M.I.C.E. Technovations:

Tomorrows Hottest Technologies Today

Ray Shaw•Principal – Intermedia Pty Ltd (meetings and events industry consultancy)•Chairman – MCI Australia•AMM – Australia’s longest serving Accredited meeting manager – 40 years•AFMEA – Associate Fellow Meetings and Events Australia•FPRIA – Fellow Public Relations Institute of Australia•AJA – Accredited ICT Journalist•E: ray@im.com.au

DIGITALIt is all about one word.

When I first started organising conferences in 1974 all I had was a typewriter and a pretty secretary.

In the 70 and 80s there was no tech in the meetings industry

A photocopier was huge, expensive and almost always out of order…

The first commercially available PC in 1980 was an Apple II at US$2600 and in 1987 a mono laser printer cost upwards of US$7,000.

The internet really only started in 1995, Google in 1998, Facebook in 2005 and broadband ADSL2+ and NextG wireless in late 2008

So why this history lesson?

The first disruptive influence was digital – the ability to store and manipulate data

Result - systematisation and automation of logistics i.e. registration, accommodation and much more.

The second disruptive influence was the internet –the ability to do anything digital, anywhere, anytimealmost without boundaries.

APEX is driving automation. Standards are necessary but perhaps the unintended consequence is removing the creativity and innovation leading to price over all else.

Result – Labour is 60% of an event budget - more automation will lead to loss of entry level jobs and push up the industries entry level access.

The next disruptive influence is mobile

Future tech directionsIts not about the gadget its about what it can do

• Push communications will allow organisers to broadcast anything updating program, papers, slides and more on the fly.

• Printing anything will disappear (all items will be digital)• Camera (front and rear) will become a collaboration and video tool• Inbuilt microphones will replace roving mics• Handwriting recognition and stylus will replace the keyboard• Voice command and gesture control will replace the mouse• Voting (will be done with an app)• Near Field Communications (NFC) chips will allow it to be a credit card and proof of identity

as well as an attendance monitor at sessions.

• GPS will allow geo-tagging (mark photos with location), Geo-location (find nearby shops and restaurants),navigate traffic as well as track your movementsso that opens up new networking opportunities.• The new AC standard for Wi-Fi will allow for virtually free faster local data downloads• Notebooks/PC/Mac in sessions will cease to exist• 3G/4G/5G will allow for remote connectivity • Ubiquitous social media access in sessions will encourage tweets and posts for greater

real time feedback• Storage will all be cloud based (as will applications like Word, Excel etc.)

The disruptive influence is not the smartphone or the tablet

but what you can do with itForget expensive proprietary apps – the future is all about HTML 5and doing anything you can imagine

To move forward you must move past PROCESS

Emerging hot new software includes:• Assignment management (more productivity from less staff)• Attendee networking (GPS, tracking, speed dating, business

matching, table allocation) – automate highly labour intensive tasks.

• Marketing (CRM, social media, list management, campaign management and tracking) – reduce labour.

• Mobile Access (Replacing printed material and people). “Look it up in your funk&wagnel” because there will be no people to answer your funken question.

Look at the other side – the stakeholders experience (get inside their heads).

What lies beyond meetings and events?The future is clear– real beerThe challenge is not who attends but who participates!