CEMA Examines Event Technology

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 7/17/2006

CEMA Summit 2006, the annual meeting of the Computer Event Marketing Assn., takes a different turn this year, with a major focus on event technology itself.

In fact, said CEMA Executive Director Erika Brunke, "attendees are not even aware of most of this until they to get to the event" July 16–18 at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott in Dana Point, Calif.

Figuring that those in the business of exhibiting technology products at events should be as up to date as anybody, the CEMA Summit will take advantage of several new technologies with the idea that attendees might want to adapt them for their events as well.

"There's nothing like spending 2 1/2 days on a new platform to see if you like it or not," Brunke said.

First off, even before attendees arrived, they were able to take advantage of a social networking Web site, "so that the networking component can begin before the conference," Brunke said.

Attendees could also exchange electronic business cards, evaluate sessions with real-time online surveys, let meeting organizers know how they really liked sessions — thanks to RFID technology, used to identify who is attending what — and, finally, respond instantly to questions put to them by speakers during key-note sessions.

Brunke said CEMA expected it to "be a hands-on trial for the event manager."

Also on the agenda this year are sessions on the impact Sarbanes-Oxley legislation could have on the event marketing industry and a discussion of best practices for RFI (request for information) procedures, which often precede requests for proposals.