puget Sound Energy have been working on smart grid case studies.

Gonzaga and its transmission and distribution energy program is one of only 15 power engineering programs in the country.

One of the best smart grid studies was done by Pacific Northwest Labs. It found that a 10% reduction in power usage was possible without inconveniencing customers. If its approach was applied nationwide, we could spend $70 billion less on electrical transmission and distribution over the next 20 years. Smart grid usage can improve efficiency by up to 30% and enable real-time pricing.

Implementing off-the-shelf energy efficiencies nationwide could offset the incremental demand over the next 20 years by 85%.

Congress has provided $30 Billion of funding for smart grid and advanced battery technology and $20 billion for renewables and efficiencies.

We will be getting a regional demonstration project to help quantify savings, to help prove out smart grid business models, to prove that smart grid technology works, and that it is a smart investment.

A smart grid is an innovation by itself but serves as a bedrock for many future innovations.

The Internet was a $1 trillion opportunity, but Energy possibilities represent a $6 trillion opportunity.

It is important that the Pacific Northwest put forth strong proposals for federal and private funding to take advantage of this opportunity.

What do you think?

@innovate