+HARDWIRED THE NEW MICROPHONES It’s time to ditch the mic stand. Today’s microphones fit in your pocket or look like they belong on your kid’s bed.
A SMARTPHONE The free iOS and Android app Crowd Mics turns an attendee’s smartphone into a microphone. The app includes a text commenting feature and live polling, which will help create conversations between all your delegates and encourage participation for even the quietest of attendees. Cost starts at $100USD per month or event for 6-50 participants. crowdmics.com
A FOAM BOX Catch Box is the world’s first throwable wireless microphone you can toss around the room, from one attendee with a question to another. Not only is it bright and colourful, it’s also fun, injecting some play into a breakout or general session. Mic automatically mutes when product is in motion. Available for $549USD. getcatchbox.com
BY CHRISTINE OTSUKA
BRAIN DATES These days, content can be streamed, read online and consumed on demand. So what brings
attendees to a conference? The chance to meet people. And while conference planners are used to putting their muscle behind boosting attendance numbers, a Canadian company has created a digital platform that will help attendees learn from each other by going on “brain dates.” The concept, created by Montreal-based E-180 is similar to matchmaking, but for the mind. Here’s how it works: After registering for the event, attendees create their online profile. But instead of being asked to fill in their company name and title (as is the case with most conference apps), attendees are also asked to input their area of expertise, called an offer of knowledge, and be as specific and detailed as possible. Rather than saying “I know about marketing,” they might say, “I know how to use experiential marketing to refresh annual conferences of 700 participants or more.” Other attendees can browse the offers of knowledge on the conference app and request a 30-minute brain date during the event. The brain-dating concept was used at C2MTL in Montreal last year to much success. The E-180 platform connected 4,000 attendees; there were 2,600 offers
for knowledge; 2,550 requests for knowledge, resulting in 1,800 brain dates. “People travel thousands of miles to go to conferences for the knowledge sharing,” says Christine Renaud, CEO of E-180. “They’re walking around with their glass of wine trying to bump into their valuable stranger. Sometimes you don’t meet that person because you don’t know where they are. So we’re there to help you maximize the learning potential of the conference to make sure you meet the best people that you could to share knowledge.” While the braindating system is run through a traditional conference app, E-180 also has on-site matchmakers to help facilitate the brain dates, welcoming attendees to a designated meeting area and helping them find who they are looking for. For most events, brain dating has a 65 to 75 per cent adoption rate with participants, and crucial to the program’s success is whether event organizers allow time for brain dates in the agenda. “Relationship building takes time. So you have to make time for it in the schedule,” says Renaud. “People [event organizers] are afraid they don’t bring as much value as they can to their participants if they don’t put as much content as they can in their schedule, so part of our job is helping them to change their habits.”
WHAT YOU NEED A group of 1,000+ people
Time in the schedule for brain dates
WiFi in the venue
$7,500 for the first 1,000 attendees plus the travel expenses of two to three on-site staff from E-180
A clearly marked brain date meeting space with seating conducive to conversations
Sponsors for the app to help offset the cost
MEETINGSCANADA.COM
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