A Wider Net

Microsoft officially unveiled Surface, an exciting new way of interacting with a computer. Think of it as a coffee-table computer screen that you can touch to manipulate files and media. But that basic description barely does this technology justice. For starters, the screen is “multi-touch” sensitive, like the iPhone (reportedly) will be - which allows you to use multiple fingers to manipulate media - zooming, stretching, moving, etc. Next, it wirelessly connects to devices you place on the surface like phones and cameras. Then you can drag images and movies in and out of those wireless devices as if they were part of the virtual surface. You have to see it in the video - it’s super cool.

This device is similar to MERL Diamond Touch and the Gesturetek Gestpoint table models, in that you view the content on a horizontal surface and manipulate it with your hands. But it appears to use the multi-touch control system shown at a recent TED conference, and the interface is simply amazing.

This will surely affect us in the media production and marketing industries. Here are some initial ideas:

• As a collaboration and visualization tool, this will be a powerful tool to sit around and view materials.
• In a trade show environment, it will make a great demonstration station. Not only can you give guided tours of your products but you can hand over control to anyone at the table and allow them to access media and fill out forms.
• Attendees can plunk their mobile device on the surface and drag some product shots and PDF’s onto their device for an ultra-slick self-service literature fulfillment kiosk.
• An auto dealership can use it to display digital brochures, then work through financing options and fill out a loan request.

I can’t wait to get one to play with. Dang! We just bought a new coffee table for our lobby… I guess this will just have to go in my office.

More information here and here

I haven’t listed a premium gadget in a while, and I have been meaning to mention this one. The Zen Stone is the latest MP3 (or Digital Audio Player - DAP) from Creative and the latest salvo in the ongoing war against the iPod(s). This one is positioned squarely against the iPod shuffle but it has several important advantages: It comes in all kinds of colors, feels nicer to the touch, you can choose to shuffle or not, you don’t need iTunes software, and it’s half the price of a shuffle. It probably also sounds better.

I like the $40 list price, and the (optional) accessories like the keychain clip, the TravelSound dock with speakers, and the sound isolating headphones give you most of what you’d want in a teeny player. Rubber gel skins give you additional branding opportunities.

I’m sure companies will find that this device’s price and features and better branding options will make the Zen Stone a better fit for their incentive or marketing campaign. It’s very easy to drop a podcast or two on here before you hand it to your employees or customers, and even if they already own a big player like an iPod, they will appreciate this for it’s ultra portability for when they don’t feel like bringing their more fragile and more valuable player everywhere they go.

You do have to contend with the lack of prestige. Creative doesn’t have the Apple brand appeal and popularity and, as such, doesn’t feel like as much of a gift. But you can work out a less-cheesy version of this positioning: it’s better and it’s cooler - just like we are, and we prefer to carve our own path and not copy what everyone else is doing.

I’ve always been concerned about the environment, interested in environmental issues, and wildly cynical of big oil and the politicians who pander to it. So, I’m surprised that I haven’t spent more time and energy researching environmentally conscious events. Until recently, talking about environmental issues relating to events tended to make me feel as out of place as a vegan at Arbys. But at a few trade shows recently I noticed an increase in conversations around environmental issues and a few outstanding vendors devoted to green exhibits and practices.

So I’m going to spend a few posts sharing some research I’ll be doing into green event operation and marketing practices. For today, since I’m short on time, I’ll share a few interesting sites I found today that are related to the topic of green events.

Here’s a good article from MPI’s The Meeting Professional, that includes excerpts from a report indicating that green events saves money, plus a checklist of easy to execute tips.

ecosystems offers the first ever modular exhibit system that uses LEED certified materials.

CERC offers a huge list of resources and tips.

The Green Meeting Industry Council has some interesting, although somewhat dated, statistics.
This one I love - a post about how fancy restaurants are replacing bottled water (very bad for the environment) with well-filtered tap water. It’s about time!
BlueGreen meetings has this list of tips for greener meetings.

On a personal level, LifeHacker highlights two sites to calculate your carbon emissions based on your lifestyle and ways to offset them.

This PDF from Duke University offers a ton of actionable tips to lower the environmental impact of any event. One of my favorites: “If handouts must be used, print on both sides”. Who saves handouts, anyway?
Ecospeakers offers a list of very helpful links into the topic of green events, plus they act as a bureau for environmental-themed speakers

EADEnvironmental offers Environmental Action Certificates that illustrate how your event is reducing it’s green house gas emissions - suitable for framing.

The brilliant inventor of the Hyposurface proudly reported that the Hyposurface was successfully exhibited last week at Bio Boston to tremendous acclaim. The Hyposurface is a wall of triangular “pixels”, each about the size of a Dorito, that can move in and out of the wall independently, swiftly, and deeply. As the wall moves, it creates stunning 3D patterns and simple phrases. It’s even interactive - responding to sound, voice, and touch.

If you’re familiar with those little pin matrix toys that allow you to press your hand into the pins on one side and see your hand on the other, then you have an image of what this is like - just imagine it 10 feet tall and 40 feet wide, and you’re getting there.

This is no simple beast to set up, and the budget is not for everyone. But it is irresistible to watch. The inventor proposed that there must be some physiological aspect to our vision that remains since the days of our hunter ancestors, because there is something uniquely compelling about a wall that moves. It is absolutely not the same as a moving image on a screen. Physical movement is simply different than shifting pixels.

We had the good fortune to host the product at our production facility a little over a year ago, and the potential was obvious. I’m delighted to see that someone had the wisdom to incorporate it into such a dramatic public display.

I’m sure you can imagine where they can take this technology down the road, as it finds more money and time. Smaller traingles, and ever-increasing resolution, followed by colored video pixels on the end of each triangle, and you have a three-dimensional jumbotron.

In the meantime, this is a centerpiece attraction for an event, a stage backdrop, or a trade show exhibit.

*update* - ok, I stand corrected - this entire installation was set up in one day by four people, all local labor. Very reasonable.

I’m in the process of putting my house on the market. When you do this, you have a unique opportunity requirement to purge - to get rid of all sorts of clutter that has been weighing you down like a waistline full of sin-a-buns. I imagine that frequent movers could get addicted to this process - the clutter purge. It may even have it’s own “condition” and support groups. It may even have a confusing name like “Movelemia” or “Annexia Disposa” or something. Anyway…

While digging and tossing, I found this brochure - a vintage manual with a steep sticker price of $1.25 that contained everything you need to know to make more effective meetings - with overhead projectors. I’m willing to bet that no one ever paid cover price for this pulp.

If you think PowerPoint is a pain in the neck - take a look at how we USED to have to make slides.

Classic.

This article reinforces what you have been told - that putting the same words on your PowerPoint slides that you intend to speak is a big negative. Now you have the scientific evidence to fight back.

We all hate excessively wordy slides, yet we see them all the time. This study shows that even a few words, if they simply repeat the speakers spoken words, can have a net negative effect on understanding.

Seth Godin hit the nail on the head with his e-book “Really Bad PowerPoint” - still one of my favorites.

Speaking of presentation techniques - check out my next post…