Stephen Nold

The Summer of Innovation
June 7, 2007

Forty years ago, the Beatles launched the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album and every longhaired hippie kid in America was headed to San Francisco.  It was the summer of love.

Will 2007 become known as the summer of innovation for the meetings industry?  Some of the most prolific periods of innovation occur during economic upswings.  This holds true for the meetings industry as well.  As show producers and meeting planners work with larger budgets, they seek additional creative ideas to add to their events.

We have already seen exciting new technology that not only appeals to the consumers, but will have a profound impact on our industry.  Miniature flexible TV screens, the Apple iPhone and now Microsoft’s Surface table are all examples of new ideas changing the way event professionals will work in the future.

Microsoft Surface is being described as the tool from Microsoft that we would have expected from Apple.  It is that exciting and ‘out of the box’.  It certainly promises to simultaneously revolutionize living room furniture and the paradigm of a computers’ role in the meetings industry.  Taking on the unique form of a coffee table, Surface features a touch-sensitive screen with multi-user capabilities.  Object interaction is one of its most useful and innovative features.  Cell phones, cameras, and virtually any other object that has the capacity to store digital information can trade data with the Surface simply by placing the object on the computer tabletop.

So why is this important to us?  Innovation is the edge that allows competitors to change the playing field.  New advancements allow an organization to conduct business more efficiently or win more deals.  Show organizers and meeting planners facilitate the personal relationship bonds that every community seeks to create.  These tools are enablers of information delivered in new mediums.

Computers manage information better than human brains.  These tools have the potential to enhance our knowledge with data and photos. If utilizing information is simplified by sitting down to a computerized tabletop, launching an interactive phone, or carrying a miniaturized TV screen, then innovation is impacting the meetings industry.

At this pace of product launch, I can feel the love.

Posted by Stephen Nold on June 7, 2007 | Comments (4)