It may seem like you can't pick up a newspaper or magazine—or scroll through a Web site—without coming across a piece about blogs and their influence on politics and pop culture. (If you've managed to avoid such stories, here's a primer. Short for Web log, a blog is a Web-based journal that enables writers to post chronological entries and invite readers to comment on them.) What those stories probably failed to mention is that blogs are quickly moving from the Web playground into the business boardroom, offering event professionals innovative—and cost-effective—ways to connect with their internal teams, vendors, and constituents.
Meanwhile, another new Web tool offers a similar way to simplify the collaboration process: A wiki is a collection of Web pages that enables users to add and edit pages with little or no knowledge of computer programming. Event organizers can use a wiki as a central repository for project documents, where any team member with a Web connection can read and edit them. Imagine being able to post a project list on the Web that allows your coworkers or vendors to add their tasks and track completion of each one—all in full view of you and the whole group. And these new tools can also keep attendees in the loop about events.
As you might expect, some of the first users of these tools work in the technology field. Kjersten Elias, president of the American Society for Information Science and Technology at Simmons College in Boston, grew tired of nagging her Web site administrator to make changes to the society's Web site to alert the group's 50 members about meetings and other events. So she and another member downloaded software from Jot and built their own wiki in about 12 hours.
Elias—and practically any member—can now easily post documents such as meeting agendas and add, delete, or revise items. Elias also plans to post the group's meeting planning documents on the wiki to enable members to learn how to plan their own events—and revise the documents if they find a better way of working.
Because Elias's wiki is an open environment, members never post confidential information, such as ID numbers. The threat of an outsider, or even a member, vandalizing the wiki also exists. "But we operate on the basis of trust, and we're small enough we don't run into problems," Elias says.
Like much wiki software, her bare-bones version of Jot was free. Users can buy more feature-rich versions ranging from $9 to $49 per month. Wiki software such as DokuWiki and MediaWiki are also free, while companies like SocialText offer corporate-class wiki software for as little as $10 per user per month.
"There's no simpler, faster way to communicate one to many," says SocialText C.E.O. Ross Mayfield, whose company has created wikis for more than 50 large events, including Web 2.0 and PC Forum. "For a planning team, we've shown that a wiki can reduce email volume by one-third and reduce product cycles by a full quarter."
Blogs offer an even simpler, cheaper way to connect with coworkers and attendees in a collaborative environment. Mark Oestreicher, president of Youth Specialties, an El Cajon, California, company that offers training to youth ministries across the country, recently created a blog to help his planning team, six people in six cities, organize a conference—while collecting input from attendees about important decisions.
"I wanted to pull back the curtain and let people know our lines of thinking behind our decisions," Oestreicher says. "I figured if people had the opportunity to voice their opinions, they would be less likely to complain after the fact."
Oestreicher and his team asked readers to suggest speakers, and received as many as 50 responses, leading to rancorous debates. "Viewership was huge," he says. "We had hundreds, if not thousands, viewing on a regular basis." This ad hoc community required frequent updates from Oestreicher, who posted articles and replied to comments; he estimates it took 30 minutes per week to manage the blog and sort through arguments.
Like wiki software, many good blog services are free, including Google's Blogger and Microsoft's MSN Spaces. Oestreicher used a free download from WordPress. Services like TypePad provide powerful blog software for fees ranging from $5 to $15 per month.
Oestreicher recently decided to drop his conference and shut down the blog because the event did not fit with his company's future plans. But the event lives on. A group of volunteers plan to carry on the conference; their first step in the process was setting up a brand-new blog.
—Matt Purdue
Resources
Blogger
http://blogger.com
DokuWiki
http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki
Jot
http://jot.com
MediaWiki
http://mediawiki.org
MSN Spaces
http://spaces.msn.com
SocialText
http://socialtext.com
TypePad
http://typepad.com
WordPress
http://wordpress.org
Posted 03.30.06
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Meanwhile, another new Web tool offers a similar way to simplify the collaboration process: A wiki is a collection of Web pages that enables users to add and edit pages with little or no knowledge of computer programming. Event organizers can use a wiki as a central repository for project documents, where any team member with a Web connection can read and edit them. Imagine being able to post a project list on the Web that allows your coworkers or vendors to add their tasks and track completion of each one—all in full view of you and the whole group. And these new tools can also keep attendees in the loop about events.
As you might expect, some of the first users of these tools work in the technology field. Kjersten Elias, president of the American Society for Information Science and Technology at Simmons College in Boston, grew tired of nagging her Web site administrator to make changes to the society's Web site to alert the group's 50 members about meetings and other events. So she and another member downloaded software from Jot and built their own wiki in about 12 hours.
Elias—and practically any member—can now easily post documents such as meeting agendas and add, delete, or revise items. Elias also plans to post the group's meeting planning documents on the wiki to enable members to learn how to plan their own events—and revise the documents if they find a better way of working.
Because Elias's wiki is an open environment, members never post confidential information, such as ID numbers. The threat of an outsider, or even a member, vandalizing the wiki also exists. "But we operate on the basis of trust, and we're small enough we don't run into problems," Elias says.
Like much wiki software, her bare-bones version of Jot was free. Users can buy more feature-rich versions ranging from $9 to $49 per month. Wiki software such as DokuWiki and MediaWiki are also free, while companies like SocialText offer corporate-class wiki software for as little as $10 per user per month.
"There's no simpler, faster way to communicate one to many," says SocialText C.E.O. Ross Mayfield, whose company has created wikis for more than 50 large events, including Web 2.0 and PC Forum. "For a planning team, we've shown that a wiki can reduce email volume by one-third and reduce product cycles by a full quarter."
Blogs offer an even simpler, cheaper way to connect with coworkers and attendees in a collaborative environment. Mark Oestreicher, president of Youth Specialties, an El Cajon, California, company that offers training to youth ministries across the country, recently created a blog to help his planning team, six people in six cities, organize a conference—while collecting input from attendees about important decisions.
"I wanted to pull back the curtain and let people know our lines of thinking behind our decisions," Oestreicher says. "I figured if people had the opportunity to voice their opinions, they would be less likely to complain after the fact."
Oestreicher and his team asked readers to suggest speakers, and received as many as 50 responses, leading to rancorous debates. "Viewership was huge," he says. "We had hundreds, if not thousands, viewing on a regular basis." This ad hoc community required frequent updates from Oestreicher, who posted articles and replied to comments; he estimates it took 30 minutes per week to manage the blog and sort through arguments.
Like wiki software, many good blog services are free, including Google's Blogger and Microsoft's MSN Spaces. Oestreicher used a free download from WordPress. Services like TypePad provide powerful blog software for fees ranging from $5 to $15 per month.
Oestreicher recently decided to drop his conference and shut down the blog because the event did not fit with his company's future plans. But the event lives on. A group of volunteers plan to carry on the conference; their first step in the process was setting up a brand-new blog.
—Matt Purdue
Resources
Blogger
http://blogger.com
DokuWiki
http://wiki.splitbrain.org/wiki:dokuwiki
Jot
http://jot.com
MediaWiki
http://mediawiki.org
MSN Spaces
http://spaces.msn.com
SocialText
http://socialtext.com
TypePad
http://typepad.com
WordPress
http://wordpress.org
Posted 03.30.06
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Tech Update: Four Helpful Gadgets
Talk to the Badge: The Digital Name Tag Trend
