Forum - June/July 2011

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
Expand Your Annual Meeting Reach With
Live Reporting

BY NADIA GEAGEA PUPA

Communication, collaboration and creativity. Those are the three essential elements for keeping members informed and up-to-date with the happenings of their association, according to the Institute of Real Estate Management. During its annual conferences, there is a sense of excitement in the air as members exchange information, network and share new ideas. At the end of each conference, they hopefully walk away feeling like the money they paid is returned to them tenfold in the form of the best educational resources in the real estate management industry.

But what happens to members who simply can’t be there? They also pay dues and volunteer their time. Shouldn’t they be able to stay informed about the association and gain insight from the annual conference — even when they can’t attend? Because people today stay perpetually connected through social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it’s easier than ever to make sure that they can.

Although social networks can’t solve all problems or provide the same sense of excitement that one gets from being onsite at the meeting, they are a simple yet effective way to reach members who can’t attend. Inspired by that premise, IREM® decided to take the concept of “social networking” even further by creating an online “Live From Orlando” (LFO) show daily for its most recent annual conference, iCon 2010, which took place Oct. 20-23 in Orlando. Created on location, the daily updates were a simple way to give absent members a glimpse at what they missed, while also enticing them to attend next year’s conference.

Step One: Establishing a Team Although it sounds easy, organizing a team and defining individual tasks can be challenging. To get started, IREM therefore asked itself a few simple questions: What do members want to read? What matters to them? And finally, what

will make them feel connected to their industry?

Of course, creating and publishing content is the expertise of a typical editorial department. With that understanding, IREM’s editorial and publishing team functioned as the driving force behind the daily LFO material. Weeks prior to the conference, that team periodically met to discuss how to accomplish this big endeavor. Part of its success was its ability to adapt quickly to changing member and team needs — which is why the team has decided to expand for its 2011 conference, adding an IT staffer who will help populate the LFO web page and disseminate LFO emails.

The logistics behind this operation began with five basic templates for five days of conference news coverage. Each template was broken into editorial sections, or “departments,” including: Quoteworthy, From the Podium, Bookshelf, Tweetables and the main body of the page, which displayed four brief news stories. Scattered throughout each page were photos and videos accompanying the updates, along with a “Twitterfall” — a veritable waterfall of tweets — located in the Tweetables section.

Ultimately, the team dynamic worked because each LFO team member — whether providing tech support, written material or clever headlines — had a specific assigned task to do before arriving in Orlando.

Step Two: Collaboration
Once onsite in Orlando, the LFO team
reconvened at the end of each day to
discuss what they saw, compare notes
from educational sessions and speak
about their overall experiences. That’s
when the true collaboration began. Team
members with strong reporting skills did
just that: They reported, then wrote the
content. Other team members used Flip
Video TM camcorders to capture short snip-
pets of fun, while still others focused on
maintaining the “Twitterfall” of comments
made by conference attendees.

Step Three: Capturing Members

Regardless of the size and volume of attendance at any annual conference, small efforts that connect members to their association will go a long way. IREM’s LFO team was able to think resourcefully and provide a cutting-edge experience to members, without spending extra funds.

All associations can similarly think creatively by working with different outlets and media. Consider, for instance, engaging your audience of absent members by re-creating for them the meeting’s onsite excitement using a combination of clear, concise and brief written content and visual multimedia, including photos, videos and social media feeds.

Still skeptical? Consider the long-term potential of conference content: After IREM’s iCon conference, members continue to use LFO content as a reference, educating prospects about the benefits of conference attendance and, in so doing, strengthening the association’s value proposition for existing members.