Photosynth. Wow.

Here’s another glimpse of how social media is going to impact our world of event production and visual communications. This is demonstration of Photosynth, which, among other things takes a large collection of images of a place or object (photos collected on Flikr of Notre Dame Cathedral are used in the demo), then weaves them together to create a three-dimensional space.

Listen to the audience react to various parts of this short demo – can you imagine anyone trying to catch their breath like that after looking at a PowerPoint deck full of bullet points? Doubt it.

Enjoy!

Zentation – when you care to evangelize the very best

You know how you get other people to embrace and spread your message? First, have a good message. Next, give them the tools to share it with as many people as possible.

I’ve raved to all of my marketing friends about the speech/presentation Guy Kawasaki gave at the Experiential Marketing Summit in Chicago. Now, he’s got it posted on Zentation – a site that lets you sync up slides with video from a presentation. He is the expert at customer evangelism after all. So for everyone I’ve evangelized to, please go watch the video now. We’ll discuss later.

Guy Kawasaki – The Art of Innovation 55:38 Guy Kawasaki at the 2007 Event Marketer Conference

NOW, the really cool thing about Zentation is that it gives event planners and producers an easy and affordable way to distribute content. You can create a password protected site (no information on customization yet) so meeting attendees and the ones that couldn’t make it can review the sessions that had the most impact. Depending on the metrics Zentation provides, it can provide some insight into viral nature of each presenter’s message.

Conspicuous calling. Or, bling my bell.

Sigh. Just when I had gotten control over my gadget-lust for the iPhone, here comes another unattainable item for the masses. At least for those of us in the masses that wish to maintain a decent credit score.

Porsche (of really sexy fast car fame) has designed this mobile phone. For a mere $1,600, you can, well, right now all you can do is use it like other mobile phones. However, the dream is to have the phone be in constant conversation with your car (presumably a Porsche). What will they talk about? Security, oil changes, boys, seat warmers, etc.

The handset will launch in Britain, Dubai and other markets this year. It will make its debut in France where it is manufactured. It will make it across the Atlantic, into the US market by early 2008 with distribution in Porsche dealerships.

More cool tools for meeting planners – photo edition

I added a bunch of bookmarks to my way-cool things on the internets directory this weekend. Specifically, photo sharing sites that enable you to add a location to where your photo was shot. Some digital cameras already do this if they have GPS technology, but since my camera doesn’t do that I will ignore all of those details until they become relevant and focus on the existing coolness available to me now.

SO, let’s begin with a great New York Times article about photo sharing sites going global. One of the features of the story is about a guy who checked out with his family for a year and took them on a trip around the world. They documented their trip and shared photos on a file sharing site called SmugMug. I know you’re probably not chomping at the bit to see a stranger’s vacation photos, but it does help illustrate how it works. Here’s the Higham photo album.

• SmugMug offers meeting planners the ability to create and manage password protected photo albums, enable attendees to purchase prints (you never know!) and, of course, have a platform to manage your own personal event portfolio.
• Panoramio lets you search for photos by location, using their World map or Google Earth. I love this because you can find beautiful images for your registration site and presentations and support both amateur and professional photographers (rather than cough up tons of cash to stock photo firms). Let’s just say we’re doing an event near Salzburg, Austria. Doesn’t the image below make you want to go?

• Zoom and Go is a young site that aims to combine video, photos and destination reviews from travelers. It has a way to go before it becomes a really useful tool for travel and meeting professionals, but it has a lot of promise. Here’s the page for London to give you an idea of what the site can do.

• Flickr is one of the biggest photo sharing sites where you can create albums and map your photos to each location. I just played around with our photos from Chicago, and used the Hybrid feature on Google Maps to find the exact building where the exhibit hall for EMS was located.

I’m sure there are dozens of other up and comers in this area, so if you’re using another site or using any of these for other planning/production purposes, let me know!

Presentation Zen at the Tokyo Ritz

Are you reading Presentation Zen? If you are an event professional, it’s one of the best blogs for the money that consistently provides great insight into design, visual communications and the emotional carnage of public speaking.

In this post, Zen Master Garr Reynolds highlights the highlights of his stay at the Ritz Carlton Tokyo. Beginning with the Ritz brand mantra – they are not in the hospitality business, rather in the service business. And if you’ve ever stayed at a Ritz Carlton, you know exactly what this means.

As a Zen Master Presenter, of course one of the most necessary things you need from the hotel is a place to rehearse. Garr actually posted a short video showing the VGA and S-Video inputs at the desk in his room, enabling him to rehearse in front of the massive plasma TV. Do you see the difference between “hospitality” and “service” in this example? These are the things that inspire loyalty and very positive conversations.

That’s pretty cool.

Pimp my headphones.

When I win the lottery, I’m totally buying these headphones.

With a name like Audio-Technica’s ATH-W5000 Dynamic Headphones, it puts my “ear buds” to shame. Check out the Wired Gear Gallery to see 55 examples of drool-worthy gadgets and toys.

Are you watching Current TV?

Want to see what one of the first marriages between traditional and new media has produced? Check out Current TV. About 30% of the content aired is generated by viewers. The network solicits “pods” – or short (3-7 minute) films – from anyone who cares to get their news and views aired on television. Check out the website to view the submitted pods and vote to see which ones make it to air.

This weekend they highlighted a lot of pods sent in from US troops and their families that give a real backstage pass to the war. On any day you can see pods sent in from mostly young adults covering their lives in places like the West Bank, Baghdad and Mogadishu

From a communications perspective, this is small – but not quiet – movement toward the democratization of content. As more people seek and find content generated by their peers, their expectations rise.

The next time you are involved in creating content for a meeting or event, think about what type of expectations your audience has. Did they pay a lot of money to sit in an air conditioned ballroom to hear messages trickle from the top-down? Or do they want to know how the person sitting next to them is doing to make their product/service/widget better/faster/cheaper?

How are you democratizing the content at your shows?

Star Wars party update – ManLeia

One of my guilty pleasures is the Pop Candy blog on USA Today’s site, authored by fellow University of Tennessee (go Vols) alum Whitney Matheson. She’s one of the lucky gals to attend the Star Wars conference and get paid to do it. Here’s a great synopsis of the weekend from her site, including this guy:

Don’t you wish all the events and conferences you attended/worked were this interesting?

Star Wars quickie – the many faces of Darth Vader

Just in case you were wondering what the cool Star Wars fans in Los Angeles were up to right now, probably enjoying this exhibition at the Convention Center.

Obligatory Stars Wars post

This Star Wars post is for my AV buddies out there. Oh, and according to Tangicize, all men born between 1960 and 1995. I imagine some of that lot are catching up on their sleep after the 17-hour movie marathon at the Los Angeles Convention Center yesterday.

The Fourth International Star Wars Convention is going on – complete with R2D2 robot building contests, Princess Leia, Billy Dee Williams and back-to-back screenings of the entire saga.

Bummed you can’t be there? We are too. Be a part of it now with a look at the characters then and now on ABC’s Stars Wars: Behind the Music. Here’s a preview:

I really don’t think R2D2 has held up well. Luke either. Han Solo – still hot. Chewbacca hasn’t really changed much. Enjoy.

UPDATE: Even more Star Wars goodness from Wired: Life After Darth