Stephen Nold

Applying Pareto’s Principle
July 1, 2007

I recently joined a dialogue thread eLearning Technology moderated by Tony Karrer. His observations on social networking tools spurred my comment. 

In his post Conference Networking Tools - Do They Work?, Mr. Karrer breaks down the purpose of the tools into two parts:

1. Determine who you should meet, and
2. Figure out how you take the connection to the next level

This is a very simple definition of some powerful applications. Networking tools go beyond determining who you should meet by building algorithms based on user preferences.  They not only do they determine who you meet, but save you time by skipping unwanted introductions. This filtering process is elemental for CRM solutions that enable organizations to improve business processes by identifying and maximizing the attention applied to the 20% of customers, activities, or products that account for the 80% of revenues.  (This 80/20 rule is often referred to as Pareto's Principle, although it was actually misnamed by American businessman Joseph Juran.)   

By employing social networking tools, an exhibitor can realize this sales process efficiency in addition to other efforts to find qualified buyers of his products and services.  Mr. Karrer concludes by questioning the value of networking tools.  However, I remain convinced that they will serve as one of several valuable solutions that show organizers and meeting planners can choose when designing their event systems.  I base this conviction on the value of these tools to better facilitate exhibitor-attendee introductions and the infrastructure that is created for further dialogues within a community.

Movers and Shakers
Jacques Racine with Sherpa is an innovator that I suspect will be impacting meeting industry technology in the coming years.  I recently had the chance to see some of the tools that they are launching.  Jacques is actually a veteran of the industry who founded his first company in 1989 at the age of 19.  He has been inventing technological solutions for 18 years and has experience with a wide range of products including abstracts management, registration, housing, lead retrieval and RFID.  Sherpa’s tablet lead retrieval device is extremely exciting and will probably see widespread adoption in the marketplace.

Posted by Stephen Nold on July 1, 2007 | Comments (0)