Applying Mobile Tech to the Conference Experience. Instagram & Getglue at CIL11

We used a few of the major current mobile techs during the Mobile Trends & Practices Track at CIL11 to engage the tools we are/should be learning about and to insert hot mobile trends into the learning experience.

As moderator of the day long Mobile Trends & Practices Track at the Computers in Libraries conference, I wanted to provide an opportunity to use and learn about some of the emerging impactful tools in mobile technology. And there is no better way to learn than to play.

We used Groupme for coordinating the speakers, Foursquare to engage the event, QR codes to connect with content, Instagram to add a visual element, and Getglue to check in and share. Plans to leverage Hashable and Bizzy were put on hold because we had our hands full.

Group messaging:

I used Groupme, a leading group messaging application, to facilitate communication amongst the track’s 16 speakers beforehand and on site. This project served as a micro testing ground from which we took lessons learned forward to future events and back to our home institutions.

I had originally wanted to use a group messaging app as a backchannel for the full audience but decided to use the smaller control group of speakers first. I think the experience we gained has prepared us for rolling out the use of Groupme as a backchannel for upcoming events.

Competition:

I set up a competition to encourage usage of Instagram and Getglue during the program sessions. We had been successful in creating Foursquare competitions at previous conferences so I decided to adapt this concept to shifting trends and switch gears to focus on the technologies that are emerging this year. These technologies were new to many in the audience, so we took the opportunity to briefly explain what they are and how to download them.

I partnered with an online tee shirt retailer, Old Glory Tees (http://oldglory.com/ @oldglorytees on Twitter), to provide “I <3 Libraries” tee shirts as prizes.

Getglue:

Getglue is a popular entertainment checkin service with which users can check in to and socially engage an activity (what they are watching, listening to, game they are playing, book they are reading, or a topic they are thinking about). I created a topic for the program, “CIL11 Mobile Track” http://bit.ly/cil11mobilegetglue so attendees could use the tool while engaging the content. To win, attendees had to check in to the topic and send their check in to Twitter to show their larger professional community that they were early adopters of this tech.

Results: There were 15 check ins to the topic, many included great comments and reviews, even a question, and some sent their check in to Twitter.

At the end of the day’s sessions I awarded the prize to Emily Gusba. Emily checked in to the topic and included her wider professional audience by sending it to Twitter. Congrats Emily, and thank you for being a go getter!

Getglue’s recent Foursquare integration update may shift the landscape of location aware activity check ins enough to offer new options in the near future.

Instagram:

Instagram is a front runner in the hugely popular suite of mobile photo sharing applications. I asked attendees to add the conference tag to images they upload to Instagram, associate them with the conference location, and share with wider audiences beyond the in-app community. Instagram user wickysupafly, Timothy Siegel, won the competition by adding and tagging pictures taken during the sessions in Instagram.

Bizzy Plans:

I also wanted to use Bizzy’s new ‘CheckOut’ feature, and plan to use this in the near future as a way to have attendees also provide feedback. Bizzy Checkouts fill in a useful place beyond checkins that will be fun to engage.

Hashable plans:

Hashable is a great tool for networking. I planned to use it to connect attendees with speakers and with each other during the track with its new location feature as a place oriented point of relevancy.

I also asked the audience to use Foodspotting during lunch, but didn’t get much interest from attendees. Perhaps we can do more with the app when it grows in this segment.

Next time we may experiment with Color and Soundtracking.

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Bringing the technologies into the conference experience is a great way to learn and share. It helps us all move ahead and push our profession forward, especially alongside industry leaders like those that attend Computers In Libraries. What technologies should we incorporate next?