Five New Event And Meetings Tech Tools To Consider

Have you seen these new meeting and event tech tools?

Sometimes staying abreast of the latest tech tools can seem daunting, especially in a world where change is the constant. Here are five tech tools that are worth reviewing.

almost.at – Online Free Real Time Event Aggregator Website

A free conference and event real-time aggregator website. Freelance iPhone developer David Cann built almost.at on the Cappuccino web framework. It has four main columns:

• Far Left – conferences, events and breaking stories.
  Click on one of these and it will fill the remaining right three columns
• Second Column – tweets with specific hashtags and keywords
• Third Column – rich media from Flickr, Twitpic and YouTube
• Far Right column – links distributed through recent tweets

About every ten seconds the page refreshes with the latest information at the bottom of each column. Use the timeline at the bottom of the page to browse through the history of an event. Scroll over a tweet and a plus sign appears in the upper right hand corner. Click that plus sign and the person tweeting has been added to a list of people at the event. Their tweets then show as in yellow.

Want your conference listed with almost.at? Click the plus sign in the bottom left hand corner of the first column and you’ll receive a form to suggest that your event be added to this list.

FloorplanGenie – Online Free* Floor Plan Management Service With A Mobile And Facebook App

FloorplanGenie is a new, free* online floor plan management service powered by a2z, Inc., the makers of a2zShow, ChirpE and several other tradeshow and conference management solutions. Show managers can manage and adjust floor plans and booth sales in real time while giving their tradeshow an online presence via the platform. It also provides an interactive online attendee experience and comes bundled with a mobile and Facebook app.

*The product is free to any show that has 10,000 square feet of exhibit space or more (limited to a max of three shows per year).

Disclaimer: a2z is a client of Velvet Chainsaw Consulting.

SCVNGR – A Mobile App Game For Your Conference, Event, Tradeshow Or Venue

Scvngr (pronounced ‘ska-vən-jər) is an online and mobile app that can be used to play a game at your conference, event, tradeshow or venue. Similar to Foursquare or Gowalla, attendees log in to specific places designated by the administrator, receive instructions to the next place, play fun challenges, and earn points and virtual badges. This mobile app is best played on iPhone or Android but also has SMS support.

As a Scvngr administrator, you can set-up custom treks, sell sponsorships to specific exhibit booths or conference events where attendees are challenged to sign-in. Or you can create a trek for a customized tour of the exhibit floor, conference venue or conference city. Administrators can feature specific tradeshow sponsors with customized challenges at their booth. Participants can broadcast their sign-ins and completed challenges via various social streams (Twitter, Facebook). It also allows for customized maps, floor plans or Google Maps mashups.

Contact Scvngr for pricing models.

Skype Group Video Conference Call

The Skype 5.0 beta for Windows allows users to make a group video conference call with up to five people. To make a group video call, the people you are calling also need to be using the new version. Download the new version of Skype now. While in Beta, the group video conference call is free.

Conference organizers can use this tool to Skype for panelists or to allow remote participants for committee planning sessions. Expect to pay a minimal fee once the product is rolled out in the upgrade.

See the full release of new features for Skype 5.0 for Windows.

Zerista Mobile – A Free Mobile App For Your Conference, Event, Community Or Organization

Zerista Mobile lets you automatically create a free mobile app for your conference, event, club, organization, team or community of practice that can be used from any smart phone or computer. Users can improve communications, connect with others, and manage group activities and event schedules from a mobile device. It allows for custom maps and floor plans and the ability for event organizers to broadcast meeting updates such as room changes or reminders. It also has the ability to see where other group members are and lets members post custom notes on their maps. It integrates seamlessly with social media streams for pre-assigned check-in locations.

Want more customized features like the ability to add advertising and sponsorship placement to your mobile app? Consider Zerista Pro, for a fee. Zerista Pro includes a variety of upgraded tools like meeting scheduler, attendee matching, forums, virtual booths and sessions, booth locator, floor plans and more.

Zerista Pro attendee demo video

Zerista Conference Attendee Demo from John Kanarowski on Vimeo.

Disclaimer: Velvet Chainsaw Consulting has provided consulting services to Zerista.

What are some of the new event and conference tools that you’ve seen or used lately?