Top 10 #techsytalk Blogs of 2014

We publish a LOT of content throughout the year so it’s always fun to take a look back and discover the most read topics of the year. Here, we’re recapping the most-talked-about articles of 2014 with links so you can catch up in case you missed it. Enjoy!

What’s In My Event Planner Emergency Kit
by Jessica LaRotta
Part of being an event planner it’s not only important to be organized and detailed but to also be prepared for the worse at any given moment.  Part of the worse possible scenarios is not only the big stuff such as losing power, weather problems or even catering mishaps.  What about mishaps with your centerpiece or setup/event or your guests or staff feeling ill, getting a stain or having a wardrobe malfunction.   I’m sure many of us have experienced one of these!

iBeacon for Events will Change Attendee Experiences Based on Location Tracking
by SignUp4
With the whirl of buzz around event mobile apps and the pursuit of constantly improving the attendee experience, Apple has released iBeacon at a pivotal time for the event industry. Personalization being among the top priorities for 2014 will lend way to more push notifications, RFID technology, and now indoor positioning systems. Many companies, including Major League Baseball (MLB) have begun to implement and experiment.

Tips for Making Your Event Easy to Love on Social
by Kristi Casey Sanders

If you’re like 91 percent of the meeting/event planners I just spoke to, you offer NO incentive for your attendees to share on social media. So … you’re just expecting them to find your event irresistibly share-worthy? That’s lame. Hopefully, you know enough to have a hashtag and monitor conversations about your event. If you don’t have a hashtag, you won’t know how to find the smack-talkers. You won’t be able to fix what people are hating (or brag about what they love) in real time. That’s why it’s important. You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to make one up either. Just check here and see if anyone’s using the one you want to. Are they? If not, it’s yours.

Event Planning Tips from the Pros
by Guidebook
One of the things I love most about my job is talking to event professionals and learning about the incredible, creative ways they solve problems. There’s no single repository of event planning tips. The space is so diverse and there’s so much room for creativity–and new opportunities and ideas are popping up every day. So you’re in luck–I did the work of talking to event pros, and I’m going to share some of my very favorite event planning tips!

5 Tech Gadgets for Any Event
by SignUp4
Between new apps and tech gadgets, it feels nearly impossible to keep up with the growing list of must-have tools for meetings and events. With the ever-expanding list of helpful event planner tools, also comes the fantastic laundry list of attendee engagement technology. Along with attaining your meeting’s objective(s) you strive to keep your attendees awake, alert and active. By requesting participation, you’re keeping the conversation alive and enabling learner objectives to be met. What better way to retain information, than actually participating in the event and its conversation?

How Event Tech Can Actually Help You Build a Sustainable Event Community
by Josh Ness
Everyone in the event industry tells you to use technology and social media to make your events better. What the heck does that even mean?? What you need is a way to extend the life cycle of your events and increase engagement between your attendees and sponsors. In essence, you want to build a community that lives beyond the final session. Right? So let’s get specific. Let’s see how you can use technology to get people talking about your event, talking to each other, and talking even after the show is over.

Event Reminders: How Many is Too Many?
by Liz King
We’ve all been to those conferences and events where we’re overwhelmed by countless reminder emails, text messages and phone calls. On the other extreme, we’ve also registered for events where it’s impossible to figure out the details because we never received a good confirmation email. So – what is the science (or is it an art) behind event reminders? Here are a few pointers.

3 Event Trends that are Slowly Killing Event Planners
by Derrick Stomp
A lot of event trends for 2014 have been written down in an excellent way by, amongst others, Julius Solaris, Jeff Hurt and Corbin Ball. Of course most of the trends are showing as technological implementations, but the underlying principles are much broader, and take place over a longer course of time. They work according to the ‘Adjacent Possible‘, a term coined by biologist Stuart Kauffman. Simply said, innovations don’t come in giant leaps but in small, mostly predictable steps. And once the innovations have taken place ‘things will never be the same again’. It won’t return to the initial state, but will find new ways to develop, if it doesn’t have the desired effect. Or it will become obsolete once there is innovation again.

10 Creative Tech Ideas for Events
by Liz King
It’s been a while since I’ve done any kind of list with creative tech ideas and I’ve had a bunch of ideas floating around. Everything from small touches at an event to big ideas – today, I’m sharing it all! Feel free to use and let me know how it works for you.

10 Things to Include on Your Event Website and App
by SignUp4
If you want a killer combo of mixed media, you must create a harmonious balance between your event website and your event app. Well-designed websites and apps will be the Robin to your Batman. Regardless of your desired event objective, your content areas should act as a support tool to enhance the participant experience. You’ll want to include the following elements and design.