MPC It’s For You!

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up, Meeting Point Cincinnati is for you!

MPC was founded to bring together the Cincinnati area meeting and event community.  My goal is to make the group very accessible to everyone.

Here are some ways to get involved.

1. Guest Post (write an article) for the MPC website.  If you would like to be a regular contributor I will create an about page and feature you on the Meeting Point Cincinnati website.  I will provide you with links back to your website or LinkedIn profile.  All articles are your property to use as you please.
2. Attend an MPC Friday Field Trip.  Currently I plan to host on the Final Friday of the month.  Price will vary by cost of each location but will be minimal.
3. Host a MPC Friday Field Trip at your location.  I only ask for coffee and a light continental breakfast.  I expect typical attendance to be 15-30 people each month.  If you host I will provide a sponsor link on the MPC website for 1 year.  You also get to make a short presentation about your venue during the event.
4. Join the LinkedIn group.  The link is located on the right sidebar of the website.  I chose LinkedIn groups to host the membership since it is a great source of new leads for the group.
5. Sign up for MPC website updates which are located on the right sidebar as well.
6. Post an article or resource on the LinkedIn group.
7. Comment on the blog posts on the website.  Each blog post has a comments section available.
8. Refer MPC to a friend.
9. Use the Share This link at the bottom of each post if you participate in link sharing sites like Digg, Delicious or Stumbleupon to name a few.
10. Present a topic at the MPC Friday Field Trips.
11. Post industry events or email to be listed on MPC website to meetingpointcincinnati@gmail.com
12. Give it a try.

I shared with the attendees of the inaugural Meeting Point Cincinnati Meetup, that this website and group was merely an experiment.  I have been reading and learning about Social Media for the last 2 years and figured it was time to launch something for the Cincinnati meeting and event industry.

Social Media is very young and its applications relating to events and meetings are endless.  In the past few years I have seen numerous companies and associations attempt to use Social Media and for the most part the results have been average in my opinion.  This is something we are going to need to practice.   I hope you will join me in my experiment.

If I had only one tip to give you about Social Media is remember the social aspect.  If you sit back and only watch you are not engaged in Social Media but merely entertainment.  Getting involved and sharing your expertise, and learning from others is what Social Media is all about.

So here is your opportunity to get involved.  Share your ideas, expertise and feedback.

Meeting Point Cincinnati It’s For You!

Photo Credit: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Do You PK? A Cure For the Common Meeting

Death by PowerPoint! A pandemic that has been plaguing  the meetings industry for the last 10 years.   Pecha Kucha Nights an International Sensation could be the vaccine you are looking for to breathe life back into your dead meetings.

Pecha Kucha was created by a pair of architects in Tokyo looking for a manageable way for young architects to share their work without boring the audience to tears.  They devised a presentation format of 20 Slides, 20 Seconds each on auto timer.  6 Minutes and 40 Seconds and you are done.  Sit Down, Shut Up because its time to move on to the next presenter.

The limitations have allowed for more people to share their work and the cream to rise to the top, so to speak.

I first learned of Pecha Kucha from a local social media group “New Media Cincinnati” which hosted a meeting Pecha Kucha style and allowed the attendees to present first come first serve at the meeting.  Working in audio visual for the last 15 years, I jumped at the opportunity to present.  I was hooked. Not only is it fun to present but I was excited about the potential of short and interesting presentations.  I have definitely held my eye lids open for my fair share of full screen notes, I mean PowerPoint presentations.  I don’t think the term bullet is an accident.  Bullet by Bullet a really bad PowerPoint can leave you lifeless.

Enough of my spiraling rant about the product that single handedly drives my paycheck.

Back to the inspired part.

I met with a co-worker in early 2009 to discuss an idea I had for using Pecha Kucha to promote the city of Cincinnati.  My idea was to bring the Cincinnati Meeting’s Industry together for a Pecha Kucha Night to present Cincinnati’s finest destinations and best kept secrets, minus the marketing spin.  The inherent limitations to Pecha Kucha create a very personal and to the point discussion about an idea or vision.  My goal is to have an archive of Pecha Kucha presentations on the internet promoting Cincinnati, minus the spin!

I decided to put the idea on the back burner after getting real with myself.  My life had changed with my first child Ella arriving in late October 2008.  To be quite honest if I only had 6 Minutes and 40 Seconds for anything  I might think I was on vacation.

Moving on Pecha Kucha found me.  A dear friend contacted me looking for audio visual assistance at an event she was hosting at the Contemporary Arts Center.  Once an AV Dude, always and AV Dude, my instincts kicked in and I was beginning to think this was one of those calls where somebody thought they had an AV problem but the really had a money problem. Not being cynical, I get these calls almost every week.   Let me guess you need some audio visual for your event but you have no budget.  I was right but luckily for her, I quickly realized, this sounded like a Pecha Kucha Night and guess what,  I just happened to be interested.  She was floored when I asked “Are you hosting a Pecha Kucha Night?”

Things moved fast and before you know it, I was part of the Cincinnati Pecha Kucha movement which had already created a fun brand for itself  “Do You PK?.” I met the group and offered audio visual support and sponsorship via Prestige AV & Creative Services my employer.  It just so happens the Pecha Kucha founders in Tokyo finally emailed me the same night with the groups contact information.  Pecha Kucha has found me so to speak.

The inaugural event was hosted by the Contemporary Arts Center with huge success.  Over 300 people attended and it was standing room only.  Soapbox Cincinnati covered the event and you can see more by clicking here.

We have since hosted Volume 2 and have Volume 3 on the calendar 0n August 5th at the Cincinnati Art Museum.

I am working on my Pecha Kucha about the Historic Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel which I have had the opportunity to work in over the last 5 years.  The building is a true work of art and I find something new about its design and history almost every time I work there.

I encourage you to share your Pecha Kucha slides or video links in the comments area below.  I recommend SlideShare.net for posting your slides.  SlideShare is a great tool for meetings and I will cover it in more detail on a future post.

Daniel Pink a leading marketing and business author shared a Pecha Kucha he created on signs which interestingly enough highlights a Cincinnati Destination the American Sign Museum.

If you are interested in hosting the Pecha Kucha Night focused on Cincinnati contact me via meetingpointcincinnati (at) gmail (dot) com.

Otherwise here are some links to additional Pecha Kucha Articles and the Cincinnati “Do You PK?” schedule.

Do You PK?

Pecha Kucha Founders Site

Daniel Pink Article

Presentation Zen Article

Get Plugged Into Social Networking – Review

From time to time, I will be posting reviews of the various “Meeting Industry” events I attend.  Here is my first review.

Last week The METS Center in Northern Kentucky hosted “Get Plugged Into Social Networking” presented by Kendra Ramirez of SaleKonnect.com and followed up by a panel discussion.

I considered the even to be a huge success.  First and foremost it was a great example of using “Social Media” to promote an event.  I am not aware of all the approaches which The METS Center used to promote this event but it appears LinkedIn Events was the primary source.  I found out about the event via my weekly LinkedIn Status Updates when a connection of mines status included that they would be attending the seminar.  This is the viral aspect so many of us our looking for in our marketing.  The METS Center must be very pleased with their efforts of probably 5-10 minutes posting the LinkedIn Event which led to an overwhelming response and over 150 attendees.

Kendra Ramirez is a text book example of how powerful social networking can be for your business.  There is hardly a day that passes that I do not see Ramirez’’s name being listed as the keynote speaker or tweets about her speaking live coming across my Twitter stream.  Ramirez’s talk was informational and entertaining.

What I liked most about Ramirez’s talk was her first step to Social Networking, “Identify your audience and your goals!” So many people skip this step when it comes to Social Networking.   It would be kind of like getting in your car and getting on 75 North heading towards Dayton, OH and realizing your goal was to go to Lexington, KY (assuming you are in Greater Cincinnati) you probably won’t make it.  The better you know your audience and goals the easier to set your direction.

Ramirez shared some statistics about the various networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  The one that stands out the most is LinkedIn with over 30 million professional users in the United States.  You can dig into her statistics by watching the complete presentation on The METS Center website, click here, which is another great example of Social Networking by posting the video and slides.

Ramirez offered up some common pitfalls for Social Networking, the one I like most is the belief that by signing up for a service like Twitter or LinkedIn people will flock to you.  I think we have all been tainted by the “Field of Dreams” mantra, “Build it and they will come!”  The truth is Social Networking is just an extension of quality content, products or services.  Think of Social Networking like an investment, investments require capital (your product or service), time (socializing and developing contacts) and the right investment platform (Formerly Mutual Funds and Real Estate).  So invest your time wisely.

Ramirez finished her talk with a panel discussion including the areas top Social Networkers, Debba Haupert - Girlfriendology.com, Michelle Lentz – Write-Tech.com, Suzanne LaChapelle – LaChapelle Design, Rod Martin – NavigateTommorow.com, Dave Hatter – LibertasTechnologies.com.  This panel has a wide variety of experience and had some great advice on topics ranging from blogging to Twitter tips.   Watch the video online.  Click Here.

If you are interested in seeing Kendra Ramirez in person she will be speaking July 22nd at the InnerCircles Women’s Networking event hosted by InnerWorks LLC.com Click Here for details.

A useful tool for following the online event chatter is Twitter Search. The #METSCenter tag was used for this event. You can check out the discussion by clicking here.

For those of you reading who attending the event you may have met a few people that you want to follow on Twitter. I parsed the Twitter Search pages and I believe most of these people were in attendance.

@bobgarrett
@TimDeRosett
@Curtisinc
@jwestwood
@JaneVCI
@writetechnology
@coachbriany
@jwestwood
@AnnLightfoot
@CarrieCMoore
@cjvenneman
@OakleyAftrHours
@JudiCogen
@JoeKikta
@XUBlueBlob
@DaveHatter
@ParsonsC
@CinWomenBlogger