As a professional planner, your objective is to construct the ideal meeting with optimal participant engagement. The path to building that can often be fraught with challenges. However, advances in technology offer professionals like you the tools you need to facilitate great attendance with strong participation among attendees. Take the time to consider these “power tools” and how they can help you keep your teams engaged:
Wearable computers. Why wear an iWatch when you could be sporting a wrist computer? Introducing the Rufus Cuff, a 3.2-inch Android tablet that straps to the wrist. Hands-free technology allows teams to engage while multitasking. The low price tag ($300) makes it even more appealing.
Collaborative software. Incentive is a social platform that allows for private and group messaging, task management, meeting notes, file sharing, and more. Available in both free and low-cost membership levels, it works with any device or platform.
Smart apps. Mobile event apps like Bizzaboo or CrowdCompass help planners maximize attendee engagement with in-app polls, attendee profiles, one-on-one messaging, and even social games for better networking.
Gamification apps. Who says meetings have to be all work and no play? Gamification apps can be tailored to improve participation with scavenger hunts, quizzes, point-earning activities that can be redeemed for prizes, mobile surveys, and more.
Remote participation. Skype and even Facebook Chat empower participants who cannot attend to be fully engaged in your meeting with real-time streaming.
Webinar. Can’t do face-to-face? Use Slideshare to create your own webinar, then Zipcast to share them publically or privately with your guests.
These are just a random sampling of literally hundreds of gadgets, software, apps, and programs you can add to your tool belt to help you build that ideal meeting.
