Tweeting the Motivation Show '09
Though slightly smaller in size in comparison to shows of the past, the Motivation Show was still deemed a success, many people citing a "quality over quantity" aspect as far as gaining new leads at their booths.
The show went smoothly for us, from setup all the way to taking down the booth, we were able to avoid any huge technical difficulties for the most part. The Monday night before the show, we recognized different individual's achievements within our company at an awards dinner. It was a good chance to not only give each other pats on the back for a job well done but also gave everyone the opportunity to interact outside an office environment, which was a lot of fun!
The next three days gave us chances to interact with people personally that we normally contact via email or a phone call. In particular, it gave us the opportunity to connect personally with individuals we've interacted with via social media (more specifically Twitter). Throughout the course of the show, I was able to put faces to Twitter usernames like @toddhanson and @incentintel. I feel like that's a great goal of social media use...to ultimately gain personal interaction with people in your industry or those who share similar interests.
Twitter and the Show
Twitter also shared a presence in the show outside of connecting with existing contacts. Using the hashtag #moti, a sparse few participants shared updates on what was happening at their booths, things shared at meetings by keynote speakers, and other interesting tidbits regarding this year's show. The use of hashtags is becoming more prevelant at trade shows and other business conferences, giving individuals more awareness as to what's being shared at the show, whether you are actually at the show or merely following the action online from your home Twitterfeed.
This year's Motivation Show showed very modest activity on Twitter. This could be due to the fact that, according to Paul Hebert of Incentive Intelligence, that the social media revolution has not completely caught on in our industry. The lack of activity could also be due to the sporadic network signal within the walls of McCormick Place. I spoke with several individuals (like myself) tweeting from their mobile devices who were having trouble actually getting tweets out. I know we (Hinda and Helping Hand Rewards) weren't able to tweet near as often as anticipated due to this issue. However, with Twitter evolving as a business tool and seeing rapid growth in popularity, I anticipate seeing a huge increase in interaction between show participants via Twitter in future shows.
Overall however, the Motivation Show '09 went very well and we look forward to next year's show and its new two-day format!