One + - July 2010 - (Page 10)

The Energy of Many It Takes a Community to Change the World THE FIFA WORLD CUP USES THE STORYLINE: “ONE GAME CHANGES EVERYTHING.” With the World Cup, FIFA is creating incredible national and global communities all around an event. NIKE is even taking it a step further with their “Write the Future” campaign invoking fans and athlete celebrities from around the world to dream their own story of success around the World Cup…and NIKE products of course. As meeting professionals, we believe human connections are the most powerful forces accessible to force mankind—they build community, inspire innovation, in activate leadership and create opportunities. That’s opport why we can conﬁdently say, “When we meet, we change the world.” There seems to be no end to the challenges facing crises, humans these days: economic crises volcanic ash, connecting people oil spills. But I also believe that con and their ideas are fundamental to ﬁnding solutions our we could never have imagined on o own. Never have there been so many cultures and perspectives to connect with. Never have there been so many connection channels conne for people to use (or abuse). The art, science and magic sc creating of creatin human connections in a complex world never been more has ne valuable than right valu now. now And meeting and an event professionals are virtuosos at creating communicre ties tie that unleash the energy that proliferene ates when powerful human hum connections ignite. ignite Building community Bui meeting as the using a m activation vehicle is not a new idea by any stretch, but its importance as an engagement approach and cocreation engine keeps elevating as our worlds get more complex. Creating and unleashing community energy is increasingly a powerful and deliberate outcome of a well-designed event in two ways: First, by co-creating innovative solutions to challenges or opportunities, attendees crystallize a powerful spirit of community ownership that almost always results in a greater success rate when the idea is broadly introduced. And for some of the challenges facing nations and organizations at the moment, innovation is essential to their survival. Secondly, meeting attendees develop an enduring common connection to a shared experience, idea or set of values that can be activated at/when needed. Brands such as Apple and Nike use their events by creating experiences to build and activate communities of followers to drive sales and brand buzz that endure well beyond the event itself. The recent iPhone 4 launch event was so successful at driving pre-sales that it overwhelmed the online order platform. Community does not just randomly happen at a meeting or event. It has to be designed by the meeting professional using a balance of provocative inspiration, emotional engagement and attendee participation. Companies such as CISCO are using online games to engage their attendees. TED is so successful at creating community with its attendees (both live and virtual) that the attendees themselves are creating and managing their own TEDx events. A design key to building community at events is unrelenting engagement before, during and after. Resistance is futile. Passive attendance will not change the world. One game, or meeting, can indeed change everything. BRUCE MACMILLAN, CA, is president and CEO of MPI. He can be reached at bmacmillan@mpiweb.org. Follow him at www.twitter.com/BMACMPI. 10 one+ 07.10 http://www.twitter.com/BMACMPI

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of One + - July 2010

One+ - July 2010
In It Together
Contents
The Energy of Many
Impressions
Overheard
Agenda
Top Spots
Focus On
SoundOff
Hot Buzz
Art of Travel
Your Community
Making a Difference
Connections
Irrelevant
Refresh Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
Who Owns Social, Anyway?/Embrace the Changing Pace
Penalty for Posting Event Videos Online
Improving Your Meeting Performance
Want to Kill Your Chances at Getting a Job?
A Natural Fit
Wearing the Green Crown
Off the Beaten Path
Cracking the Code
Clear Your Mindspace
There Is No Try
Grassroots Giving
Recognizing Market Transformation
Meet Where?

One + - July 2010