The NY Metro Chapter of ISES held it’s Big Apple Awards on June 30th 2010. Our Pink company had a lot to celebrate with the new Pink Powered by Moss and we won several awards! Continue Reading to learn about The Best Use of Social Media – The Twitter Lounge!
Twitter Lounge at BizBash.
In October 2009 Pink Inc. worked with several collaborators to develop and introduce the Twitter Lounge at BizBash NYC 2009. A meeting place, educational experience and presentation of the four companies that were involved, the Twitter Lounge offered a different approach to the typical trade show booth event.
As Social Media is hot, hot, hot our four companies decided to join together and give back to the events community by offering a social media educational lounge with a mixing and meeting of events peers. On top of that each company showed what they have to offer to the event designers and producers. The co-sponsors and collaborators were: DIANA GOULD LTD, 5TH AVENUE DIGITAL, THE GLAZIER GROUP AND PINK INC.
Our goal for the Twitter Lounge was to provide an environment that was a visually interesting, a comfortable place to talk, tweet and learn. By providing an informative oasis amidst the bustle of the BizBash show, we were able to develop relationships with those that stopped by, chat about our businesses and create new opportunities to work together.
The Twitter Lounge itself was co-created by the sponsors. Pink Inc, using a tension fabric curve overhead, focused the area for learning and discussions. On each side of the lounge, sponsors had an area to discuss and showcase their work, while live twitter feeds running on plasma screens demonstrated how twitter is used at events.
A live photo feed, provided by 5th Avenue Digital, was projected onto the lounge’s back wall and then tweeted to all those in the photos. Furniture and flowers by Diana Gould and food samplings by The Glazier Group gave the lounge a hospitable feel. It was truly an innovative collaborative experience and environment!
As a giveback to our community this concept was fun and successful. I am still interested in developing and packaging this concept as there are still so much to learn with social media and the event industry.
The challenge of using social media to extend event impact and build relationships with your constituents is ongoing new territory for marketing, brand building and events. Although we the sponsors do not sell our social media services, as members of the event industry we are using these strategies for our own branding. We feel it’s important to help our industry colleagues get up to speed on these vital marketing strategies, and in doing so, we get a chance to connect in a deeper way.
Most attendees we spoke to were hungry to hear how we’re using social media to promote our brands, and how our industry is using it to promote and extend the life of events. It’s an exciting time to be involved in this new medium and to see the new exploration into Hybrid Events!
What were the main goals/objectives of your event?
Our goal for the Twitter Lounge was to provide an environment that was a visually interesting, a comfortable place to talk about events and social media. We had many people on hand to teach so that you could learn about social media. By providing an informative oasis amidst the bustle of the BizBash show, we were able to develop relationships with those that stopped by, chat about our businesses and create new opportunities to work together.
We set up educational lectures for anyone on the show floor to be able to come and hear. We also had many social media “experts” available to speak with anyone that had a question, at whatever level they were at. Betsy Kent of Be Visible Associates was one of our experts and her blog – Ask Betsy – “Where there is no stupid question about the Web” – was there to share. It was not an intimidating space but a warm place to gather and learn and have your questions answered. We talked Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and we also spoke of events and the importance of knowing about Hybrid Events in this new and growing industry.
In addition the four sponsors work in the Events Industry were highlighted. We all showed our own products in our own way. We each had a table-top display and we were able to connect with our audience there. To that end we spent time with new and old clients – meeting and greeting. Us collaborators made introductions all around, made new contacts and shared our products and knowledge. At the end of the day a great time was had by all.
The 4 sponsoring companies and creative collaboration:
Elizabeth Beskin, Fifth Avenue Digital @photobiz www.FifthAvenueDigital.com
Jennifer Gould, Diana Gould ltd @DianaGould www.DianaGouldltd.com
Cheryl Brocco Kahn, THE Glazier Group @bridgewatersNYC www.theglaziergroup.com
Debra Roth, Pink Inc. @pinkdeb @PinkIncDesign www.pinkincdesign.com
Our helpful collaborators:
David Adler and Richard Aaron of Bizbash
Ed Morrell Corporate-AV www.Corporate-AV.com
Betsy Kent, Be Visible Associates @bevisible www.bevisibleassoc.com
Cameron Toth, Toth Communications @camerontoth www.camerontoth.com/
The methods utilized to achieve the event’s objectives
In the Twitter Lounge the methods utilized to achieve this goal was certainly collaboration! Each of the four companies brought in their own particular expertise. We successfully set up an environment that was visually interesting, informative and comfortable to talk, tweet and learn.
We used Education successfully. We set up a lounge area with informal lectures so people could really come in and relax and listen to content that is new for many. Hearing different people talk about different topics all in relation to the social media was helpful for the audience. The BizBash event-goers were happy to discover this information spot on social media. Our experts “hung” around to answer questions even more personally and one on one.
The event was dynamic with sessions every 30 minutes on different Twitter / Social Media related topics including: tweet – extending your events before, during and after, PR and marketing on Twitter, brand building fan pages in Facebook and networking.
Visual Design was another method that we used to achieve the goals of the Twitter Lounge. The Twitter Lounge was created with a tension fabric curve overhead, focusing the area for learning, and discussions. Large walls focused our space creating a large yet intimate environment. On each of our side lounges, plasma screens with Twitter feeds #BizBash were book-ended to highlighted each sponsor. Live photo feed was projected onto our back wall and flowers and food were additions to our hospitality!
Signage added to the mix – on our walls, on our projections and in each of our individual companies spots, our individual printed logos highlighted our brands.
All in all, Attendees were excited to hear about social media, as everyone wants to learn and know more about it. “It’s an exciting time to be involved in this new medium” Social media is here to stay and the possibilities of mixing with live events is limitless!
Information (if applicable) on ISES Partners contributing to your entry
Sponsors:
Elizabeth Beskin, Fifth Avenue Digital @photobiz www.FifthAvenueDigital.com
Jennifer Gould, Diana Gould ltd @DianaGould www.DianaGouldltd.com
Cheryl Brocco Kahn, THE Glazier Group @bridgewatersNYC www.theglaziergroup.com/
Debra Roth, Pink Inc. @pinkdeb @PinkIncDesign www.pinkincdesign.com
Our helpful collaborators:
David Adler and Richard Aaron of Bizbash
Ed Morrell Corporate-AV www.Corporate-AV.com
Betsy Kent, Be Visible Associates @bevisible www.bevisibleassoc.com
Cameron Toth, Toth Communications @camerontoth www.camerontoth.com/
Tags: Exhibit, Fabric Structures, Networking, Social Media
