The Other Conference Program at the Conference

For many years there has been a parallel activity that has become part of the conference experience – especially at Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian where it has been planned in advance to be part of the conference. This has included conference-wide blogging, social networking, Flickr sets, Twitter, hashtags, QR Codes, YouTube, Foursquare, Gowalla, and more. Does anyone remember Lobbycon on the lobby floor of the Hyatt Crystal City? Even Unconferences are nice parts of some very traditional conferences like ALA and SLA. Sometimes these things and technologies are flashes in the pan and other times they indicate a trend or a step into something bigger or possibly mainstream.

So now the mobile trend which is showing up everywhere is a major part of conferences. At Internet Librarian this year we had a fun contest using QR codes and Foursquare and some folks won some cool prizes. Of course, the best net effect is that there are now over a hundred people who have ‘played’ at a conference and are now better prepared to use these tools as pilots in library orientations or wayfinding or more.

Elyssa Kroski at iLibrarian points to this neat post:

“Aliza Sherman at GigaOm reports on 15 Very Useful Mobile Apps for Conferences. These are all great recommendations. The list is divided into the following categories:

• Meeting Others
• QR Code Readers
• Event-Specific Apps
• Location-Based Social Networks
• Miscellaneous”

Anyway, those who play early and often can often lead their organizations to adapt ahead of the game and be in a competitive position earlier. Conference planners take note!

Stephen