Washington, DC – Allen Blue, co-founder of LinkedIn, will present a general session at the inaugural Event Technology Expo (ETE), held September 10-11 as part of HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings National at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC.
Blue’s discussion will cover the use of LinkedIn as a tool in creating and maintaining the coveted communities of professionals that are the target audiences of trade shows and can ultimately become their best sources of publicity. “LinkedIn considers professional events to be in many ways the offline manifestation of LinkedIn online – the exchange between professionals of ideas, information and opportunities,” said Blue. His session, titled “Deriving Greater Value from Three Days out of the Office: LinkedIn’s View on the Power of the Relationship and its Impact on Events,” will explore the online professional network, its beginnings and subsequent growth, and the opportunities that the network effect presents to conference organizers to aid attendance and engagement pre and post event.
The two-day “show within a show” will address all aspects of technology for trade shows, conventions, meetings and special events. The conference program will focus on the effects of technology on the meetings and events industry today and in the coming years. Trade Show Executive is the sponsoring magazine for the event.
The speakers in the ETE lineup represent some of the leading technology companies in the events industry whose ultimate goal is to increase efficiency, increase attendance and maximize ROI for exhibitors.
Joining Blue in the discussions on various aspects of social networking will be Tim Bourquin, CEO of TNC New Media, on using podcasts, blogs and streaming media; Mark Sylvester, co-founder and CEO of introNetworks, on keeping the members of a social network engaged with one another over the long term; and Chris Dworin, vice president of business development of GoLightly, Inc., who will address the use of the online community to enhance meetings.
Other sessions focus on some of the basic uses for technology that are employed on a broad scale by the trade show industry. Ed Lemire, executive vice president of Acteva, discusses marketing before, during and after events; Fish Software CEO Michael Gilvar on the latest uses of RFID to keep track of attendees, and Philippa Gamse, president of Total ‘Net Value, Inc. on website optimization.
Two leaders of the APEX Initiative, the Convention Industry Council program to develop standardized best practices for the industry, will fill attendees in on how they can best make use of the initiative to improve their return on investment. E.J. Siwek, chairman of the APEX Technology Advisory Council, and Terri Breining, commissioner of the APEX Initiative, will also provide an update on the development of the APEX Portal and APEX PowerShop.
Reach Rob Weissman regarding speakers and exhibiting, at (212) 679-9212 or raw@acsb2b.com; Allen Blue at (650)-968-8617 or ablue@linkedin.com; Jack Withiam at (914) 421-3200 or jack_withiam@glmshows.com
