Anyone seeking more meeting participation may be discovering new ways by attending Obama-led town hall meetings. Some opinion leaders find Obama’s inferred endorsement of google tools jarring. Yet the three he’s using would be helpful to most any event planner, cause advocate, online entrepreneur or global team leader.  They are free, easy to use and scalable:

  AppEngine (a platform), Google Moderator (a tool to vote on which questions should be asked) and, of course, YouTube (for spreading the show – I mean meeting). At the platform you can invite participants to submit and to vote on the questions they want asked.  Yes, it’s crowdsourcing the “best” questions. And priceless visibility for google, with Katie Stanton’s involvement, when the questions are directed at Obama and on a top-of-mind-topic, the economy.  Enable participants to gain bragging rights - as they do for the town meetings - by inviting them to video themselves asking their question.

Exhibitors: here’s a surefire way to attract more warmed-up prospects to your booth, learn about their needs and bond with them as a festive part of the conference. As a speaker, I’ve forged value-building alliances with exhibitors that you can adapt to your kind of exhibiting.

“Make Every Moment Count” is the title of a CD that a pharmaceutical company gave away at their exhibit booth at two major conferences. 

Half of the CD covered the company’s new product highlights and “how-to’s”; the other half featured companion tips to those I offered in my opening keynote on communicate to connect. The person who introduced me announced the CD gift from the exhibitor. At the end of my talk the introducer drew attendees’ attention to the descriptive gift cards on their seats. He added that they could get their gift (“limited number available”) at the company’s booth right after my talk, and that I would be at the booth for 30 minutes to answer questions.

At the booth, exhibitors offered a bonus gift: a free copy of my autographed book (with the company’s sticker on the front) to those attendees they pre-qualified as possible prospects who agreed to “take three to five minutes” to fill out a 15 question survey. (Speakers are thus able to bulk sale their books to partnering exhibitors as I did.) 

Exhibitors: Identify a popular presenter in the key conference and tradeshow in which you participate. Recruit that speaker to co-present a proposal to conference and exhibit staff at those high priority shows, one that leverages value for all parties. 

For example, your firm could underwrite all or part of a speaker’s fee in exchange for this integrated outreach.  As well, work with the speaker to co-create two PDF e-books, with a print version of each.  Offer the printed version as a meeting souvenir, combining the speaker’s tips and your company’s advice about buying and using your kind of product or service (with a special offer to the first 50 attendees who visit the booth). 

The eBook can have links to many parts of your web site including one with an online survey and follow-up offer. 

As part of your agreement with the organization hosting the conference, a reference to these free souvenirs could be placed on the their web site page with details for the upcoming conference.

Ask that the printed booklet be placed on attendees’ seats prior to your sponsored speaker’s presentation. Provide the second eBook and printed booklet to customers throughout the year.

Reduce your costs and increase your credibility and visibility by joining forces with one to three other non-competing exhibitors who often participate in the same trade shows as you do. Identify the speaker.  Ask that you have adjacent booths. Combine your tips into blockbuster eBooks and printed booklets.  That way you gain a warmed-up introduction to each other’s booth visitors.

It takes a tenth of a second to form an impression. So imagine how difficult it is to hold their interest for five minutes.  That’s a short time for you and a looooooong time to them. For practice in being memorably brief, find or start an Ignite group.  They are popping up all over, including in my hometown of Portland where an early social media mentor of mine spoke – Adam DuVander. Baltimore, Phoenix, Philly and Seattle are hosting them too. As in Pecha Kucha gatherings you are limited to 20 slides, advancing automatically every 15 seconds.

But that’s in a meeting room where you can rely on Powerpoint.  The next stage in communicate-to-connect prowess is to start an Ignite group where slides and PowerPoint aren’t allowed. In fact, ban technology beyond a microphone, if needed.

Yes, images help, but use them to warm people up to your idea before you are with them – or to reinforce it afterwards.  Use precious face time to connect. Anyway, in most everyday situations where you want to ignite a fire under your idea, you won’t have technology on hand, except, perhaps your cell phone. Besides, the most authentic messages happen when we see you saying them  – and come to believe in both.

At your association’s annual conference imagine having two sessions each day where ten  (pre-conference sign-ups ) attendees present their message, one after the other, Ignite-style.

Add a Wisdom of the Crowds feature:  Video the sessions and post them on your association’s site or blog.  Then all members could sign in for the first month after the conference and view and vote for their top five favorites. That might provide meaty insights into what most matters to members.  Plus it’s a palpable way to motivate and honor members for their best and succinctly-presented advice.

Update: Yet if you must use PowerPoint then get Nancy Duarte’s groundbreaking book Slide:ology and turn the pages in awe at the beauty and practicality of her approach. Like presentation zen guru, Garr Reynolds I am so delighted by her approach – and her generosity in including free videos of some of the presentations in the book.

He was in Bangalore and his co-presenters were in San Jose, yet Cisco’s CEO appeared live – on the same stage. How? By using a breathtaking 3D holographic-like technology. They tout it as, “the world’s first real time virtual presentation. Aptly, it’s called TelePresence.

See Sir Richard Branson – live at a London press conference, while standing at Necker Island, his Caribbean retreat. Or preview “the first space age Olympic swim suit.” On Wednesday a Telstra executive in Melbourne, Australia interacted with an audience in Adelaide.

My friend Rick watched a demo and raved about it. Suddenly, this is a competitive space. And, yes, this is Cisco’s big new business, partnering with Musion, yet it will have to cost less to gain traction. Why am I interested in it, aside from the astounding effect of a holographic human presence?

Because:

• The realistic presence it provides means people around the world can gather for what really feels like an in-person gathering.

• The best actors anywhere for a particular play can assemble to enact it, for more people to see – live and later.

• The top experts on a topic can appear on a panel, taking questions from audiences in many places.

• Crowdsourcing becomes easier.

In short, it enables more realistic “face-to-face” group collaboration. Cisco had an I-Prize contest in which anyone could propose novel ways to use this technology. Already it is in 28 countries, lightening the carbon footprint. Five years ago I spoke on Cisco’s global, in-house on-demand TV station. I still get emails from Cisco employees who clicked on their computer to see my presentation when they thought it might help them with a current need. Holographic-like appearances, however takes that kind of live and on-demand capability to a whole new level.

As useage goes up and cost goes down, the world will flatten for more Me2We opportunities. We’ll be able to get a better feel for each other, no matter where we actually are. I can hardly wait to try it.

Skip travel and lodging costs. Meeting Planners’ Alert:

For PCMA, SGMP, MPI, ASAE, NSA,MeCo, MeetingsNet, MiForum and others in the meeting or communication professions: bring the most relevant speakers and panelists to the same stage – no matter where they are standing in the world. Enable “attendees” to talk with them. Encourage convention centers and conference hotels to provide this capacity, offered by Cisco, HP or other firm. Set the bar higher.

First, Cisco CEO John Chambers is providing it for large conferences, concerts, events, awards ceremonies, multi-site meetings, high level briefings, retail, museums and product launches – even movies and soldier/family conversations. Then Chambers wants to bring it to our homes. (Well, not every room, in the home.) Stay tuned.

Traditionally, conference attendees fill out conference evaluations after a session or conference is over, but the SXSW conference for tech and entertainment folks is anything but traditional. Some attendees heckled in real time at the  “pandering” and/or “self-promoting” style of Business Week’s “Valley Girl” columnist Sarah Lacey during her interview of Facebook CEO, Mark Zukerberg.A “trainwreck.”(Advice: know your audience.) A surge of audience members started criticizing her via their blogs and twittering micro-blogging. It got vicious.The opposite could also happen, of course, if an audience raved in real time about an interview, speaker or panel. Then the conference organizer could extend the session. The era of the passive attendee is fast-passing. Live blogging just started recently, mainly at tech-centered conferences or unconferences. Audience twittering just started within the past 14 months or so. Yet the trend will spread quickly to more kinds of meetings. Parents are learning text messaging to keep in touch with their children. Young meeting attendees expect to make their views heard, in the moment. As more meeting attendees adopt these social media tools, they’ll use them the conferences they attend. Thus more and more attendees won’t wait to vote on the questions the speaker or panel wants to ask. They’ll be commenting, asking the questions and trading opinions as the program unfolds. They’ll take photos from their seat, then try streaming video.That means that savvy meeting planners will eventually “have” to find a way to track the unfolding comment stream of the audience and choose a way to respond to them, either during or right after the session. Speakers, panelists, meeting planners and sponsors face a whole new attendee-centered meeting future, just as companies are experimenting with how to operate in a customer-centered world. Now that’s a fast-unfolding future full of ugly and uplifting mob scenarios.

Is your expo + conference a “must attend” event for more people very year? How clear and well-known is the biggest reason to go?

Attendance has grown a whopping 40% every year since George Jage launched his World Tea Expo in 2003. And he had a handicap. Jage had never worked in the industry he sought to serve. Yet he wanted to eventually host the largest educational gathering for people anywhere in the world involved in any part of the tea business. Yes, the formerly quaint and now “hot” beverage – tea.

As the first non-tea industry keynoter at this expo I stayed all day to observe and participate. After speaking at over 300 conference/expos I was impressed to see how this “outsider” managed to involve so many groups and attendees in ways to learn, network more efficiently, cross-consult, co-create, co-teach, bundle packages, cross-sell and other Me2We approaches to collaboration and community-building.

Whether you are an exhibitor, board member, staffer or attendee at an annual conference and/or expo, you can discover fresh ways for all parties to make your meeting more valuable and convivial from this interview with Jage.

For starters, here’s some popular features of the World Tea Expo’s Me2We approach to conference + expo design:

• Promise and prove a clear and visible reason to attend. The World Tea Expo provides “the largest educational program on tea” anywhere in the world and the largest tea event in North America.

• Guarantee that most sessions will be led by people who have a proven track record in the topic they’re teaching. This also happens at CaterSource yet is surprisingly rare at expos. Pay your presenters and require them to avoid sales pitches. The tips they offer, in the face time with attendees will attract clients.

• Make many sessions team-led so they are more relevant, idea-packed and fun.

• Keep classes small and intensive (many are three hours) to enhance chances for:

- Hands-on practice with the actual activities of the attendees’ work.
- Attendees to ask questions, and turn other participants into colleagues.
- Instructors to attract clients or customers and find partners to co-create differentiating value.

• Include a new business bootcamp that shows new attendees:

- The best ways to start, not just any business but a tea business.
– Product tasting and marketing and operational ideas to jump to the cutting edge of their industry.
- They are welcome into the community of attendees who will help them grow.

• Invite leaders of associations at the edge of your work to participate and otherwise partner – to offer more value for all attendees and/or members. For example the director of the United National Products Association and the founder of the American Botanical Society will be presenting and attending this June in Las Vegas. He’s also forged partnerships with those hosting conferences serving those in the coffee and spa businesses. Kim Jage says the lively expo attracts people as diverse as a new tea room owner and a Fortune 500 company research scientist.

Here’s some tips for exhibitors and for meeting planners. Get still more fresh ideas on how to grow your own conference + expo from others who’ve already done it at Society of Independent Show Organizers. For more ideas see The Professional Convention Management Association, MeetingsTV, Trade Show Exhibitor’s Association, Major American Trade Show Organizers, International Association for Exposition Management, MeetingsNet, IAAM, Meeting Planners International’s blogs and wiki and ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership. Perhaps you’ll want to host an social network to deepen your attendees loyalty, collaboration and learning so they feel closer at next year’s conference .

… so they’ll want to come back next year. How many conferences have you attended where you felt talked “at” by a series of speakers up on stage? Then you rushed between sessions to meet new people and catch up with friends in the hallways. Wouldn’t it be great to have a meeting designed to support you in exchanging ideas with the colleagues most helpful for you? Well, next February many professional meeting planners will be attending a conference that’s designed to in a “Me2We” way – where attendees turn from passive to active participants – interacting more frequently and productively. Then they can celebrate together and to learn from each other. (Not a new idea – just one that is spread too slowly for some, including me.) Some in the food industry have jumped in to help peers.

Want your next conference to be more meaningful and memorable? Via Jim Louis, one of the adept moderators of a closely-knit online group to which I belong called MeetingsCommunity (MeCo), I discovered MeetingsNet’s coverage of the innovative formats for the conference, “MPI Meeting Differently”:

“To improve the trade show experience, MPI is changing the layout of the exhibit hall. One innovation is something MPI calls “conversation spots,” freestanding circular plexiglass towers that are divided into quadrants and placed in high-profile spots around the exhibit hall. The idea is to provide a more intimate meeting area for exhibitors and attendees than they normally find on the trade show floor.

Organizers tinkered with more than just the trade show format. New concepts include:

a. The “Conversation Café”-a learning environment based on a coffee shop.

b. “Book clubs” – discussions led by book authors and subject matter authorities.

c. Wikis – each educational session will have its own wiki pages to encourage pre- and post-session communication and collaboration.

d. Educational sessions in “soft seating” or lounge-style meeting environments. Most of the 80 educational sessions will eschew a traditional classroom setting. Instead they will be held in the round to facilitate interactive learning and discussion.”

My hope is that this is the tipping point to make meetings even more interactive so attendees find in each other fresh ways to be mutually-supportive. Even as a “professional” (aka paid) speaker I’d welcome more short (20 – 30 minute) “meet the expert” sessions around 8-12 person tables, with a bell ringing so you could move through three sessions in a block. Then the mix and mingle times are more fun and valuable. That’s because you’ve probably discovered some people who share your interests and gotten a sense of whom you might like and respect enough to talk further. Use CrowdVine or other services to set up a social network – just for the conference.

For an invitation-only gathering, have inclusive, action-inducing rituals like the TED conference or Rennaisance Weekend.

Plus why not let attendees vote on the topics, speakers and session formats they most want?

And why not ask all invited speakers to 1) submit in advance, three of the tips they will present, then 2) receive an email of all speakers’ tips and be required to 3) refer to at least two other speaker’s tips as they complement the speaker’s message. Thus the conference would have more continuing threads of themes.

Also why not have lively panels of inside and outside experts (1. journalists or columnists, 2. researchers at investment banks, and 3. veteran, respected exhibitors) who see, from a different perspective, the sector represented in the conference. Give each panelist just seven minutes to offer their best two pieces of advice for attendees. Encourage attendees to submit written questions as they listen. Volunteers could gather the questions, sort for best mix for the strong and well-liked MC to present to the panelists to answer. As attendees leave the meeting room, they are given the handout with the written version of panelists’ tips and their bios. Thus attendees see more candor and pertinent content – in a contagiously active way. Who knows? That may lead to more unconferences. And, perhaps more associations and other member-based groups will start their own social network to keep people involved, meeting and collaborating all year long.

Speaking of partipatory, hear holiday cheer that’s guaranteed to make you laugh with joy. My way of wishing you a (Me2We) holiday you savor – with others .