Rachel Wimberly

An Awkward Hello at CEMA Summit 2007
August 7, 2007

A few weeks ago, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, I went to the Corporate Event Marketing Assn. Summit 2007 at the Torrey Pines Hilton in La Jolla, Calif. It’s a show geared toward technology company meeting and tradeshow planners, so it was only natural a high-tech nametag gadget took the place of a tired, old piece of paper with someone’s information printed on it tucked into a plastic sleeve.

When I signed in and the nTAG people (known for their RFID technology) handed over the nTAG Interactive Badge and explained that I wouldn’t have to swap business cards with anyone, but just simply line up the small screen on the badge (a device hung around the neck about the size of a hand item scanner at the grocery store) with another person’s and it would automatically read the other person’s info, I was really impressed. That is, until the first time I used it.

I went into a session that was about to start and a person standing next to me saw my name badge that, beyond my name, also said I worked at Tradeshow Week and asked if we could trade information. I obliged, and then, instead of looking into the person’s eyes, shaking their hand and properly introducing myself, I looked down, fumbled around with the nTAG badge, awkwardly tried to line it up with the other attendee’s and, after some false attempts by both of us, it worked. After doing this a few more times, I actually started asking people if I could just give them my business card, and every person seemed almost relieved to do the same.

The other drawback I found to the nTAG device was that it was kind of heavy and not really comfortable to wear. A few times, when I was trying to eat, it would loudly clank against my plate if I leaned over to take a bite of food.

Don’t get me wrong, when I got back to the office and nTAG sent me all the contacts I had made in the form of V-Cards that I could simply click on and load straight into my Outlook e-mail, I was thrilled beyond words. In all, nTAG said 6,886 contacts were made among CEMA Summit attendees (not bad when there was fewer than 300 people there). I’m very happy the device exists, I just hope it gets a little easier to wear and use in the future.

Posted by Rachel Wimberly on August 7, 2007 | Comments (0)