2011 Chick-fil-A Leadercast in Atlanta

Our big goal is to change the leadership culture of America—really the world, but starting where we are—from pride-based leadership to humility-based leadership. [Giant Impact] does that through events as well as through custom leader development, where we work with a lot of Fortune 500 companies for leadership development with CEOs and their teams.

Why is it important to align sponsorships, like you’ve done with Chick-fil-A, with the mission of your organization?
Our internal talk is we want to find people with the same DNA as us—people who have a high amount of quality service and operational excellence. When we have global brands that stand for those same qualities, it is assurance to the world and reiterates the quality of the event. It’s also a risk for us. When we put a national sponsor’s name on it and they have some sort of negative press, it affects us. So we look at who we want to emulate our message.

How can planners seek those kinds of partnerships?
We’ve always gone at it with the attitude of relationship before any opportunity. We don’t even talk about sponsorships until we’ve added value in some way to that sponsor.

Why do you simulcast the live event?
If our goal is to change the leadership culture of America first, that’s a huge number of people. Studies show if you can change 1 percent of a given population, you start to see a culture shift. You see that throughout time. You look at the Civil Rights movement—if you start to get 1 percent of the population to stand up for an issue, you see that tipping point. We looked at working class America, the everyday leaders in America, and if we can have an impact on 1 percent of them, we will shift the culture. That number is actually 2,301,315 people. That’s our BHAG—our Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. We can’t do that with one event. We’ll cap out. We’ll have 5,000 to 6,000 at the live event in Atlanta. Simulcast allows us to empower influencers throughout the world.

More than 800 host sites simulcast the Atlanta event live to attendees present at their venues. How does that work?
They buy a license to simulcast our event, and they turn around and sell tickets to their public. We have host sites that do it for all different reasons. We have chambers of commerce that want to do it as a way to raise funds. We have churches who do it as an outreach to a local community. We have entrepreneurs who do it because they want to be life coaches and this is a great way to bring clients in around leadership. About 30 percent of our hosts are corporations simulcasting internally for their own company benefit: Apple, Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, Papa John’s Pizza and Oracle.

How do you attract host sites?
We promote through social media. We’re following folks on Twitter and adding value and sharing content with leadership experts there and on Facebook. We take part in a lot of other events and trade shows. We partner with a lot of other organizations who have community influencers involved and we reach out to them with a message of, “We truly want to partner with you to influence your community.” We do that through a variety of technology, through email blasts and through Chick-fil-A. They have a raving fan database they send messages to about the event.

How do you encourage host sites to have a similar experience to the live site?

It is completely up to them. Anything we do at the live site we share. We share minute-by-minute [plans], we share creative. We view host sites as partners, and every day we’re constantly striving to get better at how we equip our host sites. We do webinars, letting people know what we’re doing, the ways we are engaging people, and we encourage them to share best practices between each other.

What are some creative ways you’ve used social media?
We’ve created a private group on Facebook of all of our host sites. You have 800 people who are community influencers or are bringing this into their companies, and they share best practices. It’s amazing to watch that from the inside.

How do you engage followers?
We’re reading and following our raving fans, and retweeting and interacting with them. We want to know who’s following us and reach out to them because a lot of them have incredible stories and incredible things they are saying.

What about on-site at the event?
The last two years we’ve been a trending topic on the day of the event on Twitter. We do creative things during the event encouraging people to use our hashtag. Last year, we were trying to get a response out of Ryan Seacrest. He’s a big Chick-fil-A fan, and so Tripp [Crosby], our emcee, told everyone to tweet Ryan Seacrest and ask him if he would have lunch with Tripp next time he’s in L.A. or Atlanta. Now you have 125,000 people tweeting Ryan Seacrest with our hashtag, so now it’s interactive. We ask people to tweet in questions to our speakers and we have a backstage interviewer, Michael Hyatt, who’s interviewing speakers when they come off the stage and really looking for the questions from the audience on Twitter. Also, leading up to the event we’ve done twitterviews—interviews over Twitter—with John Maxwell and Suzy Welch. We’re lining more up for this year.

What is the Choice video contest this year? 
This year, the theme is all about choices. The choices we make on a day-to-day-basis—the small choices—tend to lead to macro results. We opened a contest where we’re giving a $5,000 reward for the best 10-second video clip that illustrates a choice being made. We’ll use all the videos at the event and create a larger, longer video.

Why is engaging your community in this way important?
It guides us when we are coaching speakers and specifically ask them to speak on some of these topics. It’s really important for us to listen, not just push information out, “Hey, here’s a good leadership tip,” but really asking a question on Facebook and on Twitter and engaging to hear what people are saying.

Has social media changed the way events are planned?
One hundred percent. In the past, we’ve had this speaker vetting process to see who is going to speak at our events, and it’s just been us deciding. Through social media, we can ask who you want to see on stage and we get a list of names. Then on top of that, people are tweeting about it and it’s giving access to the speakers. If all of a sudden 10,000 tweets say I want Suzy Welch or Bono to speak at Leadercast, then Bono is getting all these tweets and thinking, “What in the world is this Leadercast thing?” Then, when we reach out to them, they say, “I was wondering about you guys.” It’s done so much to help bridge access to these speakers.

How has it changed the event itself?
Especially in a simulcast world, you’re so distant. How amazing is it that I can literally be sitting in South Africa and tweeting Tim Tebow a question that gets answered right then and there? The level of engagement and ownership one attendee feels is absolutely tremendous.

Tell us about the production involved in the Atlanta event.
We want everyone who comes to the live site to be wowed, so we look at sensory in production—what they hear, what they see, what they smell, what they taste. We use LED lights and huge screens and interaction pieces. Last year, we had fire jugglers and we did a Coke and Mentos explosion on stage. Also, sound—we bring in great musicians. We’re constantly asking how we can engage all the senses and make it something that all fits into the theme.

Why is it important to be creative?
People won’t engage if you’re not. A lot of people think, “I can’t spend the money to be creative,” and then they wonder why there’s 200 people who showed up at their event when they were hoping for 1,000. You’ve got to give people an engagement, and that comes through creativity. Spending the time, the energy and the money creating these wow moments and sensory experiences are what make or break an event.

What if they don’t have your budget?
I wish we had twice the budget. I’m amazed when I walk through and see what our team has created when I know what the budget is. Where our team gets the most creative is when we have a very, very, very tight budget, and then ask, “How do we use what we have?” We’re forced to be creative at that time. Throwing money at something takes no creativity.

Closer Look

What inspires you to do your job?
Any event planner who’s doing a large event of some sort has to build an incredible team around them, who know what they’re doing, who are working in their unique skill sets and abilities. I get the most joy out of watching attendees’ faces, seeing the experiences that people are having, and hearing the stories of change, and then to be able to look at my team and say, “You did this.” As the leader of this team, the true joy and the true excitement comes when I can hold a mirror up to the team and say, “You have done the most amazing job at transforming life all around the world.”

How do you encourage your team?
As a company, we really try to reward character, competence and influence. The executive team calls out and appreciates those folks and the team. We also celebrate stories from host sites and attendees. To be able to share these stories, to get a letter in the mail, or a tweet or a Facebook message that talks about the power of impact, and to be able to hand that off to [my team] and say, “This is because of you. Thank you.”

How do you relax after an event?
Run and hide. Most of our team goes dark for a good while, a week or so after the event. A lot of us take vacation. I’m an entrepreneur. I love starting things and having my hands in a lot of things, so I make sure on days when I’m unplugged on the weekends, I really unplug. So I encourage the team to take true free days after the event and leading up to the event. I think it was released recently that event planning is one of the top 10 most stressful jobs in the world, and we all understand why. When we are rested and rejuvenated, we actually work in our most creative zone.

What’s your best advice for fellow planners?
Have a system where you can unplug completely. Turn off your iPhone for a 24-hour period. Turn off your email. Be unreachable. If you can’t turn your phone off, you’re not a good leader. Your team needs to be empowered to make decisions when you’re not around.

What can you not live without on-site? My phone and my assistant.
What’s your favorite book? “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins.
What’s your favorite music? I love hip-hop. I love a good beat. I love dancing and having a good time. Hip-hop makes me smile and usually makes people around me smile.
And your favorite quote? “Be the change you want to see in the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi

For Planners

An event isn’t going to be well-organized if the person behind it isn’t. The following tools keep planners on track by helping with travel, accounting, scheduling and planning.

Contactually

Not everyone can have a personal assistant keeping track of emails and tasks. Contactually is a relationship management tool that connects directly to an email inbox and takes note of who the messages are from and how frequently and quickly the user responds to certain emails. The system prioritizes contacts and helps keep track of follow-up. Reminder emails from Contactually keep important relationships top of mind. The web-based platform is compatible with Gmail, Outlook and most email programs online and on all mobile devices. It also syncs with most CRMs. contactually.com | Plans range from $15-$150/month

Doodle

Faxing a sign-up sheet around to colleagues? Sending reply-all emails to a group? Try the online meeting scheduler Doodle, which easily coordinates schedules with polls that sync with Google, Outlook, Exchange and iCal to help pick the best dates and location for everyone involved. doodle.com | Free or premium plans $39-$479/year

Powersquid

Bring along the ultimate powerstrip, the PowerSquid, which fits in a briefcase, has a flat profile plug to squeeze behind furniture, two glowing outlets, surge protection and a bevy of octopus-like extensions for multiple electronics. powersquid.com | $12.95-$59.95

Zite

Keep track of varied interests in one place with this custom magazine app that learns a user’s interests and curates articles and news according to what they read. Now a news/motorcycle/meeting planning/cooking magazine can exist. zite.com | Free | iPhone, iPad

TIP | Use tweetchat.com to join Twitter chats. Sign in on the website using your Twitter account and type in a designated hashtag. The system filters the relevant tweets into a chat room and makes it easy to message the group. Smart pausing prevents new tweets from being added to the top if the user scrolls down to read earlier posts until scrolling back up. No prep work is required for the organizer either. Make sure followers know when to join and what hashtag to follow and it’s all set.

For Events

From marketing and registration leading up to an event to on-site gadgets and post-event follow up, event technology enhances connection, engagement and participation throughout the experience.

Citywide Attendee Credential System

ITN International’s BCARD badges take interactive name tags one step further. Embedded with Near Field Communications technology, the identification cards double as a way to track attendees within the conference (think: education credits) and as a free pass to public transit and tourist attractions throughout a host city. The host CVB can provide discounts around town, or tickets to a convention-wide event at an area attraction. itn-international.com | Pricing structures depend on size of event and sponsorship opportunities

Social Tables

Anyone who’s ever gotten stuck at the crazy cousin table at a wedding knows the importance of a good seating chart. When there are assigned seats, drama and unhappy guests can follow. Social Tables gives attendees the power to help with the seating chart without the chaos a planner would expect from crowdsourcing this aspect of planning. The collaborative program allows multiple organizers at different locations to determine seating. The organizers’ purest intention, though, is to allow guests to pick their own seats. Planners can put guests into categories giving them certain options of where to sit, and guests have the ability to interact beforehand and pick their seats, ideally with new contacts. socialtables.com | Free

Square

The best way to take payment on-site, this tiny device attaches to a smartphone, accepts all major credit cards and charges merchants a 2.75 percent rate. It makes registration a breeze, and direct-deposit payments are in the bank the next day. square.com | iPhone, iPad, Android

For Social

Events are social. We plan gatherings to initiate connection and interaction among colleagues. Social media gives that interaction a year-round platform, encourages face-to-face connections and offers the potential to elevate events to a new level. New players in this field add excitement to what planners can achieve through social networks.

Pinterest

The hottest trend in social media, Pinterest, beat YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace for percentage of total referral traffic in January and is fast on Twitter’s heels. The social networking site is an online pinboard where users share things they love on the Internet. It’s perfect for the visually stimulating world of events. Planners can go in several directions with it. A planner might create a board that markets an event, pinning articles about education, images that go along with the theme, speaker videos and host city information. Or, the planner might create a personal idea board with centerpiece possibilities, great food and beverage presentations or cool audiovisual. And, if the site seems geared too much for the female set, its manly (unrelated) counterpart, gentlemint.com, has a rougher exterior. pinterest.com | Free | iPhone, iPad, HTML5

Pathable

Technology has increased engagement at face-to-face events and extended lifespans online. One of the pioneers in this area is Pathable, a custom online community for events, which had a makeover at the end of last year that made it even better. More than simply a custom social networking site, the platform was designed with events in mind. It integrates with registration systems, giving attendees a virtual presence and allowing them to network with one another, create custom agendas and download session handouts. Attendees, speakers and suppliers dialogue in forums, and a virtual trade show floor gives additional exposure and connection opportunities to suppliers. The benefits of 2.0? Allows all of that engagement year-round, makes it all mobile and browser-based (i.e., faster). pathable.com | $3,900-$27,200/year | iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows phone

For Mobile

Today, in order to mobilize attendees, many meeting planners have to mobilize their content. Making the event website mobile, having an on-site mobile app and using a personal mobile device as a tool are necessary.

Gamify App

Competition fuels engagement, and gaming—the No. 1 most popular mobile activity—turns attendees into active participants. EventMobi has created GamifyApp, a customizable gaming app for events. Attendees earn badges by checking into exhibitor booths, answering questions about education sessions or taking part in an event-specific scavenger hunt. Organizers receive data about who checked into locations, which they can share with exhibitors or use for their own feedback. gamifyapp.com | $2,500 or combined with EventMobi packages starting at $799 | iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry

Swivl

This is not your average tripod. The Swivl base holds a smartphone, and automatically follows a presenter wearing a Swivl sensor. The speaker is free to move around and stays in the camera’s view. swivl.com | $159 | iPhone

CardMunch

It is possible to connect with the non-tech savvy. This app from LinkedIn converts a picture of a business card into a digital contact and finds the new contact on LinkedIn. cardmunch.com | Free | iPhone

For Websites

An app, social media, online registration system and print pieces are all important aspects of event marketing, but they all link from or to a crucial information hub: the event’s website.

Facebook Badges

Share personal profiles, a “like” box, photo albums or an event’s Facebook page on a main website to draw attention to the event activity on the social network. Users don’t have to leave the website to like the event’s page or check out photos from previous events. facebook.com/badges | Free

Don’t forget there are still more tools in the April/May issue of Collaborate, and read an interview with Consumer Electronics Association. Let us know in the comments below some of your favorite meetings technology tools.

“I just got my learn on,” quipped emcee Chris Collinson, chief strategist of Collinson Media and Events, which produced the show, after Steve Forbes presented a keynote session on business development and the current state of the economy. Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media, was one of four headlining keynotes. Author and journalist Lisa Ling, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and adult learning expert Jane Gentry rounded out the keynote panel. Andrea Crowder, events coordinator at IDEA eSolutions, tweeted, “About to see @biz (co-founder of twitter) deliver a keynote. Great keynote lineup at #collab12,” using the official hashtag from the event.

The education extended from the main stage into breakout education sessions, where experts presented topics on meetings technology, speakers, personal branding, ROI, legal issues and more. Interviews with session and keynote speakers can be found on Collaborate’s YouTube page and handouts from education classes can be downloaded here.

Collinson events are known for their networking opportunities. “From the opening reception to final sessions, this year’s Collaborate was a huge success. Even on the bus ride to the airport, I enjoyed a unique opportunity to share impressions of this year’s conference with another planner. Collinson Media [creates] such an open environment for collaborating,” says Pam Williams, meetings development manager at the Mesa Arizona Convention and Visitors Bureau.

More photos and videos from the event will be posted in coming weeks to our Facebook page, and you can follow the conversation all year long on Twitter. If you weren’t able to join us this year, plan to attend next year’s event when Collaborate Marketplace heads to Denver.

We’d love to hear your feedback. Fill out this survey with your feedback so we can improve in future years.

“Gary was a kind and hard-working man for meetings and tourism,” said Newt Collinson III, founder of Collinson Media and Events. “Our industry will miss him. He led Orlando, empowered his staff, and he made a positive difference for the entire hospitality business.

“On a personal level, I lost a friend,” added Collinson. “Gary was always quick to give suggestions on our Marketplace events and compliment our magazines and editors.”

Visit Orlando Chairman and Hyatt Regency Cypress Gardens General Manager Paul Tang said in a statement, “Gary was a loving son, husband and father. Our thoughts go out to the people he most cherished, Gary’s mother Elizabeth Sain, wife Pam and daughters Vanessa Sain-Dieguez (Luis) and Olivia.”

ATLANTA, Georgia, May 7, 2012 — Collinson Media and Events, a leader in the meetings industry, has unveiled a new look for each of its three magazines: Collaborate, a magazine aimed at the corporate meetings industry; Connect, a publication for the association and specialty group market; and Rejuvenate, the leading magazine for the faith-based meetings segment. The comprehensive design changes to the three publications make them easier and more enjoyable to read.

“We’re always listening to our readers and trying to deliver what’s most important to them,” said Christine Born, vice president of editorial at Collinson Media and Events. “Our magazines still feature the most relevant news and thought-provoking industry features, but we’re providing readers with more entry points, better navigation and a modern design you typically only find in leading lifestyle publications.” Readers will find new fonts and colors, easy-to-digest news briefs, expert quotes, more charts and infographics, links to exclusive online features and a more sophisticated overall look. “We’re engaging readers from cover to cover, and continuing the conversation on our websites and social media,” said Born.

Collinson Media’s magazines continue to innovate in the meetings field. The award-winning publications draw inspiration from the world-at-large, not just within the industry. They feature columns and features from meetings experts, as well as experts in a variety of fields from business to career development to leadership. The magazines feature extended destination news in every issue, informing readers of new openings, venues in the works and what’s happening in cities across the country. “Our commitment always has been to our readers and industry partners, and we will continue to innovate our products and offerings on their behalf.” The design changes were introduced in the April and May issues of the magazines.

ABOUT COLLINSON MEDIA AND EVENTS

Co-owned by brothers Chris and Newt Collinson, Collinson Media and Events is a senior leader in the meetings, travel and tourism industry. Specializing in destination marketing, the company produces digital programs, online and mobile solutions, meetings business magazines and trade shows, travel guides for newspapers and leisure magazines, and destination information, which is distributed through broadcast and custom programs.

A $20 million, three-year renovation is underway at the Moody Gardens Hotel, located in the Moody Gardens resort area. The hotel’s lobby, 428 guest rooms, meeting rooms and restaurant will be refurbished with new furniture, fixtures, carpet and paint. More than 100,000 square feet of meeting space is available at the property, including a 15,180-sq.-ft. ballroom and 60,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall.