Meeting News - March 23, 2009 - (Page 12)

MN Exclusive Research Gadgets Work Magic for Planners MN Exclusive Research uncovers pockets bulging with labor-saving devices “I don’t know what people used to do before cell percent digital cameras, 28 percent BlackBerries, phones were invented!”mused Debbie Ricciardel- 10 percent Mp3 players; and 7 percent had “other” li, CMP, a New York-based consultant for Tupper- (a category that most often listed PDAs, followed ware.“It’s hard to believe that we had to wait until by computers, followed by iPhones—the users of we got home to speak to someone, or we were able which resented categorization). to perform our jobs using walkie-talkies!” Corporate planners were more likely to have As Ricciardelli points out, the technological BlackBerries (44%), and women planners aged 41 revolution affects everyone. But meeting plan- to 50 were most likely to have USB drives (61%). ners—with their constant need to stay in touch For the 433 planners who rated which gadgets with an assortment of colleagues (and some- were most valuable in planning times bewildered attendees), may resort to gadg- meetings, 58 percent said cell 58 ets more often than others. phone. For Kimberly ColeMN In fact, as MeetingNews’ Exclusive Exclusive man, CMP, a San FranciscoResearch 32 3 Research uncovered, planners pockets’ bulge based senior event planner at 2 22 Which device is the with a plethora of devices. When asked what Reliant Technologies, a cell MOST valuable meeting 12 1 they had in their pockets right now, 423 out 434 phone is “my life line. All my con3 2 tool you have planners (97.5 %) responded that they had at tacts are in the phone; only recentleast one gadget on them. Not surprisingly, cell ly have I created contacts online.” Cellphone USB drive Digital camera BlackBerry Mp3 player Other None phones led at 75 percent, followed by—more Following cell phones, 32 persurprisingly—USB drives, at 49 percent. Accord- cent tied the USB drive with the ing to Karen L. May, VP of sales and marketing digital camera, 22 percent valued the BlackBer- giance to this revolutionary PDA.“Before Blackfor Phoenix-based CSI etc., who is frequently on ry, while 12 percent tied “other” with “none of Berries,” reminisced Beth Cooper-Zobott, directhe move, “You have access to your software and the above.” A deeper look into the research tor, conference services for Chicago-based Equity personal data just as you would on your own PC. revealed that fifty-something planners were Residential,“I’d be on-site with a group, finish up And when you unplug the device, none of your most likely to consider the listed gadgets as with a dinner program at about 11:00 PM, and personal data is left behind.” Digital cameras irrelevant to planning meetings (16%). Plan- then face 3-4 hours of e-mail via laptop.” (39%), BlackBerries (35%), Mp3 players (24%), ners twenty-something to 40 were the most The next “irreplaceable device,” at 13 percent, and other (8%) rounded out the chiropractic likely to have gadgets, and they were most like- was the Apple iPhone. Although a far cry from appointment waiting to happen. ly to have Mp3 players. However, twenty-some- the market saturation that BlackBerry enjoys, the Although the digital age is perceived as a things were not likely to regard Mp3 players as iPhone inspires envy. Said one planner,“I [use a] younger-person phenomenon, fifty-something valuable in planning meetings, while planners BlackBerry because it’s provided by my compaplanners sport a surprising range of hardware: 77 aged 31 to 40 were the most likely to find them ny. But I'd prefer to use an iPhone and I steal my percent had cell phones, 44 percent USB drives, 34 valuable (7%); the latter group also valued cell boyfriend's iPhone every chance I get!” phones the most (66%). TwenOr, as Mike Van Horn, speaker and author of ty-somethings equally preferred Grow Your Business without Driving Yourself the cell phones, USB drives, and Crazy, put it: “Okay, so I die, and you STILL can’t 75 BlackBerries (44%). pry my iPhone from my hands. So I take it with 49 But if 75 percent of planners me. I get to the other side, and I’ve still got it. I 39 35 have a cell phone in their pockets, look around, then I notice, ‘Hey, there’s really 24 it may only be because they are good reception up here! And look, iTunes down8 holding a BlackBerry in one hand loads are FREE!’ And as far as I can see across the 3 and a can of Red Bull in the other. heavenly clouds, it’s all Mac OS—no Vista.” H Cellphone USB drive Digital camera BlackBerry Mp3 player Other None Responding to a MeetingNews Contact Terri Hardin at strawpoll of industry professionterri.hardin@nielsen.com als (which asked them to complete the sentence “You can have my [blank] when you can pry it from my cold, dead hands”), Allie Wright, event coordinator for Phonak LLC, based in Warrenville, IL, said,“If I have to choose an electronic device it would be my BlackBerry. But, she added,“my true answer would be my Red Bull or my Starbucks; I can’t do my job without daily doses of either one. I should be the poster child for either beverage with the slogan ‘the most productive day in the history of event planning.’” Not for nothing do they call it “Crackberry”: 56 out of 122 professionals (46%) swore alle- Which is MOST valuable? What’s in your pocket or purse right now? 12 MeetingNews March 23, 2009 Source: 434 industry professionals reporting www.meetingnews.com Source: 433 industry professionals reporting http://www.mimegasite.com/mimegasite/research/index.jsp http://www.mimegasite.com/mimegasite/research/index.jsp http://www.meetingnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Meeting News - March 23, 2009

Meeting News - March 23, 2009 Contents What’s Up @ MeetingNews.com Meetings Mean Business As 'Meeting Matter' Marriott Unveils Promo Columbus, OH, Addresses Convention Hotel Issues People Making News Orlando Strives for Cost Transparency Is Biz-Class Air Travel Dead? Greenest Planner Awards Mid America Insider Report: Conference Centers Destination Insider: Mississippi Gulf Coast Las Vegas Destination Insider: Cleveland Ad Index Live from the Forum

Meeting News - March 23, 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.