The blackberry prayer
ROS MCLEOD TOUR HOSTS

IS OUR FASCINATION WITH TECHNOLOGY going too far?

On an extended business trip to Asia and Europe early this year I saw the “Blackberry factor” at several meetings I attended. Blackberries are basically personal computers rolled into a telephone and allow people to access their email wherever they might be and reply using a miniature keyboard on the unit. The result is that every bit of “dead time” as people board aircraft, stand in queues, or wait for breakfast to be delivered, they can be seen with heads bowed in what is called the “Blackberry prayer”. This is an extremely useful piece of business equipment as it allows people to remain up to speed in their business life wherever they may be, but I predict it will soon have an impact on the outcomes of meetings.

Years of effort by an organising committee and a significant financial investment on the part of a company or university in terms of registration fees and travel costs is usually behind the attendance of any delegate to an international meeting. When the delegate’s attention is being diverted by events outside the conference hall, it is inevitable their concentration and interest in the meeting at hand will decrease. Where we may have half a dozen people in “Blackberry prayer” now in a conference room of 300, the chances are that this time next year it could be 30 per cent and that will inevitably lead to a dilution in the quality of the meeting. People will start questioning the value of the meeting.

Delegates are adults and there is enough “nannying” going on their lives in any event, but I think the time is coming when MCs at events are going to ask people to switch their “Pocket PCs” off along with their mobile phones.

Already many delegates make a bee-line for the internet cafes in the exhibition halls of conferences and this also impacts on the quality of communication they might be having with fellow delegates and the exhibitors. Perhaps the advent of Blackberry and its counterparts will reduce the need to supply so many internet terminals at conferences. Also on my travels I came across a number of comments from European colleagues that the conference and events sector is beginning to face a looming challenge with the monopolisation of the accommodation industry by a few big players. In some European cities one finds the multi-brand companies controlling the inventory of a significant percentage of the available beds.

This concentration of ownership (and management rights) by individual hotel companies might be very useful for the hotels and their owners, but is making it increasingly difficult to secure competitive rates for conference delegates as these companies will simply hike up the cost across all their brands in response to demand.

We believe we live in a market driven economy, but this monopolisation – which is increasingly evident in Australia – does not bode well for our industry. Perhaps our industry associations might look at this more closely going forward.

Roslyn McLeod is the founder and Managing Director of Tour Hosts, a Sydney based conference and event management company.