ALA Goes High-tech
Stephanie Corbin -- Tradeshow Week, 6/24/2009 1:32:00 PM
This year’s attendees at the American Library Assn. Annual Conference & Exhibition July 9-15 at Chicago’s McCormick Place will have the opportunity to utilize some new technology.Hall-Erickson manages the ALA show, and Paul Graller, Hall-Erickson vice president and show director for the association, said a couple factors motivated the association to move toward the new technology, including being more sustainable.
“We wanted to offer exhibitors and attendees the opportunity to cut down on paper use,” he added.
Plus, Graller said the association wanted to provide better information in flexible formats. “With the size of ALA, … attendees, especially first-timers, always find it a challenge to navigate the conference and find the information they need quickly,” he added.
This year, attendees have several technology options:
• ALA Mobile. ALA partnered with Boopsie to allow attendees to access information about the show from mobile phones. Attendees can search for exhibitors or sessions.
• Large print format. Australian publisher ReadHowYouWant teamed with ALA to offer the conference programs in seven large print formats, plus Braille and Digital Accessible Information System files, also known as DAISY.
• Text an ALA Ambassador. ALA is partnering with Mosio, which offers a service called Text a Librarian, to offer mobile information via text messaging. During the conference, 250 volunteers will respond to attendees’ questions.
• SNIPP. SNIPP is a company that allows attendees to collect only the exhibitor information they want by e-mailing an exhibitor’s SNIPP code to snipp@snipp.com or texting the code from a mobile phone.
• Digital Cognotes. ALA is working with NxtBook and CustomNEWS to provide digital editions of its show daily publication. There will also be an interactive digital component in conjunction with the Highlights issue, published after the conference.
“Hopefully, all of these technologies help exhibitors reach more attendees before and during the show to get more out of their exhibit experience,” Graller said. “For attendees, we want them to make better use of their time at the conference and interact with the exhibitors they need to see.”
The partnerships with ReadHowYouWant and Boopsie are in their second year, but, he added, SNIPP and Digital Cognotes are new for attendees and exhibitors.
“We are committed to finding and implementing new technology throughout the conference experience, before, during and after,” Graller said. “Libraries and librarians are high-tech leaders, they come to expect the same level of services at the conference.”
