With the integration of web 2.0, the meeting industry has began to make various changes to incorporate the variety of communication outlets that have quickly became a valuable resource for meeting industry professionals. The most notable change since the rise of web 2.0 is a massive jump into Social Media, with the usage of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter now in the millions each day. Corbin Ball from Corbin Ball Associates discusses how web 2.0 is primarily based around "you", in the sense that the idea behind social media is to rely solely on user generated content. This idea fits well in the meetings industry because social media outlets are an easy and cost effective way to share ideas and receive feed back quickly.
The usage of twitter during events has become increasingly more popular, as many planners are urging their attendees to keep their wireless devices on during events, in order to receive live opinions on the subject matter without being disruptive. If you notice on the front page of the Quest website, there is a live twitter feed, as well as links to the social networking software that Quest takes part in, including Flickr (Photo Sharing) and Youtube (Video Sharing).
One of the more influential innovations for the meetings industry are user/customer generated review websites, where clients can log on and rate particualr hotels, conference center, or any other hospitality driven facility. Websites such as Trip Advisor poll customers on their experience at a particular facility so that other customers can log on and view ratings to get an idea of the service that they are interested in purchasing Trip Advisor is normally used for personal reasons, but there are a number of websites such as meetingsuniverse.com, meetingsintel.com, meetingscollaborative.com, and elitemeetings.com that are trying to incorporate the same ideas towards the events and meetings industry. These sites woulld give planners a quick reference of comments and options of other planners regarding their expereince at meeting facilities throughout the world.
It is evident that as time goes by more and more innovative technological advances will be used in the meetings industry, and it is important as a planner to keep up with the trends, and offer state of the art programs for your attendees.
