As I mentioned in my previous post, I won't be attending Lotusphere.....
Not being able to find customers has definitely been a source of frustration for me in Lotuspheres past. I'm sure there are many customers looking for services, and I know there are many service providers looking for customers, but there just doesn't seem to be a good place for them to formally meet up, online or in person. Anyone else have any ideas? . I love going and I wish I could justify it....
Then, like magic, I received an email that could hold the answer....From another conference. I signed up for the Consumer Electronics Show last week. I love visiting and blogging about CES and I have a few items that I was interested, in, plus it's here where I live, in Las Vegas. I filled out the huge, optional profile as they promised to customize my show experience if I did. They ask all kinds of nosy questions about why you are attending and what you expect to get out of the conference.......And today I received this reply:
Introducing Ten People Brian Benz Needs to Meet at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES®)
Dear Brian Benz,
MyCES has identified ten people who perfectly match your objectives.
Log into MyCES and view the ten people you need to meet
Or build your own perfect show. Search MyCES for products, companies, conference sessions, and people that advance your objectives and add them to "My Event Plan", your personalized to-do list and agenda for the event.
Because the 2006 International CES is all about you.
This is pretty cool stuff - when you click on the link and log in you get a list of potential contacts that will be at CES that are either looking for what you are offering or vice versa. Below is a screen shot:
(click to enlarge)
The interface is nothing terribly innovative. It reminds me of LinkedIn
or similar business-related contact sites. However, the application of
the interface is innovative. Instead of heading to CES and hoping to
randomly find products and services I'm looking for, or people that are
looking for my products and services among the 80,000 attendees, I can
use this interface to find potential contacts before I go, then arrange
to meet when we both get there. Great idea! Great use of Technology!
Methinks Lotusphere could benefit greatly from a system like this, and Lotus Notes and Domino geeks would eat this stuff up....
Wow, now that sounds very cool. That would certainly make the value proposition clearer for a lot of potential attendees.
Posted by: Ben Langhinrichs | December 13, 2005 at 08:17 PM
For vendors too, I imagine....for anyone - birds of a feather, location-based groups that want to meet up, lost contacts who want to get together for the Wednesday night party....And IBM would get to collect all the pattern data to tweak future events....And this is a made-for domino application!
Posted by: Brian Benz | December 14, 2005 at 04:11 PM