There was a time when networking at association meetings and conventions simply meant bringing groups of name-badge-wearing attendees together in a large room to mingle.

A networking focal point, The Meeting Spot enticed attendees of the International Carwash Association’s Car Care World Expo to spend more time on the exhibit floor at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Photo courtesy of the International Carwash Association

Not anymore. Now, more association meeting planners use technology tools at their person-to-person events to help attendees network more productively with each other, vendors, speakers and event organizers. Association meeting planners increasingly utilize technology that allows attendees to network onsite through their mobile phones, PDAs and other handheld devices. Networking tools and events help meeting planners provide value to attendees by enabling them to proficiently use networking to pursue business and career goals at meetings.

That’s the strategy behind the networking sites and activities provided at the International Carwash Association (ICA) Car Care World Expo Convention and Trade Show, which attracted about 10,000 attendees to the Las Vegas Convention Center in April.

The Meeting Spot

The ICA set up a networking and lounge area on the exhibit floor that combined a restaurant and Internet café with Wi-Fi capabilities. The area also showcased innovative technology marketed by exhibitors. The spot was marked with a large banner that read “The Meeting Spot.”

In the Meeting Spot, attendees networked with each other face to face or via computers, cell phones and other handheld devices. The spot increased the amount of time attendees spent on the exhibit floor. “We had some statistics that it increased dwell time, and that was part of our goal in setting it up,” said Dave Weil, CAE, senior director of convention and trade show services for SmithBucklin, the association management company that planned the ICA’s Las Vegas convention.

ICA attendees also networked through “birds of a feather” roundtable discussions. Each of the meetings consisted of six to eight car-wash owners who were grouped together according to common interests such as business size, location and staffing. Attendees signed up for the groups online before the conference.

“We wanted to make networking easier because it’s a big aspect of why people go to meetings. People have told us that some of the best ideas they learned are through informal networking, so we created an area to encourage that,” said Weil. SmithBucklin promoted the networking activities through its registration Web site, brochures and e-mail. “Over time, you hope to have more and more people participating,” said Weil.

More meeting planners are also encouraging attendees to turn to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn social networking sites to connect during meetings and conferences.

Business Communicators Love To Tweet

At the world conference of the International Association of Business Communicators held in San Francisco in June, many of the 1,200 attendees from 30 countries used Twitter to communicate about sessions and events, allowing them to use time more efficiently.

“Onsite, attendees definitely used Twitter. They were sending out reports on sessions to other attendees. They couldn’t attend concurrent sessions, so they kept each other up to date on what was happening during the sessions and with schedule changes,” said Vicki Yim, director, World Conference for the IABC.

During the weeks leading up to the conference, the IABC’s blog discussed Twitter as a means of

The online engagement lounge at ASAE’s 2009 Annual Meeting & Exposition in Toronto. Photo courtesy of ASAE & The Center

communicating. Attendees started using Twitter onsite and, as word spread about the usage, more people participated. “Attendees weren’t Twittering that much at last year’s conference. But this year, a lot of our sessions were focused on social media and that helped it take off,” said Yim.

Use of networking technology is growing, in part because more meeting planners are becoming familiar with it and use it for their own professional purposes. According to a survey of attendees at the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Affordable Meetings West Conference & Exposition at San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA, June 10-11, 2009, the majority of meeting planners prefer social networks that build upon, instead of replace, personal relationships. Sixty-one percent stated they use Facebook and 58 percent were members of LinkedIn. Networking and maintaining relationships were the top benefits cited. Just 13 percent said they were using Twitter.

Executives of companies that provide meeting networking technology say that more meeting planners are using their systems. “Event planners either have been to an event where there was this type of tool used or

The Association for Career and Technical Education’s Convention and Career Tech Expo offered many face-to-face networking opportunities as well as online discussion forums. Photo courtesy of ACTE

they have come out of a media strategy meeting saying we need to improve networking. The first thing they think about now is starting a Twitter feed, or doing something on Facebook or LinkedIn, and they are fairly savvy about it,” said Mark Sylvester, CEO of introNetworks, a company that provides social networking systems.

Technology networking tools typically allow attendees who register online to create profiles of their interests and background. The system then creates a database of attendees that they can search before and during the event for others with similar interests, and set up meetings with them onsite.

The systems also encourage networking by helping meeting planners to match the speakers, subjects and themes of a conference with the interests of attendees. Example: “I did a meeting for a technology association and discovered eight weeks in advance that the top concern of attendees was a specific programming language,” explained Sylvester. “However, only two of the group’s 16 sessions were devoted to the subject. So we went to existing speakers and said ramp up this area of your talk.”

Meeting planners who use social networking tools usually can measure their effectiveness. For example, introNetworks measures the average number of messages, posts and minutes of use on the system for each attendee. One association recently averaged 19 minutes per attendee, said Sylvester.

Mixing The Traditional With The Technological

Associations generally use onsite networking technology along with traditional networking events. That’s what the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) did at its 2008 Convention and Career Tech Expo held in December at the Charlotte Convention Center in North Carolina.

The convention, which attracted 4,000 attendees, included an event labeled “Networking Reception and Silent Auction.” The event, held on the first day of the conference, was a combination networking affair and fundraiser. “People want to have an opportunity to network face to face, to walk in and meet people on their own,” said Marguerite Leishman, ACTE meetings manager.

ACTE also held a networking and orientation session for people attending the convention for the first time. Having something in common is a key to successful networking, and being a first-time attendee is a significant commonality, said Leishman. It’s also a good way for first-time attendees who are a little shy or uncomfortable to begin meeting other attendees, she added.

On the technology front, attendees at ACTE’s convention in Charlotte used the association’s Twitter account to share impressions of speakers and the conference. Prior to the convention, ACTE branded its Twitter account with the association’s logo. ACTE encourages networking through an online discussion forum on the association’s Web site, said Catherine Imperatore, ACTE’s electronic media manager. “We think that technology is important. We want to be as technical as possible both to go along with our mission and for our members. We have very forward-thinking leadership,” said Imperatore.

But many associations have yet to fully adopt networking technologies due to small budgets, lack of interest, tradition or other reasons. “It’s harder for some non-technical associations and smaller ones to adapt to it but over time, as they know it exists and once they see it saves time and money, we will see a higher percentage using it. But it is a process of educating them in how it works and how it helps them,” said Weil.

Sylvester believes it’s only a matter of time before the use of networking technology becomes widespread among associations. “I think it will become ubiquitous. It’s ramping up faster than I thought. It’ll become more integrated into registration systems and it will become a more user-friendly system that will be easier to access through mobile phones and PDAs,” he said.

Even as more meeting planners turn to networking technology, traditional creative face-to-face networking events will remain crucial.

The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) used creative activities and technology to spur networking at its annual conference and exhibition in August at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD.

At the conference, which attracted about 1,300 attendees, NAFCU paired up 148 players for a golf event to foster networking. “We looked at their profiles in terms of credit union asset size and operations. It wouldn’t make sense to pair a partner who is implementing huge database systems and IT with a credit union that’s small in size. So we put senior staff and CEOs from the same size credit unions together so they could talk about issues they have in common,” said Alyssa M. Kolat, CMP, director of events and education for NAFCU.

At NAFCU’s annual Congressional Caucus meeting in November at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC, which attracted about 400 attendees, the association set up a cyber café lounge to encourage networking. Attendees gathered in the café to form groups and conduct research on issues before heading to Capitol Hill for discussions with senators and representatives.

Facilitating networking is one of the most important functions of an association. And, according to Monica Dignan, co-author of The Decision to Join (ASAE, 2007), the younger generations place an even greater importance on networking than Baby Boomers; and international members more than Americans. Planners who can successfully join face-to-face events with social media technologies will better enable attendees to make the strong connections they seek.    ACF