I am currently in Ann Arbor for the Net Impact 2010 Conference – and I am psyched. The reason we are all here? To change the world through business. Sounds like something I want to be a part of. You?
Another reason I am psyched is that the conference planning team has taken some steps to make the conference better. There are some things that the organizers have done that I think are pretty great. These are tips that I think that you can learn from if you are putting together an event like this.
Net Impact:
- Recognized that the primary reason we are here is to network and learn from each other – so they optimized the experience of networking.
- Created a micro-website specifically for the event.
- Listed all of the sessions, including who is attending.
- Created a “sign-up” for the sessions, which can be downloaded as an ical calendar (Cool! And also, helpful, particularly for those of us that are not fully organized!)
- Created a simple, easy-to-use social networking interface just for the conference. Attendees can create profiles, and then can look at other profiles. We can also notify people that we would “like to meet” at the conference.
- Anything that makes the awkward moments of meeting someone a little less awkward is awesome. We now have had at least a heads-up that someone wants to meet us, and have identified some people that are interested in something that we also are that we want to talk.
- We are in this boat together!
We are using the #NI10 hashtag for the conference, so follow along if you are interested in changing the world through business!
What is the most impressive/helpful thing you have seen used at a conference to make it a better experience for the attendees?