A week ago today, the2011 edition of the annual NBAA convention came to an end in Las Vegas. Although the show was a great success “by every yardstick” with over 26000 registered attendees, many business aviation professionals also rely on online coverage to figure out what are the industry trends. So, as I have done in previous years, here is my take on how the show fared on the internet.
News Outlet Coverage
As always the main aviation news outlet were out in force to cover the show. There were no less than 4 production rooms at the convention center where teams from Aviation International News, Aviation Week, Flight Global and NBAA relayed important information online. The content numbers were impressive:
AINonline
Avweek
FlightGlobal
NBAA
Articles
230
21
130
55
Blogs
2
18
12
0
Videos
10
0
13
18
Photos
54
75
18
216
Daily Magazine
3
3
6
0
First of all, it was interesting see how NBAA stepped up in its own news coverage of the show with a team of freelance journalists and photographers. They produced quality material throughout the show and took advantage of their website and social media to distribute their content (some of it exclusive). Their website is a bit poor in potential interaction, but in my opinion, they did a better job than AviationWeek. AvWeek’s team continues to disappoint with the least amount of innovation, the smallest online content output and their ill-timed decision to part ways with their star reporter Benet Wilson (@AvQueenBenet) right before the show (although she did a very professional job covering the event for them from Washington).
For innovation, you had to look at AIN and Flight which both released a new version of their websites in time for NBAA. Both companies have recently invested heavily to upgrade their content management capabilities behind the scenes, which will allow them to grow the usability and features they can provide their online readers. At Flight, the changes were both cosmetic and premium user focused. It resulted in a redesign of the navigation features and (at last) in the introduction of a good comment function. As huge as these changes were internally, they left me and many other users underwhelmed by the new website. It is “OK”. I am sure the PRO users will get more for their money, but I did not get a chance to review that part of the site. For AIN however, the change in internal content management provided some much needed improvement to their old website. Because they switched to open platform Drupal, they were able to immediately take advantage of off-the-shelf widgets for twitter, Facebook and trending (showing the most popular article). It is definitely the most improved website of the four I reviewed and I really liked it. Because AIN continued to provide the most extensive content, in a well-designed new website, I think for the first time in my reviews, they have actually edged Flight Global for “best in show” (by the slimmest of margins).
With that said, all these news organizations continue to ignore the iPad as an important delivery platform at the show and off the show. These devices were everywhere in Vegas, and must be included in the content delivery plans of many aviation companies. Testing all websites for iPad compatibility is now a must. None of the four sites’ videos could be accessed directly (other than by jumping to the YouTube app). Furthermore, the daily magazines, available online on each respective websites, were not viewable on the iPad. And even though Flight Global and AIN have iPhone apps that work on iPad, but they have not been upgraded to take advantage of the content features of their new websites, nor do they feature conference specific filtering.
Social Media
Twitter was once again very active with over 2700 posts in the #NBAA11 during the show. The statistics from the archive show a healthy proportion of original content versus retweets as well as a crossover of users. Compared to last year the numbers are similar, but businesses were more directly involved with good interaction. A lot of companies took the opportunity to jump in for the first time, unfortunately most of them simply tweeted “Come see us at booth CXXXX”. Hopefully they have learned something by watching the event stream, joining others at the NBAA sponsored Tweet-up, or reading my advice (shameless plug!).
Technology continues to play a growing role in the world of aviation exhibitions. As mentioned before, the iPad was omnipresent both in delivering solutions, in marketing products and services, but also as an effective tool for attendees. The superior NBAA mobile app was also an interesting step towards changes that are upon us. For future shows, I think that the world of online and on site are headed for convergence with much activity taking place before the show online, while the actual onsite presence will become more efficient but will be shared online with others at the show and watching from afar.
Do you have any thoughts about NBAA or the future of this kind of show? Is there anything I missed online? Let me know what you think.
If you read my critique of previous Aerospace trade shows, I have always said that exhibitors needed to do more with technology to get noticed at such events. Attendees have a limited amount of time to spend in the expo hall and they will be armed with a predetermined list of booths to visit. I am a big fan of mobile apps, and I have been looking forward to the possibilities of making trade show going a much more efficient experience. But so far, I have been disappointed with what has come out. For example, the 2011 Paris Air Show app was far less that exciting. However all of that changed this week.
For the 64th Annual Meeting in Last Vegas next month, NBAA has just released the official NBAA11 trade show app that sets the bar very high for all future large aerospace events. The FREE app, created by Core-Apps and available for iPhone, Blackberry and Android, is nothing short of brilliant. Finally!
FIVE BEST THINGS ABOUT THE NBAA11 MOBILE APP
No Internet Connection Needed – When you open the app, it updates the information if you have an internet connection. But to use the app, no connection is required. Everything is already there! Exhibitor info, maps, documents, news, twitter feed, etc… are all available as of the time of your last connection. This is an absolute requirement for large shows where connectivity is usually very difficult to maintain.
Booth Categories and Map – You can find exhibitors easily through an alphabetical directory or a category directory. This is very efficient. For example, if you are looking for a new base of operation, you can easily find in a list all the airport representatives at the show. You can then jump to a zoom-able map, exhibitor contact info, description, and (if you have connectivity) their website.
Booth Tagging, Tracking and Notes – In preparation for the show, you can tag the booths you would like to visit and create notes for the topics you would like to discuss. Once in Vegas, you can update the notes as you visit the exhibitors and flag the booths you have seen. At the end of the day or the show, you can email yourself all your notes for follow-up or reporting.
Events List with Personal Calendar – The app comes with a personal calendar for the days of the show. From the conference agenda, you can add the sessions that interest you to the calendar, then add your own meetings. And if your meeting will take place at a booth, the app will add the location information automatically.
Central access to important document and feeds – From the main menu, you can also access important documents, YouTube videos, and the NBAA Facebook page. This is a very convenient way to have all the event information in a central location although some of these features do require connectivity.
THREE THINGS THAT COULD MAKE THE APP EVEN BETTER
Trending and Social Networking – Since the app knows the exhibitors that are tagged and visited, I would love to see trending on a map. Rating and/or public notes could be additional information collected by the app. This would be a great way to find hot products or important innovations. If that trending can further be curtailed by my sector of interest, the opinion of renowned experts, or by the habits of the “friends” I have connected with (perhaps through LinkedIn), we could start seeing some interesting efficiencies.
Booth Tagging of News – As news gets submitted to NBAA over the wire or via press partners, the items could be tagged with the relevant booth numbers to make them available directly from the booth page. This would allow visitors to see the latest items relevant to the exhibitor right as they approach the booth.
Check-in and Directions – “Visited” flags are great, but “Check-ins” are better. It would allow visitors to keep track of where they have been, but also to provide them with direction to where they need to go directly on the map. Combined with the social aspects above, this would also allow colleagues to find each other on the show floor if the check-ins are made available to the network.
I know this app will be a huge success at NBAA 2011. And I hope that other show organizers take notice and build upon this strong foundation. Exhibitors should also push for this development as it is one of the best ways for them to rise above the fray at these large shows.
Do you have an opinion of this app? Are you planning on using it at the show? What has been your experience?
Last week, the MRO Americas conference and exhibition hosted by AviationWeek in Miami Beach was the largest in the 16 years series. Clocking in at over 8500 attendees and 950 exhibitors, it was good to see the buzz in back in this segment of the industry.
Both FlightGlobal and AviationWeek were reporting from the show by posting a constant stream of blogs, pictures, and videos on their respective show landing pages. FlightGlobal sent their aviation web celebrity team of Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) and Jon Ostrower (@FlightBlogger), both of whom continue to bring their unique brand of refreshing reporting to the industry. But it was AviationWeek showed notable improvement in their online presence. Largely attributed to the leadership of new President Greg Hamilton, AviationWeek was here in full force from the editorial, sales, and event sides of the business. They all seemed re-energized by the enthusiasm of web-minded talent such as Rupa Haria (@AvWeekRupa) and Alejandro Wyss (@AWyss). For example, @AvWeekEvents credited Alejandro for the idea of the innovative Twitter Electronic Boards in the lobby and exhibit halls which many thought were a great addition to the show. Beyond the conference hashtag (#MROAM), the conference also had a Four Square location and a fun tweet-up to get attendees, suppliers, and web followers connected. This resulted in the best performance by the AviationWeek online team to date with much promises for the future.
Beyond an excellent use of twitter by the two news organizations as well as veteran social media users such as @DeltaTechOps , it was good to see a number of suppliers jumping into the conversation, many for the first time. The #MROAM conference stream registered over 600 updates in a period of three days, even briefly trending on Twitter during opening day. But it was obvious by the posts coming from the newbies that they were not really sure how to use the medium. So here are 3 pieces of advice for using twitter effectively at large tradeshows:
1) People talking about you is better than you talking about yourself
Too many suppliers simply said something like: “For a great demo stop by booth 3145”. This is not enticing to an attendee as much as if a journalist says your demo is worth seeing (as did @AvWeekKristin), or a customer proclaims their satisfaction with your services. So rather than tweeting about your own great virtues, ask journalist and customers to tweet about you. That is 10 times more credible
2) Don’t Shout, Converse
The proper use of Twitter is in the form of a conversation. Leave the news flash to the professionals. Instead, ask questions or engage attendees in conversations: “What did you think of this comment?”, “What swag do you like best?”, “What innovations have you noticed in the exhibit hall?”
3) Be helpful without being overbearing
Try to think about what would interest you if you were an attendee to this conference. What would be helpful to you? But if you have nothing to say, don’t retweet other posts. Retweeting is not the equivalent of the FaceBook “Like” button. If you like what someone says, simply reply to the post with a thank you message rather than a re-tweet. This is especially important when you have far less followers that the original poster. If you feel that your audience could benefit from the original post but might not be following the conference stream, retweet it, but by removing the conference hashtag from the post. This will eliminate a lot of noise from the channel and make everyone happier.
For additional tips on how exhibitors can use Social Media at tradeshows like MRO, you can check out my review from last year’s show entitled: “Missed Opportunity for Exhibitors”.
The next big show will be Paris Air Show this summer. With both AviationWeek and FlightGlobal promises new web updates and other goodies for the show, as well as many suppliers entering the social media fray, it will surely be the strongest A&D online event to date. I can’t wait to witness it.
What would you like to see happening online at Paris Air Show?
In her excellent NBAA Social Media preview, Benet Wilson of AviationWeek (@AvWeekBenet) predicted correctly that this year show would be well covered on Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube and LinkedIn. Well, a few days after the end of a very successful show in Atlanta, it is time to analyze the results.
First of all, the ambiance at the show was much more optimistic than in the last two years, so there was a lot more to report. The major Aerospace publications all had a strong presence on-site. They each put out 3 show dailies that were distributed online. The format was similar to that of the Farnborough editions, with the exception of AIN which managed to produce much more professional video through their AINtv brand. They also added blogs for the first time which is another step in the right direction.
In terms of volume and quality of information produced, AIN continues to lead with the largest amount of news stories, while AviationWeek took the lead in blog posts due mostly to the personal involvement of Bennet Wilson who was actually on the ground for once! Flight Global continued their casual style of video reporting with the @RunwayGirl and @Flightblogger team. As usual, Mary Kirby stole the show but her style is perceived as too cavalier by some. I personally disagree and the number of YouTube views seems to side with me.
The bottom line numbers go as follows:
News Stories
Blogs
Videos
Aviation International News (AIN)
285
4
10
AviationWeek
33
41
1
Flight Global
103
23
12
But there were other big changes compared to last year’s show. First of all, @NBAA was itself much more active in Social Media. As I suggested in my analysis from last year, they were much more engaged with the people attending the show. They used Twitter a lot and maintained a very active Facebook page with plenty of good information. They also catered to the people who could not attend by providing their own NBAA News Bureau. Finally they once again hosted the very popular NBAA Social Media panel (See report from ABCI’s Paula Williams) which was attended by over 100 people and is now available as online video(s).
Secondly, there were a lot more people reporting directly from the show using Twitter. Over the period of Nov 18-22, over 2200 tweets were sent on the #NBAA10 stream. That is nearly double the volume from last year. Looking at the list of top users below, I am pleased to see a healthy mix of media, large OEMs, suppliers and service providers. Embraer, Boeing, Airbus and Dassault are noticeably absent from the list while Bombardier and Gulfstream gained great exposure with their brand also showing in the top words tweeted from the show.
[Click picture to enlarge]
Finally, there was also the first ever tweet-up at the end of the show. Sponsored by allFBO.com, it was attended by many of the people from the list above and generated a promise for bigger and better things to come in the future.
For now, NBAA takes the crown for online coverage amongst all the shows I have analyzed in the last two years, so congratulations to all on a job well done.
What were your impressions of the show? Please share your comments and highlight below.
As usual, the full press corps was present. Even though MRO Americas was organized by Aviation Week, Flight Global had sent a four people team to cover the show. At EBACE, those two organizations were also joined in Geneva by Aviation International News (AIN).
For MRO Americas, AviationWeek and Flight Global had their usual website landing pages with Flight also producing their online flight daily chuck full of videos during two of the three days of the show. Reporters on the ground posted blogs and used the Twitter effectively. News from the show was also available in Flight Global’s iPhone application.
For EBACE, the organizers were the first ones to try to expand the use of internet during the show. They designed a basic web-based mobile application with schedule information, exhibitor list, floor plan, and news feed. They used twitter (@ebace) before and during the show to provide information and updates in the #EBACE stream. This was a good start that I hope other organizers will pick up and improve on.
On the media side, AIN joined the fray with their regular website landing page, adding to that of AviationWeek and FlightGlobal. AviationWeek did include videos in a couple of their online ShowNews (a first!), but as usual, none of the content from the daily magazine was repurposed on the website (I sound like a broken record!). In fact, if you want a media review of this show, you can read my blog about the Singapore Air Show and change the name of the conference.
I must also point out that @AvWeekBenet was able to attend EBACE in person and that the Twitter feed from AviationWeek was finally of much better quality than that of previews shows. However, all three news organizations could still improve on their online coverage as discussed previously. To best describe the ideal coverage, I would say that I would want to see AIN’s news content in FlightGlobal’s multiformat web platform delivered to AviationWeek’s online audience.
But to be fair, the industry press had these two events well covered online. The 6,000 attendees of MRO Americas and the 11,000 attendees of EBACE certainly were well-informed and so were the ten of thousands of unique visitors that followed on Twitter and came to the AviationWeek, AIN and Flight Global websites during and after the shows. So with such huge information pipe available to them, why didn’t the approximately 800 exhibitors of MRO Americas and the 450 exhibitors of EBACE take more advantage of online coverage?
The MRO Americas exhibition floor was open for 16 hours over a period of three days. As with many events, it was open in parallel to conference sessions for most of that time. Assuming that the average attendee would spend 3 hours a day on the show floor (which in my own experience would be enormous), and would spend 15 minutes to have meaningful interactions with each exhibitor visited, it means that in an ideal situation, 36 exhibitors would get visited by each attendee. That represents 1 company visited for each 20 exhibiting. For EBACE the numbers work out to approximately 1 out of 10. For Farnborough and Singapore, it might be has high as 1 out of 50 or more. As if that was not bad enough, small exhibitors have to compete against larger companies that will attract attendees by default and keep them for longer periods of time. Which means that if you are not Honeywell, Embraer, or Rolls-Royce, your odds of getting visited are heavily stacked against you.
In the past, companies used traditional methods to try to bring people to their booths: use printed advertising, press releases and sponsorship to promote their booth number; make their booth attractive (ooh shiny!); or “buy” as many random business cards as possible with contests, drawings, or give-aways. But today, it doesn’t work that way anymore. The Power Attendees (the ones that matter – not the ones on a “business vacation”) have a pre-determined list of vendors they want to see. They come to the show with a target list and they try to fit them all in. There is no “browsing”, there is no “I wonder what this company does?” Who has time for that anymore?
These days, business is all about efficiency and that goes for attending trade shows as well. Power Attendees will have a predefined rigorous program established before they get to the event: fly in; attend specific sessions (and skip others); visit specific exhibitors; set aside time for email, phone calls and exercise; socialize with industry acquaintances; and fly out.
As an exhibitor, you have to realize that in today’s world, there are only three reasons a Power Attendee will visit your booth:
they have a pre-existing direct interest in your product (e.g. existing customer, pre-show marketing campaign)
they are steered toward your product by the industry media or an independent conference speaker
you are recommended by someone they trust attending the conference.
You should use the web to help develop these reasons and increase the chances of getting visited by the Power Attendees. The basic approach would be to use the trade show to TEACH attendees something rather than to SELL something. What is more attractive: “Stop by the booth the see my new sensors”, or “Stop by to learn the three factors that make old sensors malfunction”? If you are good at teaching and your sensors do address the three factors, you will sell them – implicitly!
With that approach in mind, here are three things should do before and during the show:
USE YOUR WEBSITE: create a specific landing page related to the event you are attending. So many exhibitors simply put up a link from their event page to the event home page without taking the opportunity to explain why attendees should be interested in visiting them at the show. Create a page that is specific to your participation at the show. Provide a compelling argument about what you want to teach them (perhaps as a short video), provide information in advance such as a white paper (download it in exchange for contact info), and solicit feedback. If a potential attendee posts a comment on your event page saying “excited to come see you at the show”, it will definitely pique the interest of other attendees. Allow attendees to share a link to your show page with others via email or on social networks. Provide practical information about who will represent you on the show floor. Indicate when you will be there (specifically) and where you can be found. List names, function, specialties, cell phone numbers, email address, and twitter accounts. Provide your associates’ pictures. Simply put, make it easy for attendees to find you. Remember to draw the media to your show page so they might have an interest in discussing your educational approach prior to the show (not necessarily in an article, but on a blog or on twitter).
TAKE PART IN THE PRE-SHOW CONVERSATION ONLINE: prior to the show, start talking about what you want to teach attendees on Twitter, and in online forums such as LinkedIn. Several events set up specific groups or Twitter hashtags prior to the conference where attendees can network before they travel. AviationWeek and Flight Global also have free forums sites (AWConnect and AirSpace respectively) that are a great place to discuss the challenges you are trying to solve. Be non-commercial in your discussions, leverage the website landing page you have built and invite the attendees to connect at the conference.
INTERACT WITH ATTENDEES ONLINE DURING THE EVENT: monitor the conference stream on Twitter and get involved in the conversation. Try to contribute rather than sell. Gain respect for your expertise in the community. Find out what the “buzz” is, our create your own. Create “impromptu” events over twitter by gathering people of similar affinity or background at a lunch table or at the bar after hours. Involve the press in the discussion. Post answers on their blog posts, upload pictures or even short videos to the conference site or YouTube.
Events are using the web more and more to promote and manage their events. The industry media is jumping on the band wagon (we various degrees of success), but definitely creating buzz. Vendors who are not taking advantage of this media to their advantage are definitely missing out. And despite what many believe, you do not need a big budget or a large staff to take advantage of this opportunity. If you want to check out a company that does this well, check out Duncan Aviation’s EBACE page and follow them on twitter (@DuncanAviation). They understand the digital environment and they are getting ahead!
Are you taking advantage of the Internet when exhibiting at an Aerospace event? Share your story, ask your questions, or share some tips here. We would love to hear from you.
However, for an event that is trying to launch and grow, online coverage was completely ignored by the organizers. Of course you could Google “Bahrain Air Show” and find a mish mash of over 400 articles about the event, but there was no concerted effort to promote this opportunity using social networks before, during or after the show.
In 2010, it is no longer enough to build a “static” website and hope that people will come visit it. Event organizers must interact, broadcast, discuss and engage the global audience they are targeting. I feel that Farnborough International made the classic mistake: they strictly marketed this year’s event instead of using it to promote the next one.
Many Aerospace companies will always take a “wait and see” attitude toward new events, especially ones that require a significant investment. How do the organizers make them feel like they ought to be there next time? By involving them in the current event and make them realize they are missing something. It is called “buzz” and today it happens largely online.
So here are five things Farnborough International could have done better in Bahrain:
Build-up the show by centralizing information about the event and making it interactive: write a blog, create a twitter account, retransmit stories created by others, create a YouTube channel, solicit comments, and participate in the conversation.
Involve the participants: out of the 40 exhibitors, all of them have websites and at least 10 have a Twitter presence. Build up links to the sites, create a twitter list of exhibitors, feature it on the event website, and encourage the participants to share information about the show online.
Target future participants: what is it like at the show? How does it compare to others? What did the participants like? Use the various mediums (e.g. blogs, twitter, discussion forums) to share this information and interact. Not all of it needs to be public; you can have an access controlled exhibitor area in LinkedIn for example.
Crowd source new ideas and wishes: there is always room for improvement and further expansion. But this information is better captured during the event rather than weeks later. Leverage the social media platforms to gather this information as well as wishes for next time. This can then be used to create a better show in two years.
Do not end the dialog when the show ends: organizers should maintain a presence online during the gap between shows. Streaming news and information about the event or location, piggy back on other Aerospace events, and keeping the interaction going will keep the next show in the mind of the Aerospace companies that have to include it in their marketing budgets well in advance.
I know what you are going to say: that is a lot of work and with limited resources, we cannot afford to do much more than we have done so far. The secret is not to add resources, but instead to shift resources. Move away from the traditional promotion methods that have run their course and move budget and personnel toward social media to migrate into the newer way of interacting. A recent survey shows the shift in marketing methods for 2010.
As for participants, they can also take the initiative. Discussing the show and its positive happenings contributes to its success and validates the decision to invest there. ADS Group announced in Bahrain that they were opening offices in the Middle East, but they never posted it on Twitter. AIA told me that they wouldn’t be tweeting from Bahrain because their new media guy could not justify traveling there. But that is just the problem. AIA could “relay” information from the show onto twitter and still provide a valuable service to their members.
The upcoming Singapore Airshow (#SIN10 on Twitter) is gearing up to have a great online coverage, however not from the organizers but rather from Aviation Week and Flight Global. Other major aerospace shows seem to be going the way of Bahrain. I predict that the ones who embrace this technology, and particularly some of the ideas above, will definitely become more successful. It will be interesting to see what Farnborough International does for their summer air show.
I was very encouraged to see the organizers of the recent OGI conference (1105 Government Information Group) embrace the use of Twitter from the on-set of the event planning. They established the #ogi tag early, made good use of the platform for early buzz, and enlisted the use of strong talent like @mixtmedia and @lostonroute66 for support. So, how did it all turn out?
The Statistics
I collected the #ogi statistics from July 10th to 22nd (8pm) and found a total of 4839 posts from 653 unique accounts (Full stats in Excel format). For a conference with about 500 attendees that is an impressive number. By comparison, usage of Twitter at the recent Paris Air Show (the largest Aerospace and Defense show in the world attended by tens of thousands of visitors) only generated 2471 posts in 5 days! The top 20 contributors (by number of posts) were:
Posting was fast and furious during the first day of the conference (3116 posts – 64%), actually causing #ogi to appear on Twitter’s Global Trending Topics at number 10 shortly before 9am and going all the way to number 4 (in the world!) by 10:30am. This was partly due to the keynotes generating so many posts:
Dave Wennergren (Deputy CIO – DOD) (198)
Aneesh Chopra (US Chief Technology Officer) (500)
Tim O’Reilly (766)
David Weinberger (273)
Vivek Kundra (US Chief Information Officer) (296)
With #ogi trending on Twitter we saw the activation of some spam accounts, but although noticeable it never became more than a small temporary nuisance with less than 50 spam posts in a period of two hours.
The Observations
Here are three twitter related thoughts I had at the conference, in no particular order:
The twitter board (pic) showed at the conference was very nice. It showed a live feed of the #ogi stream. It is based on a development by Daniel Dura and you can get the customizable tool at http://www.danieldura.com/code/twittercamp. The placement of the twitter screen was of great debate by the attendees, starting with the feed on the two side screens and then later moving to the middle screen with the side screens showing the speaker slides. It seems to be distracting to some attendees who were trying to read the screen while following the speakers at the same time. My take is that a moderated version could have been better (no need to show irrelevant posts), and that two smaller screen on the extreme sides would have been less distracting (but can you really deal with 5 screens?).
The twitter posts consisted mainly of notes taking. The organizers made good use of the tool to solicit questions but mostly ran out of time before they could be asked (should they be answered off-line?). There was a little bit of stream augmentation with contributors posting links to videos, books, surveys and websites mentioned by the speaker. I think this later use is in its infancy and will provide much value in future events. In addition, I think it will become essential for organizers to collect and distribute twitter account info for the speakers so they can be mentioned properly in the posts.
When you have an event with over 500 attendees, how do you interact with the audience without going to the podium for boring announcements? You use Twitter! I was very impressed by how the organizers followed the stream and reacted quickly to the comments from the crowd. Issues with hashtags, wi-fi, screens, refreshments and other logistics that showed up in the twitter stream were handled promptly and smoothly. I regretted the organizers did not use electronic surveys for the break-out sessions (paper seemed a bit “old fashion” in this context). I am sure they were concerned that not everyone would be able to access them, but it would be an interesting experiment to have the feedback surveys online and publish results live! May be even provide rewards for reviewers and speakers!
All in this entire event made extremely good use of social media and I look forward to follow the evolution of the “digitally interactive conference” in the next few months.
There is an organization that, in the last 6 months, has embraced leading edge technology, open information exchange, collaboration amongst departments and with external partners, focus on customer service, speed of deployment, as well as experimentation with game-changing ideas. Is this organization some kind of Silicon Valley start-up driven by a few highly caffeinated Gen-Y associates full of big ideas? No! It is in fact our US Government!
At this week’s Open Government and Innovation conference in Washington, DC, over 700 attendees from every branch of the government shared (See Twitter Stats) and discussed the President’s deep commitment to open and transparent government. All of the subjects listed above were covered with enthusiasm and with a “can-do” attitude I have rarely witnessed before. Even more impressively, this conference was sponsored by the Department of Defense with great energy from its Deputy CIO, Dave Wennergren. In his opening remarks on both days, he emphasized the culture of change that is sweeping the government and the fundamental belief that “Relentless Sharing” of information and knowledge is the way of the future for society as a whole.
I could not possibly do justice to the inspiring keynotes that were presented and I encourage you to spend the time to listen to them online. They are available with sound and slides: Aneesh Chopra (US Chief Technology Officer), Vivek Kundra (US Chief Information Officer), Tim O’Reilly (Founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media – and father of Web 2.0), and David Weinberger (author of “Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder”).
What does it all mean? Because of the innovation imperative created by the advance of new technology in society, the government is shifting from a “command and control” model to a “communication and collaboration” model. Great ideas exist “out there” and new technology allows us to harvest and develop them. Taking full advantage of concepts such as Social Media, the government is becoming a convener of game-changing collaborative approaches rather than the initiator of rigid and lobby-driven policies. Transparency becomes the default position to establish trust and gain efficiency. In six months, the government has already accomplished huge progress on that front. Just to name two, check out http://www.data.gov for open information sharing, and the IT dashboard at http://www.usaspending.gov for a clear view of the government investment in IT.
So how does this impact the Aerospace & Defense industry? To put it simply, this is the end of “business as usual”. This shift in the government’s approach will create three profound changes for the industry:
Major overall of systems procurement: Do you want to see a glimpse of future procurement? Check out http://www.defensesolutions.gov. No longer will system procurement be driven from a set of requirements, it will be driven instead from capability requirements. Open standards, 21st century infrastructure, and information sharing mandate will throw the doors open to innovative ideas from all corners of the world. “Great ideas will get funding regardless of the rules”, Chopra was quoted as saying. There will now be spiral development focused on collaboration and on quick win systems that will embrace risk management rather than risk avoidance. Accountability will be enforced through transparency, and businesses will be measured based on value and innovation rather than only schedule and budget.
Shift to “mission focus” and “customer service”: the government will lead the way in demanding results in terms of service and mission support. They will ask “how can you solve my problem” rather than asking for a specific solution. They will demand collaboration, information sharing, continuous improvement and innovation. A major contractor may think that they can adapt to that change, but this will permeate throughout the rest of the business and consumer world where customers (and employees) will ask the same from any organization. Businesses will have to change the way they operate not just to adapt to the government but for all of their customers.
Young talent will not tolerate “old ways” of doing business: The next generation of bright minds and leaders coming out of our colleges and universities will gravitate toward organizations that promote a way of working that includes flexibility, communication, collaboration, and the removal of artificial or corporate boundaries. One of the most enlightening session at the conference was the Young Government Leaders panel that boldly and fearlessly described their eye-opening views of work and life. Social Media and Collaboration is natural for them and they will not function without it. Organizations will have to adapt quickly to be able to attract this new talent.
Critics point out that the number one issue with this transparency approach is the concern over information security. Wennergren describes it as a polarity management issue between opposite goals: information sharing and information security. He suggests that aspiring to secure information sharing is an achievable short term goal. Luckily for us, organizations like the TransGlobal Secure Collaboration Program (TSCP) are a long way down the road to solving this issue.
So, since the government is making major changes that will definitely affect Aerospace and Defense, why was Lockheed Martin the only representation from the industry at the event? According to the organizers, the industry does not believe this is happening, not realizing that this change is a result of pressure from the people not an initiative from leadership. “We have no choice”, said Kundra. One small consolation is that Lockheed Martin is set to release their secure collaboration platform as Open Source Software in the next 60 days. Tom Haser says: “We are totally on board, but I am not sure about our industry colleagues”. I for one think that their absence from the dialogue is very telling.
————————————————————————– FEBRUARY 2010 UPDATE
US DoD Launches Social Media Hub and New Policy
Check out http://socialmedia.defense.gov ————————————————————————–
At the AFEI Change Management conference in Washington, DC, two Department of Defense officials at the forefront of social networking gave insights on the impact of this technology on the traditionally “comand-and-control” organization.
Dave Wennergren, Deputy CIO, DoD and Vice Chairman, Federal CIO Council, offered ten cultural change ideas for organizations contemplating new projects:
10. Ride the wave of change happening in society. Take advantage of technologies such as Service Oriented Enterprise, Web 2.0, and Cloud Computing.
9. Move with speed because time is your ennemy
8. Learn to manage challenge polariy. For example, how to balance Information Security versus Information Availability. Should you think of it as Secured Information Sharing?
7. Status quo can’t get a bye. Start from a new proposition and set aside small funding for experimentation. Surveys show that small IT project have a 34% success rate versus 1% for projects over $10M.
6. Tell the story behind the change simply and effectively to counteract the status quo story.
5. Leverage the power of teams (not just inside your organization – use social networking)
4. Describe your objectives in a meaningful way that everyone will relate to
3. Be a learning organization and cater to the Net generation
2. Embrace transparency to develop trust
1. Remember that it is all about each other. Leaders will get the behaviour they exhibit.
Also in attendance at the conference was Jack Holt, Senior Strategist for Emerging Media DoD/DMA (@jack_holt). In this exclusive video interview, Jack shared a couple of annecdotes about the use of Social Media at the DoD.
There will be much more to come from the DoD in this field and one good place to watch it all unfold is in their official blog DODlive at http://www.dodlive.mil/.
The Association For Enterprise Integration (AFEI), a subsidiary of the
National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), held their first
conference on strategy, leadership and execution of organizational
transformation in Washington, DC on April 30-May 1. The
conference focused on the role of leadership in change, effective
strategies for managing both technical and organizational change,
building effective partnerships for managing transformation, and
assessment methods.
In this video, Dave Chesebrough, President of
AFEI, recaps the first day of the conference and previews day 2.
At the end of the conference, I caught up with Jack White, VP of Solutions Development for TechTeam Government Solutions and Conference Chairman to get his impressions about the two days.
The complete conference agenda and speaker list can be found here.
The entire Twitter stream can be found under hashtag #afeiCM09 or by
cliking here.
About the Author
Ludo Van Vooren, a 15 years veteran of the industry, blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, and International Business Development.
For example, @AvWeekEvents credited Alejandro for the idea of the innovative Twitter Electronic Boards in the lobby and exhibit halls which many thought were a great addition to the show. Beyond the conference hashtag (#MROAM), the conference also had a Four Square location and a fun tweet-up to get attendees, suppliers, and web followers connected. This resulted in the best performance by the AviationWeek online team to date with much promises for the future.
[Click picture to enlarge]
Two major A&D shows followed in rapid order over the last three weeks, and looking at the online coverage of Maintenance, Repairs, and Overhaul (MRO) Americas and the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), there were no major new developments when it came to the coverage of these shows on the Internet. Needless to say, that was disappointing.
The MRO Americas exhibition floor was open for 16 hours over a period of three days. As with many events, it was open in parallel to conference sessions for most of that time. Assuming that the average attendee would spend 3 hours a day on the show floor (which in my own experience would be enormous), and would spend 15 minutes to have meaningful interactions with each exhibitor visited, it means that in an ideal situation, 36 exhibitors would get visited by each attendee. That represents 1 company visited for each 20 exhibiting. For EBACE the numbers work out to approximately 1 out of 10. For Farnborough and Singapore, it might be has high as 1 out of 50 or more. As if that was not bad enough, small exhibitors have to compete against larger companies that will attract attendees by default and keep them for longer periods of time. Which means that if you are not Honeywell, Embraer, or Rolls-Royce, your odds of getting visited are heavily stacked against you.
Ludo Van Vooren, a 15 years veteran of the industry, blogs about eBusiness, Social Media, Internet Marketing, and International Business Development.
