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Why the cheesy image? Because viral marketing works. Even when you’re cheesy. See: Rebecca Black

Our goal is to give you every tool possible to maximize your event.

Your goal is to bring attendees to you, or your clients’, events.

Unfortunately, traditional marketing isn’t always effective. The sad fact of the matter is that people aren’t always going to listen to you, and regardless of how amazing your event is, its final amazingness is at the mercy of attendance. We live in a society overly-saturated with a cacophony of media and advertising messages, sounds we have collectively become proficient at tuning out.

Thanks to the internet, though, there’s another route to marketing that’s incredibly powerful: Word of Mouth Marketing. The internet has opened the door for unique or valuable ideas, goods, and, yes, even events to spread virally. For proof of the power of the internet one need look no further than Rebecca Black, whose song “Friday” (often dubbed “the worst song of all time”) was viewed over 160 million times on YouTube.

In order to help you get your event spreading virally, Zerista has created the social invite module for its ZeristaPRO platform. This functionality will empower your attendees to invite their colleagues and friends to events that they themselves are attending. We’re all more likely to trust and attend an event that our peers are attending, and it’s been proven that attendees are far more likely to finish the registration process if a friend invited them. In the end, this means more of a buzz and more awesomeness at your event – no headache necessary.

Features of the ZeristaPRO Social Invite Module:

1.) Send invitation email to contacts from your Gmail, Yahoo, and Windows Live address book

2.) Send invitation email to contacts uploaded from a CSV file

3.) Send invitation email to manually specified contacts.

4.) Post public invitation message on Facebook (as a post on wall) and Twitter (post as a status update)

We built our company around the primary goals of the event planner (or, if you prefer, event organizer, event architect, or event director). You want people to register, attend, and get the most out of the experience. You want to create a buzz. At the moment of execution, you want your event to be valuable and enjoyable.

We’ve created the ZeristaPRO platform with these goals in mind.

Research suggests that 64% an event planner’s working time is consumed by mind-numbing busywork. In addition to the fact that time is the currency of your life and it is being used in a manner described as “numbing,” we believe that if you could eliminate this nonsense from your workday you could better allocate that time to far more useful ventures – setting yourself ahead of the other event planners who are spending over half of their day with busywork. So, how do we remove the busyness from your agenda?

ZeristaPRO makes event planning a breeze.

• By using the matchmaking and chatter features attendees are able to connect and start buzzing long before your event takes place. This user-propelled pre-event buzz will virally build a sense of excitement for your events – no monkey-business or busy-work required.

• The schedule builders and agenda features make sure that all times and locations are in sync for all attendees & speakers – no mass notifications and confusion for small changes and adjustments.

• Chatter feed and social media integration allow attendees, speakers, and sponsors to establish a community organically, exchange thoughts and ideas about which sessions to attend, and get the conversation flowing long before anyone boards a plane or checks into a hotel.

• Effectiveness: streamlined registration, great user experience, and mobile event planning dashboard make it so that your event thrives and you aren’t tied to a computer.

Social media has radically shifted the paradigm in which making connections occurs, a change with huge ramifications for the event industry.

According to comscore, the self-touted global source of digital market intelligence, as of February 2011 one out of every eight minutes online was spent on Facebook. Yes, the obsession with social networking partially stems from our curiosity to know whose gotten married/pregnant/incarcerated since high school, but in reality a only a small portion of our time spent on sites like Facebook is consumed by such creeping (“Facebook stalking,” if you will). What it really symbolizes is the fact that people are, at their core, social creatures. We want information, we want to sell our products and services, but, more than anything, we want to connect with one another.

Networking

Pre-social media, one would arrive at an event with a limited amount of time to meet, mingle, spark a conversation, and – hopefully – develop a couple of meaningful connections. Today those are balls that can be rolling in the days, weeks, and months preceding the event itself. With social media technology, attendees and exhibitors are enabled to participate in group discussions, share ideas, spark conversations, and request meetings long before anyone boards a plane or leaves their office. Rather than relying on the serendipitous nature of meet and mingle events, one can search through a database of every attendee, speaker, and event session in order to filter out the most promising networking opportunities available based on their specific interests and event goals.

In the end, not only does social media technology allow individuals to begin making connections way back in the planning stage of an event, but this foresight allows them to plan for the event itself so that, when it arrives, they are able to allocate their time and energy during those few days most effectively (and then continue the conversation in the days, weeks, and months to follow).

Simplicity

Let’s be honest: navigating through an event can be an absolute nightmare.

Schedule changes are inevitable. Keeping track of exhibitor brochures and business cards, along with a 3” thick stacks of session schedules, itineraries, brochures, and maps, can quickly become a discombobulated, confusing, and downright miserable ordeal. Exhibition halls are huge. People are everywhere, business needs to happen, and there is never enough time in the day.

With the help of mobile technology, events become manageable again. When things are manageable, you’re free to get the most out of them, and maybe even (gasp!) enjoy them a bit.

The Moral

A great event is energized, productive, progressive, and dynamic. Without the right tools, however, any event can quickly become an overwhelming, chaotic mess that fails to reach it’s maximum potential.

Companies and individuals that utilize event technology prevent the little administrative inconveniences that unnecessarily complicate an event while simultaneously giving themselves an edge before, during, and after the event itself.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, recently released it’s regular report on key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry. According to the report, “for the three month average period ending in March, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices.” Of these devices, 72.5 million were smartphones.

“Browsers were used by 38.6 percent of subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while downloaded applications were used by 37.3 percent (up 2.9 percentage points),” indicating that people are still using a browser more than downloadable apps.

What does this mean for your event?

First of all, it means that making your event mobile is an increasingly powerful way to improve your event. It also means that, from an accessibility standpoint, if you only use native apps you’re neglecting huge components of the mobile marketplace. comScore reports that Android & iPhone users constitute 60% of the downloadable app market. Assuming that roughly 1/3 of the market are using downloadable apps, these statistics indicate that utilizing purely Android and iPhone apps at your next event will cover only about 20% of the market – and potentially only 20% of your attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and sponsors.

It’s for this reason that Zerista’s mobile platform utilizes both native apps and a mobile browser – so that you, and your attendees, are sure to be covered.

Sources:

comScore press release: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/5/comScore_Reports_March_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

featured image -

Lady Gaga Sharp IS03 two commercials, cell phone, KDDI in Japan will operate, with a bright 960 x 640 3.5-inch screen. http://www.sunrainet.com/lady-gaga-sharp-is03.html

This year, NTC (NTEN’s nonprofit technology conference) used Zerista’s web & mobile event planning platform to enhance the annual 3 day experience for over 2,000 users  - an impressive adoption rate that includes 362 exhibitors, 280 speakers, 11 moderators, and 1,915 attendees. This complete mobile platform put the entire event completely in the palms of all 2000+ hands, not only simplifying networking and planning, but making it easier to connect and form an effective event community.

It was nice to be able to choose several sessions and have a schedule on my phone, so that if one session was full, or didn’t fit my needs, I could easily look up my alternative session without having to reference my program book…

I also relied on the live [Chatter] feeds to see what everyone else was saying about the conference topics, key takeaways, and to also see where people were heading to dinner or when the cookie cart arrived!

- Lisa, myNTC user and writer for the Balcom Group blog

To learn more about NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, visit their website at http://www.nten.org/ntc

Here at Zerista we’re hard at work making sure your event is the best it can be, the best way we know how: by constantly upgrading and improving our software. We know planning an event is a stressful process, and we’re committed to not only relieving many of the hassles, but to make you – the event organizer – look good in the process… because you deserve it.

Now, thanks to the hard work of the Zerista development team, you – the event planner – have better control than ever over your event site.

Changes to the database? You can now add and export attendees and sessions on your own, edit attendee and speaker profiles, or lock and unlock accounts when necessary.

Broadcast announcements & messages: When things get unpredictable (session change? Location change? Cancelations due to weather?) you can send a message in bulk to everyone attending your event.

Sophisticated dashboard: We’ve added a “track” column to the session listings in the admin panel, enabled you to add an RSS feed to your event site, and added support for multiple concurrent sessions per track.

With enhanced communication & more opportunities than ever to personalize your event with the administrative dashboard, you’ll be able to weather the literal and figurative storms that even the most challenging and unpredictable of events can throw at you.

If there’s one business concept that we absolutely can’t imagine anyone arguing with, it’s the idea that – today more than ever – networking is at the heart of career development.

Now, if someone wanted to argue anyways, they should know that the Harvard Business Review is on our side –  it recently reported that 95% of executives consider face-to-face meetings essential for long-term business relationships.

As Ivan R. Misner, New York Times bestselling author of networking guide The 29% Solution explains, the difference between companies that are good versus companies that are great “are in the little things that are done exceptionally well. Great networkers move their business forward, but they don’t do it alone. Great networkers have a plan, work to expand their network, go the extra mile, know how to get the most value for their time, communicate their messages effectively, become the experts, capture their best stories, and do what others don’t.”

It’s this idea that makes us believe that social media tools and technology will increasingly begin to separate good businesses from great businesses.

Companies and individuals that utilize event technology like ZeristaPRO, with it’s unique matchmaking feature & social networking tools, give themselves an edge before, during, and after events. Not only does social media technology allow these “great” networkers to begin making connections & expanding their networks way back in the planning stage of an event, but this foresight helps them plan for the event itself so that, when it arrives, they are able to allocate their time and energy during those few days most effectively.

Let’s look at it this way: in the days before social media technology, you would arrive at an event with a certain amount of time to meet, mingle, spark a conversation, and hopefully develop a couple of meaningful connections. Today, those are all balls that can be rolling in the months beforehand. With social media tools you can be a participate in group discussions, share your ideas, spark conversations, and request meetings long before you ever board a plane or leave your office. Rather than relying on the serendipidous nature of meet and mingle events, you can search through a database of every attendee, speaker, and event session in order to filter out the most promising networking opportunities available to you based on your specific interests and event goals.

This concept has been incredibly successful in the world of dating, where online dating has become an overwhelming phenomenon. According to a recent survey by Match.com, in 2010 20% of committed relationships (1 in 5) and 17% of newlyweds met on an online dating site. These statistics don’t even take into account the millions of people who have connected through common interest groups and forums, friends on social networking accounts like Facebook or Twitter, or by following a blog or website.

ZeristaPRO borrows the “matchmaking” concept utilized by online dating sites like Match.com or eHarmony, and brings it into the professional arena. Event sites built on the ZeristaPRO platform have a “recommend” button that will “match” you with attendees, event sessions, and sponsors that might be of particular interest to you, both streamlining and personalizing the social networking processes.

In a world like dating – which is tied to so many deeply rooted emotional strings – online dating is thriving for one reason: because it works. It works because filtering through a large pond based on mutual interests, and then being allowed to converse via email, gchat, etc. versus the time and energy involved in going on a Friday night date, is a much more effective ways to find yourself a compatible partner. If this process is successful in something as emotionally loaded and high-commitment as dating, then imagine just how effective it can be in a much more practical, less-intense arena like business networking.

And here is where our argument comes full circle: if a face-to-face meeting is essential for business success, and there are more people attending a conference or event then you could possibly meet in a day (or even a week) period, then why on earth would you risk squandering that time shuffling through small-talk with the wrong people? It’s awareness of these little decisions that take a company from good to great. Here at Zerista, we would argue that the great companies in our future are the ones who, today, see how powerful social networking technology is, and recognize that if it can pair people well enough that they can spend the rest of their lives together, it certainly should be able to help you select the connections that will be most valuable for you to spend that precious face-to-face time nurturing at an event.

Featured image is property of Rolling Stone magazine online, SXSW 2011.

Comscore has some great market info for us.  Google’s Android platform made the big jump in market share last year coming at the expense of Blackberry.  It looks to be more of a two horse race and our guess is that both will end up winning the lion’s share of the market.  The good news for ZeristaPRO customers is that not only do we support iPhone and Android native platforms with downloadable apps, but also support every other browser capable phone on the planet.  So, whether you love downloadable apps (32.3% of you did last year) or love to use your phone’s browser (34.5% of you do), ZeristaPRO has you covered.

Smartphone Platform Market Share

Mobile Content Usage

Sam sees Zerista as a “game changer for small events.”  He goes on to say that he sees Zerista as “more than a mobile social network” but also “a mobile communication system for small groups.”

In his words:

Did you hear that Zerista launched a new mobile community for events last week? It could be a game changer for small events – giving them access to event technology that was previously too expensive.

Sam’s bottom line is that “the Zerista mobile community is more of a communication platform than a private social network. It allows you to form ‘disposable communities’ and help them communicate, collaborate and share – while they are on the go.” We look forward to seeing how our platform is being used at events and sharing new things we learn.

To read the entire article visit Interactive Meeting Tech Blog.

“The Congress for the New Urbanism is very excited to be using Zerista this year! Attendees have been impressed to find an event networking site that looks great and connects them with the colleagues they’ll see at our conference. They’re also using it to select and find sessions. It definitely surpassed our expectations.” -CNU Communications Director

We recently completed a fun project working with a leading urban design conference in Denver.  The Conference for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the nation’s leading forum dedicated to advancing urbanism and promoting alternatives to sprawl.

We were excited to work on this project – not only because we support the general new urbanist principles, but also because we live and work in the types of communities that new urbanism seeks to encourage.

As background, New Urbanism is an urban design and development movement dedicated to implementing community-oriented principles of traditional town and city planning in contrast to the prevailing system of formless sprawl. New Urbanist developments are walkable, provide a diverse range of housing options, encourage a rich mix of uses, and provide welcoming public spaces as detailed in the Charter of the New Urbanism.

The conference attracts more than 1,000 attendees from around the world who particiapte in several hundred planned activities throughout the week.

Some of the key challgenges faced by the conference organizer:

•    Strengthen relationships between core stakeholders – attendees, speakers and exhibitors
•    Increase networking between attendees, speakers and exhibitors
•    Increase productivity at the conference

The solution included the following key components:

•    Attendee, speaker and exhibitor directories with detailed info on all key stakeholders
•    Online conversations for attendees, speakers and exhibitors
•    Personalized scheduling tools with ability to export MS Outlook, iCal and other calendar aps

The solution generated a significant ROI:

•    27% average increase in event networking due to Zerista (based on survey data)
•    10% average increase in overall event productivity due to Zerista (based on survey data)

If you have any questions  or comments, please feel free comment below.