The relationship-building systems offered for the meetings market aren't so different from online dating services. Software piggybacks on the social networking tools, matching up people with complementary - in this case, business - interests. But more than matching professionals, the cutting-edge companies that provide networking technology for meetings, including Leverage, BD Metrics, and EventMingle, also match attendees to relevant products and sessions and help them plan and navigate an individualized conference experience.

Then there's the big picture - the right software allows associations to map trends over the long term and help with future planning.

But first consider the short-term. Take for instance, John, an attendee, and Judy, an exhibitor. As soon as they each register, they receive an e-mail notifying them that they have a portal - an online space for a personal profile. They each go online and access that portal, which already includes their registration information. They're encouraged to add more details about their goals for the meeting: John notes that he wants to meet with people who have experience with a new type of surgery, and Judy wants to expand her business in New Mexico, where John happens to live. Judy receives a notice about 10 professionals in New Mexico - none identified by name - and decides to contact them all. She hears back from several professionals interested in talking with her during the conference, and before she ever sets foot on site, she has her one-on-one meetings planned. John receives her note, but he's not interested. Completely hidden behind the system's anonymity, he goes on to the conference with a complete schedule, a walking map of how to make all his stops most efficient, and his own list of contacts to meet.

Why Use It

The portal-based technology, according to BD Metrics' spokesperson Jack Chalden, has "a push-and-pull dimension to it, like a two-way Google." Events and people relevant to your interests are pushed into your portal, and if you decide you want to look at a particular topic, you can search for connections yourself. It allows the attendee to take control. "My colleague may want to use the show in a completely different way, and just because we're going together does not mean we can't design it entirely to our own needs," said Mary Pat Heftman, senior vice president, conventions, for the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

Each user has control of just how much information s/he wants to reveal to potential contacts. In the secure environment, attendees can hold off on revealing e-mail addresses - or even last names - for as long as they like.

"Trade shows have always been a trust-me environment," Chalden said. "We'd sign up, go get our badge, figure out where we're going, and then the curtain drops and we wait for someone to come out. This [technology] lets you do your planning before the event happens, during the event, and after. Everyone knows it's a relevant contact instead of a wished-for contact."

In terms of attendees at the NRA Show, "the more efficient we can make their time, the happier they're going to be, and the longer they will stay," said the NRA's Jennifer Morris, senior director of operations and services.

But these systems help more than individual attendees. The technology was designed to both map an industry in terms of how products and services flow through that industry and to assess what behavior and trends are occurring. What does a senior executive do at a meeting, for instance, and with whom does s/he interact? What about a sales executive?

A planner can measure the interest level in certain sessions, broader industry-wide topics, and new products … and be better equipped to judge attendee needs for the following year.

Then there are the performance metrics that touch on attrition issues, exhibit sales, and market intelligence. Every piece of data an attendee or exhibitor enters, every interest or need expressed, helps to paint a clearer picture of the event.

"We can gauge topic matter and interest level, see if we're on track in terms of content that's addressing the needs of attendees," said Christina Haggerty, marketing director for the American Marketing Association (AMA). "It's kind of a nice thermometer for us to see if everyone's coming to see this sponsor because they're on the cutting edge of the field. It helps us bring trends to the forefront."

Flexible and Low Maintenance

For each event, each association, the process is fine-tuned. The questions asked are adjusted by industry, and each show producer helps determine the focus and goals of the system.

"We had to build a system to be able to be very flexible because every show is different," said Jim Harrer, president and CEO of Specialty Match Network, which launched EventMingle in January 2006. That flexibility extends to services offered and solutions presented, depending on issues each association faces.

"Our exhibitors have a hard time buying in to sponsorships and the like, so I knew it would be a hard sell," said Kristie O'Keefe, director of event planning and marketing for the CPM Group. "But EventMingle was more than willing to set very fair pricing to entice them to try the service. Organizers work with the company to decide pricing."

For such comprehensive technology, the leading companies have all made a point of sparing clients additional work. Whether it's marketing toolkits that suggest language or best practices that recommend solid approaches to registration, the technology providers aim to take the guesswork out of implementation.

 "In the six weeks that lead up to show, we go into autopilot mode," Harrer said. "We send out educational messages, explain why attendees should use EventMingle, and handle all the technical aspects."

"We cover how and when and where to market and the entire process of building community," said Mike Walsh, CEO of Leverage Software.

"It's a complex product," Heftman said of BD Metrics, "and they've put marketing support on it to create messages for show management. They'll do the hard work of putting the messages together, and you can tweak it and tailor it to your industry."

For association staff, the comprehensive guidelines help manage workload.

"One thing we stressed was that our people are already very busy, so we couldn't consciously put more work on their plates," said Leigh Ann Stockard, vice president of meetings for the American Heart Association (AHA).

"What was really attractive was that EventMingle's own staff will sell the additional services to our exhibitors for us - and split the profits - so it did not require any more work from our show staff," O'Keefe said. "There was nothing to lose."

Possible Snags … and Solutions

Success is not quite entirely in the hands of the technology provider. With the paradigm shift in the meeting process, attendees need to adjust to their new role. That new level of control requires attendees and exhibitors to take on a new sense of responsibility. From timing to marketing efforts, associations have found the pluses of re-sculpting their efforts after getting a sense of how the new technology plays with attendees.

It can take a little time for everyone to get on board. The 2006 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual meeting in April was the third NAB show to use BD Metrics.

"It's an education process for people to 'get' it," said Chris Brown, senior vice president of conventions and expositions for the NAB. "We started late; for our first show, we didn't get going until the first of the year, and the show itself is in April. But the goal was to get seeds planted."

First-year usage rates were, as expected, below 20 percent. But by the April 2006 show, early reports had usage above the 60 percent mark, and much higher on the exhibitor side.

"There's a learning curve," Brown said. "People are skeptical to begin with and in this environment, people have to be willing to engage and participate. A percentage of people have gotten comfortable being invisible in the process. It requires someone to step back and mine this for all this is worth. Exhibitors, once they get it, get hooked. That's the easy part. For attendees, they have to want to work."

The AHA hopes to roll out or market the technology "more vigorously" for the next annual convention. The association used the system in a solely data-gathering mode in 2004, making it an active part of the convention for the first time in 2005.

"Our attendees enjoyed the tool, but we need to do a better job of marketing and letting them know how they can use it," AHA's Stockard said. "We started a bit late this year."

"I wish we had signed on a few months earlier so that we could have promoted it in our registration guide," O'Keefe said. "It may have gotten more use that way. We've had to rely on promoting it via e-mail. I'm hopeful that if we use EventMingle in the future that more attendees will take advantage of the service."

The NRA first integrated BD Metrics into its May 2005 trade show, launching the system just three weeks before the event. While the portals drew 2,000 users in 2005, by April 2006, more than 7,000 users had accessed the system for its May 2006 event.

Although most companies offer templates for running marketing efforts, and themselves manage the e-mails alerting attendees and exhibitors, the best plans are more comprehensive … and more personalized.

After two events with Leverage in 2005, the AMA will incorporate the system in five events in the coming fiscal year. At first using the Leverage template for marketing, the association then crafted a specific message to target attendee concerns.

"The reason we started doing this was feedback from members and attendees, saying the biggest reason they come is for networking," said AMA's Haggerty. "Therefore we added strong marketing copy that spoke to what our member needs were, emphasizing the networking." As a marketing professional, Haggerty stressed the need for a well-considered marketing plan tied intricately to the conference itself.

"The way to get a high adoption rate is to tie in the system to your marketing from the very beginning, upon live registration or from the point you launch your Web site," she said. "This isn't something that can run on its own. You need to make a specific communication plan around how to integrate this into an overall plan, to maximize the product."

And, of course, to get the right answers you need to ask the right questions. The technology companies themselves can steer planners in the right direction, but the process is fluid.

 "We're learning to use the tool a little more efficiently," Stockard said. "It's only as good as what your data is, so we're starting to ask them other things we'd like to know other than what's on the registration form … like what else they'd like to see on the exhibit floor."

BD Metrics starts with whatever registration form an association uses, transferring that data to the portal system.

"As an association sees better information, they take a fresh look," Chalden said. "If the payoff for better data is better meeting performance, then willingness to provide that increases, and you begin to modify what you ask for."

The NRA has fine-tuned its questions, asking about specific product interests the association didn't tap into previously. If attendees specify a product, the system feeds them more information about the possibilities for that product.

The End Results

With the right questions and the right attention, the possibilities reach beyond the attendee experience. "A lot of it is adding information about our customers, information not even related to the conference," Haggerty said. "What are their biggest needs, what do they personally need to accomplish? It's a chance to ask them how they make decisions and what drives them, so we can not only help make an event stronger, but also other products and services. Hone up on all the capabilities," she advises, "and know what you're trying to accomplish."

Sizing Up the Possibilities

Networking software doesn't just come into play at the big meetings; groups of all sizes can tap into the value of the technology.

 Sure, for mega-meetings, the software makes the endless array of booths and breakout rooms more manageable - like for the American Heart Association, which wanted to help its 27,000 attendees and 370 exhibitors navigate the exhibit floor. "

For those of us who run industry-wide shows that are mega-events, it gives it the intimate experience and takes out the overwhelming feeling," said Mary Pat Heftman, senior vice president of conference for the National Restaurant Association (NRA). The NRA brings in more than 50,000 buyer attendees and 20,000 exhibitors.

"The good news is we're big; the bad news is we're big," said Chris Brown of the National Association of Broadcasters and its annual meeting's 100,000 attendees and 1,400 exhibitors. "So we're always about trying to help our members use events efficiently. We'd tried session finders and electronic product locators. This system with its advanced search features and ability to build on data seemed to advance that to a whole different level."

But even for smaller meetings, networking technology helps to make every face-to-face contact count. The American Marketing Association (AMA) draws 800 to 1,000 attendees at its annual conference. AMA Marketing Director Christina Haggerty sees a value to relationship-building software not only at the association's main meeting, but for events with a few dozen attendees.

"Even in a small group of people where you could connect with everyone on site," Haggerty said she finds the technology useful. "Even with 50 people, you probably want to follow up with people you don't have a way of reaching. This allows for post-conference communication." - G.P.

Navigating by the Numbers

Once attendees and exhibitors have filled out profiles and received suggestions of people, sessions, and products that fit their needs, they'll hit the ground running at the conference itself. But networking technology keeps working on site.

Last-minute changes

After lining up contacts, attendees may find themselves running out of time at the conference. At any point they can reschedule their stops and print a new map of what exhibits they want to target. If the first two days of a conference don't work out as planned, members can reconstruct the last day at the last minute and make sure they fit in their top priorities.

Post-con contact

Even if an attendee has a long list of must-see contacts that never got seen, the networking site can help with follow-up. Portals stay open for varying times after the event, giving attendees and exhibitors the chance to touch base with those they couldn't manage to see face-to-face.

"Our job is to make sure an event is a great way to collaborate and to make sure we have the functionality to allow that community to stay effective after the event," said Mike Walsh, CEO of Leverage.

Anonymity

Because sites protect anonymity, at the conference itself an attendee need not worry about running into that exhibitor or competitor that - via an online note - they declined to meet.

"Each individual can use an anonymous name, much like Match.com," Walsh said. "When you send a note, it ends up in someone's e-mail box if they want, but the e-mail address is hidden."

"We mimic the badge process a little bit," said Jim Harrer, president and CEO EventMingle parent company, Specialty Match Network. "I might be able to see your name and what company you're with. We don't show a person's last name, and they decide who can see their business cards. They can do that at multiple different intersections. Exhibitors have a flag that can show everyone their business cards."

Additional Behind-the-Scenes Details:
exhibitor options: Associations determine whether exhibitors pay for access to the networking technology. Exhibitors might pay only to be a highlighted profile, guaranteeing extra exposure. Associations can choose between using the service as a value-add or a possible revenue stream.

Pre-conference conferences: Interest in sessions or broader topics can be revved up by conference time. Leverage, which entered the market two years ago, creates group discussions for members before the conference. EventMingle can customize a public message forum.

"We can sit down with the show producer and ask about the kind of general discussion topics they'd like to see," Harrer said. "Then we create moderated message forums to allow members to exchange information. And we're starting to see more and more speakers saying, 'Here are the topics I'm planning on talking about at the event.'"

"The forums have been one of the most beneficial functions," said Kristie O'Keefe, director of event planning and marketing for the CPM Group. "I've been able to find out what some attendees are looking for, and I can help them connect with other professionals on site to better their experience at our event." - G.P.

The Big Picture

More than meeting matchmaking, networking software often answers the big ticket - and big money - questions. After the conference is over, with attendees' connections made and follow-ups arranged, planners see a thorough rundown of who was at an event, what they did … and what they want.

"One thing that attracted us was all the back-end data that we get as show managers," said Chris Brown, senior vice president of conventions and expositions for the National Association of Broadcasters. "It shows us the behaviors inherent in the show, and we're starting to see trends relative to things we used to pick up through post-show research, like what categories are driving the most interest, buying and selling patterns, and where we need to pay more attention."

In terms of education, the popularity of topics and sessions can be measured precisely.

"We know the topics that are most popular, so next year we can come back and improve and monitor with very real data," said Mary Pat Heftman, senior vice president, conventions, for the National Restaurant Association. "It helps monitor and develop educational programming and particular events. This gives us some empirical data of what's engaging them in advance and is tremendously helpful when meeting with exhibitors. It starts to really drive return on investment for attendees when you're able to give empirical data to both sides [attendees and exhibitors]."

And it can help clarify exactly who your attendees are.

"One of the nice things from our perspective is that within the marketing field there's a big fuzziness about what people do," said Christina Haggerty, marketing director for the American Marketing Association. "What this helps us to do is better identify segments and see how customers categorize themselves from a functional standpoint. What kind of department are they a part of? Do they have strong decision-making power or an impact on budgeting? We can highlight those people more easily."

ExpoExchange launched SmartEvent, which uses BD Metrics technology, in 2003. Associations have the option of allowing potential attendees to use the event search engine "to prove to them what they can get out of the show," said Michael Godsey, senior vice president of market development at ExpoExchange. The "justification reports" help to drive attendee registration rates by documenting why a professional attends and helping to make that case to their employer. - G.P.