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  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 12/06/2012 • 1 Comments

    Friendships Still Formed Based on Personal Interactions

    Here's some research that may be of interest to meeting designers and planners: The closer you live to another person, the more likely you are to be friends with that person despite the growing use and impact of social media, according to a study that drew on data from the location-based social network provider Gowalla. The study, by researchers within the Social Cognitive Network Academic Research Center (SCNARC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, also showed that people tend to move in groups of friends, and that two people chosen at random at a specific event are unlikely to be friends.

    While the findings are seemingly common-sense, the study—and continued research on social networks—holds a powerful message for a broad range of applications that rely on accurate predictions of how people move, such as emergency planning, infrastructure development, communications networks and disease control.

    “The ramifications are extremely important because if we assume that people are moving randomly, we are wrong, and therefore we will not be prepared for what people actually do,” said Boleslaw Szymanski, director of SCNARC and the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Rensselaer. “Where you live really matters: Most of your friends are concentrated in the place where you live, and as the distance increases, this concentration rapidly drops.”

    The findings also indicate that, even in the digital age, humans still form friendships based on personal interactions, said Tommy Nguyen, a Rensselaer graduate student and member of SCNARC.

    “Even though, thanks to the Internet, you can be friends with anyone on the planet, the likelihood that a person will be friends with someone in a distant location chosen at random is far lower than the likelihood that this person will be friends with someone who lives in close proximity,” Nguyen said. “Proximity creates a strong boundary for who will be your friends.”

    The researchers say that the likelihood of friendship between two people decreases as distance increases, and that 80 percent of friends of a particular person live within 600 miles of that person’s home.

    “You may have a few distant friends who are holdovers from a time when you lived elsewhere, or who share a common trait like family connections or a particular activity, but in general, the likelihood of friendship decreases as distance increases,” Szymanski said. “That tells us an important thing which our findings highlight: Friendship requires constant interactions, maybe physical presence (making proximity important) because we prefer to rely on verbal and body language to invoke feelings of trust in people. That’s very important in friendship.”

    (Story materials from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.)



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 10/17/2012 • 1 Comments

    Video: Douglas Rushkoff on Using Technology Correctly

    In the following video, One+ columnist Douglas Rushkoff's talks about his October column, which explores the distinction between technology that enhances human interaction and technology that gets in its way.



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 09/11/2012 • 1 Comments

    Robots, Trust, and Face-to-Face Interactions

    A new study shows that our subconscious minds are ready to see robots as social beings. The same study also illustrates the value of face-to-face interactions. 

    David DeSteno (Northeastern University), Cynthia Breazeal (MIT's Media Lab), Robert Frank (Cornell University), and David Pizarro (Cornell University) recently used a robot named Nexi to find out if you can trust someone you just met after only a few moments together. 

    The research team discovered that it's not a single cue that determines trustworthiness; it's many cues. 

    "Scientists haven't been able to unlock the cues to trust because they've been going about it the wrong way," DeSteno said. "There's no one golden-cue. Context and coordination of movements is what matters."

    Using Nexi, the team had participants talk to the robot for 10 minutes, similar to an earlier experiment involving money and cheating when they spoke with other humans. The researchers controlled Nexi and had it express cues that were either trustworthy or non-trustworthy. Those participants who observed untrustworthy cues felt that Nexi was going to cheat on them in the monetary exercise and changed their decisions based on these cues. 

    "Certain nonverbal gestures trigger emotional reactions we're not consciously aware of, and these reactions are enormously important for understanding how interpersonal relationships develop," Frank said. "The fact that a robot can trigger the same reactions confirms the mechanistic nature of many of the forces that influence human interaction." 

    If we can program a robot to express cues of trustworthiness, and we react positively to those cues, then where does the line between robot and human get drawn? 



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 05/18/2012 • 1 Comments

    Text Messaging Increases Truthfulness

    Smartphones are the go-to phones now for a majority of Americans. According to a recent Nielsen report, 50.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers own smartphones, with most of the devices Android phones (48.5 percent). iPhone users came in at 32 percent. 

    It shouldn't surprise you then that text messaging is popular. It's more than that, though. It's a way to increase truthfulness. 

    "The preliminary results of our study suggest that people are more likely to disclose sensitive information via text messages than in voice interviews," said Fred Conrad, a cognitive psychologist and director of the Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. "This is sort of surprising, since many people thought that texting would decrease the likelihood of disclosing sensitive information because it creates a persistent, visual record of questions and answers that others might see on your phone and in the cloud."

    Researchers found that with text messaging, people were less likely to engage in "satisficing"—a survey industry term referring to the common practice of giving good enough, easy answers, like rounding to multiples of 10 in numerical responses, for example.

    "We believe people give more precise answers via texting because there's just not the time pressure in a largely asynchronous mode like text that there is in phone interviews," Conrad said. "As a result, respondents are able to take longer to arrive at more accurate answers."

    Changes in communication patterns and their impact on the survey industry prompted the study. About one out of five U.S. households only use mobile phones, i.e., no longer have landline phones, yet are typically not surveyed even though mobile-only households tend to differ in important ways form households with landline phones. More people are using text messages on mobile phones, with texting now the preferred form of communication among many people in their teens and 20s in the U.S. Texting is extremely common among all age groups in many Asian and European nations.

    The researchers also found that people are more likely to provide thoughtful and honest responses via text messages even when they're in busy, distracting environments.

    "This is the case even though people are more likely to be multitasking—shopping or walking, for example—when they're answering questions by text than when they're being interviewed by voice," Conrad said.

    How does this information fit into the meeting industry worldview, especially considering the value we place on face-to-face meetings? 



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 04/09/2012 • 0 Comments

    Meetings Can Be Magical

    Author Andrea Kay is an extrovert. However, she admits to cringing at the thought of talking to strangers. But in a column featured in USA Today, Kay shows how meeting face to face (and actually talking to strangers) can be magical.

    "I am certain that when you put yourself in situations where you meet eyeball to eyeball, where you can develop a mutual interest with someone and they experience your enthusiasm, the odds of something extraordinary increase greatly," she wrote.

    Kay's column, titled "Nothing Can Substitute for Meeting Face to Face," is a great example of the power of meetings and events and how strangers meeting strangers in person can result in better business, better ideas and better relations. 

    Want to have better business, ideas and relations, too? Then attend this year's World Education Congress in St. Louis, Missouri, July 28-31.  



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 04/02/2012 • 0 Comments

    What Business Travelers Want

    Embassy Suites Hotels recently announced the results of its fourth annual Business Travel Survey, a yearly pulse of the business travel community, which reveals the current state of business travel and what business travelers want more of in 2012. This year’s survey indicates that while the current economic climate is still a factor, one-third of respondents report that they’re traveling more than a year ago to have face-to-face meetings with clients. It also highlights the ways in which travelers are looking to get the most out of their business trips, from the incidence of “business-turned-leisure” trips to hotel value, and underscores the importance of technology on the road.

    “As an upscale hotel brand with a significant business traveler base, it’s very important that we listen to these ‘road warriors’ and understand what their expectations are so that we can consistently accommodate their needs and provide value each time they stay with us,” said John Lee, vice president of brand marketing for Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Worldwide. “This year’s survey shows us that while people are traveling more for business; those guests want to get more—literally—out of every trip.”

    The survey shows that the current economic climate is still affecting business travel, but to a lesser degree than last year. Fewer business travelers cite cut backs on travel due to the economy (32 percent), down nearly 10 percent from 2011 (41 percent). These results reflect the value of “face-time”—in-person meetings with colleagues and clients—in business relationships. Rather than sacrifice these meetings, people are being more frugal on the road by cutting back on meals and other incidental expenses (19 percent) or looking for hotels that are a good value (22 percent). 

    “Despite all the great technological advances, there is still no substitute for meeting someone in person,” said Cynthia Good, CEO & founding editor of Little PINK Book, a digital platform for businesswomen. “Relationship-building is the best way to grow your business; getting to know someone in person and looking them in the eyes makes all the difference.”

    In a phenomenon known as “bleisure travel,” 61 percent of business travelers report that they maximize a business trip by extending their stay for leisure purposes at least some of the time. It is even more common among those who travel often, with nearly 70 percent of frequent business travelers extending their trips at least some of the time. On average, business travelers stay an additional three days to take in the sights and culture of the area they’re in (45 percent) or simply to relax (32 percent). 

    Other findings include:

    • Nearly 60 percent of frequent business travelers say that technology problems are most likely to cause a business travel meltdown, such as issues with a laptop computer or forgetting a mobile phone
    • Road warriors report experiencing the following tech-related issues: being unable to send a client email (55 percent), unable to open important documents or presentations (45 percent) or missing meeting notices (31 percent) or deadlines (25 percent)
    • Nearly 20 perent of road warriors cite amenities as the most important factor when booking a hotel
    • When asked in what ways they want to get more from hotels, approximately 70 percent of frequent travelers say free breakfasts, 54 percent say complimentary happy hours and 42 % say high-definition televisions in their hotel rooms.



  • Posted by Michael Pinchera at
    12:00AM 08/30/2011 • 1 Comments

    Google <3 Face2Face

    Google knows the value of face-to-face meetings.

    Vint Cerf, Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist, was asked how technology is changing travel and what to cite a positive change on the subject:

    The biggest upside is face to face meetings that are often far more effective than teleconferencing, videoconferencing or email. Of course, there is also the thrill of discovering a new city or a new restaurant and chef!!


  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 08/29/2011 • 1 Comments

    Do You Have the Face of a CEO?

    Here's a report that has me looking in the mirror to see if I'm CEO material. According to a new study upcoming in Psychological Science, one thing that predicts how well a CEO’s company performs is the width of his face. CEOs with wider faces, such as Herb Kelleher, the former CEO of Southwest Airlines, have better-performing companies than CEOs like Dick Fuld, the long-faced final CEO of Lehman Brothers. 

    Elaine M. Wong at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her colleagues study how top management teams work. But they have to do it in indirect ways. 

    “CEOs and top executives don’t typically have time to talk with researchers or take batteries of tests,” she said. “Our research has primarily been at a distance.” 

    In the past, they have analyzed the content of letters to shareholders and looked at things like how a CEO’s educational or personal background affects how well his or her company does. Wong and her colleagues, Margaret E. Ormiston of London Business School and Michael P. Haselhuhn of UWM, wanted to look at another aspect of CEOs—their faces.

    Looking at faces has precedence. Several studies have shown that the ratio of face width to face height is correlated with aggression. Hockey players with wider faces spend more time in the penalty box for fighting. Men with higher facial width are seen as less trustworthy, and they feel more powerful.

    “Most of these are seen as negative things, but power can have some positive effects,” Wong said. 

    People who feel powerful tend to look at the big picture rather than focusing on small details and are also better at staying on task. She and her colleagues thought that feeling of power might also be correlated with a company’s financial performance.

    Wong and her colleagues based their analyses on photos of 55 male CEOs of publicly-traded Fortune 500 organizations. They only used men because this relationship between face shape and behavior has only been found to apply to men; it’s thought to have something to do with testosterone levels. They also gathered information on the companies’ financial performance and analyzed shareholder letters to get a sense of the kind of thinking that goes on at those companies.

    CEOs with a wider face, relative to the face’s height, had much better firm financial performance than CEOs who had narrower faces. 

    “In our sample, the CEOs with the higher facial ratios actually achieved significantly greater firm financial performance than CEOs with the lower facial ratios,” Wong said.

    Don’t run out and invest in wide-faced CEOs’ companies, though. Wong and her colleagues also found that the way the top management team thinks, as reflected in their writings, can get in the way of this effect. Teams that take a simplistic view of the world, in which everything is black and white, are thought to be more deferential to authority. In these companies, the CEO’s face shape is more important. It’s less important in companies where the top managers see the world more in shades of gray.

    Quick! If your CEO is male, go look at his face. How many are more wide than narrow?

    (Story materials provided by the Association for Psychological Science.)



  • Posted by Blair Potter at
    12:00AM 08/15/2011 • 1 Comments

    The Ongoing Value of Face-to-Face

    The EEAA (Exhibition & Event Association of Australasia) Leaders Forum, held recently on Queensland’s Gold Coast, explored the impact of new technologies on the exhibition sector and how this will affect the evolution of the industry in the next 10 years.

    Forty industry leaders took the opportunity to examine the exhibition sector’s recent performance and collaborate on future directions. Participants included CEOs and general managers from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin convention centers; leading organizers Reed Exhibitions, Diversified, ETF and AEC; and major suppliers including Moreton Hire, InfoSalons, Agility and ExpoNet.

    Despite technology innovations and the explosion of social media, the industry leaders unanimously agreed that exhibitions will remain relevant and powerful, as the only marketing channel to offer a flexible face-to-face buying experience.

    “However, exhibitions will still need to deliver an outstanding experience for their stakeholders – and utilizing technology and personal portable devices to complement the offering will be a key success driver,” said Joyce DiMascio, general manager, EEAA. “For every show, every exhibition, every event it is crucial that organizers, suppliers and venues collaborate to create experiences that drive exhibitor participation and visitor attendance. The exhibition must be delivered as an experience that can’t be experienced elsewhere – especially online.”

    Exhibitions also proved to be resilient during the recent global financial downturn. While many marketing budgets were cut, research from CEIR (Center for Exhibition Industry Research) showed companies recognized that exhibitions remained a cost-effective way of reaching key decision-makers.

    “Our challenge will be to continue to provide a compelling story to encourage exhibition participation by communicating the benefits of exhibitions as an integral part of any marketing plan – and a unique way of reaching a qualified target audience,” DiMascio said.



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 07/18/2011 • 0 Comments

    The Internet is People

    It's easy to take out frustrations on inanimate objects, such as plates, tennis rackets or pillows. When it comes to computers, though, there's usually more going on than a keyboard, circuits and a screen. There's another person on the other side. You may dash off a hateful email because you're angry or ignore someone for a blasé reason. Would you do the same if you were face to face with someone? 

    Author Derek Sivers' video below is a great reminder that on the other side of your computer connection is a person just like yourself, someone who deserves as much respect and consideration as you'd want yourself.



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