Face-to-face social networks have been around for tens of thousands of years and have a profound impact on the way people think, feel and behave, Harvard University professor Nicholas Christakis told participants at the closing general session of MPI’s 2012 World Education Congress.

Christakis distinguished a social network from a random group of unrelated people, noting that “a network has ties, and specific ties” that enable it to function in many different ways. “A network, in addition to having the constituent individuals, also has the connections between those individuals,” and the connections fall into two categories, artificial and natural.

The simplest example of an artificial network is a bucket brigade. If 100 people are lined up in a row, they have 99 ties among them, and “the group now has properties it didn’t have before, like the ability to put out a fire,” he said. The same hundred people, organized as a phone tree in which each individual phones two others, “is now optimized for the efficient, accurate, rapid transmission of information.”

But natural social networks have a different look and a very different function. 

“To my eyes, these social networks are intricate things of beauty,” Christakis said. “They are so elaborate, so complex, and so ubiquitous that one has to wonder what purpose they serve,” how they form and how they affect the people they bring together.

Christakis and a colleague studied patterns of obesity dating to the 1970s to search for any evidence that social networks influenced individual behaviors. They concluded that weight gain or loss spreads within social systems, between spouses, siblings, friends or co-workers. The same dynamic could apply to people who attend a meeting and hear the same thing at the same time: “It can ripple through the network and affect you.”

The same applies to the spread of emotions through networks and in crowds, with people who are happy or unhappy tending to cluster together. 

“Being in the center of things, organizing things, being able to connect to other people, confers certain emotional advantages,” he said. 

--Mitchell Beer

WEC speaker Misha Glouberman was so wildly popular on Monday that he presented his session, "Unconferences and Open Spaces: Designing Participatory Events to Create Real Connections," again on Tuesday.

Session attendees learned more about how to run an unconference and the benefits of doing so. As part of their education, Glouberman had attendees break into groups of four with people they didn't know and meet each other. He then had them break up those groups and regroup into another group of four strangers. This time, they were asked to discuss what they hoped to get out of WEC. 

Afterwards, Glouberman asked anyone if they had a subject they wanted to talk about. One person would suggest a topic, and Glouberman would then ask if anyone else in the room wanted to talk about that too. He'd then group them together. As one attendee said, he is a "conversation matchmaker."

"This is the session I was most looking forward to attending," said Nann Philips, a planner for Dallas HR and the HR Southwest Conference. "I was expecting great ideas, and the one that sticks out the most is that it's okay to give participants the permission to think in unstructured ways. If you just trust them, they'll surprise you with what they come up with."

Conference is coming to a close, but the digital offerings from WEC Live! remain for you to continue learning and connecting to the conference experience. Professional development and education continues through the virtual catalogue where attendees and MPI members can access education sessions, Flash Point, and the general sessions on demand. The catalogue of video recordings, housed on the Mediasite player, offers you a unique user-controlled layout where you can watch videos and navigate through speaker presentations. Simply click on the title of the session you wish to watch and you are taken to the full player experience. Other digital features include MPI-TV coverage provided by CNTV, interviews with speakers and subject matter experts, hundreds of photos, and unique panoramic views from the conference floor.

To connect to the online offerings all in one place, go to http://www.mpiweb.org/Events/WEC2012/Live.

WEC attendees took full advantage of several perks offered by MPI and its partners. One of the most popular perks was free headshots from Orange Photography. Approximately 350 attendees had their photos taken and received electronic copies of them for their professional and personal use. 

Another very popular WEC benefit was The Hub. Highlights include 

• More than 50 one-on-one career counseling appointments for résumé evaluation and career maintenance and advancement
• Hour-long sessions on interviewing, résumé writing, interpersonal skills and networking (the most important job promotion skill)
• Mini sessions on meeting design, sustainability, the future of technology, social media best practices and determining the value of your events
• Presentations of all of the tools and case studies MPI has created in the last year to help meeting professionals understand their virtual event options, measure whether their meetings are meeting their objectives, understand key elements of the future of events and determine how to create content for multiple generations.
• Healthy snacks and whole fruit
• A lounge area popular for peer-learning and discussions

"We designed this space to cultivate conversations at the meeting point of knowledge and career," said Jessie States, meeting industry editor for MPI. "We have dozens of tools for meeting professionals that they are largely unaware of, case studies that present practical templates and research that provides a clear path forward. Knowledge advances career, and career advances knowledge—this is the foundation of what we do." 

Once again, Flash Point was a resounding success, offering intriguing ideas that had attendees continuing the conversations long after the mini-sessions. 

Kristin Glenn and Shannon Whitehead, founders of {r}evolution apparel, discussed how each decision we make in business can impact future generations. "What if we could live with a little less so the future could have a little more?" Glenn and Whitehead asked attendees.

Hans van Grieken talked about how innovation today is much more about agility and ability to bring innovation to market quickly, rather than to come up with bright ideas yourself.

Jon Petz, who also played Flash Point host, shared how life is about taking action, and that you should stop holding yourself back and not be a "just - a."

Misha Glouberman told a personal story about a noisy bar that opened next door to him and the lessons he learned about communication, negotiation and getting what you want in situations of conflict.

Tonya Surman shared an insider's view on the emerging collaborative economy, where it's going an how your organization can benefit and participate. 

Howard Rheingold introduced five essential Web literacies of attention, participation, collaboration, crap detection and network know-how.  

Douglas Rushkoff closed Flash Point and shared 10 "commands" that give parents, businesses and individuals control over the new technologies they are using.

Media theorist and One+ columnist Douglas Rushkoff began discussing social currency decades ago, at a time in which many critics thought the Internet was a fad. (FWIW, those critics were wrong while Rushkoff still accurately prophesizes how humans will communicate and interact with one another.)

Taking the audience through a crash course of discovery with social currency, Rushkoff aptly illustrated the situation in terms of baseball cards and their associated stale gum (or vice versa, as it were). Packs of gum came with a single baseball card, giving way to packs of baseball cards with a piece of gum, giving way to packs of cards sans gum. The cards, he says, possessed/inspired a greater degree of social currency than the original product (gum)—cards could be traded and came with data (player/team stats), encouraging more social interaction.

“Social currency is the excuse to interact,” he told the 9 a.m. crowd.

As the Q&A element of the session progressed, an audience member inquired as to which businesses are building social currency properly.

“Companies that are willing to undulate with markets rather than require growth,” Rushkoff said. “The ones that use social media to promote their culture rather than their products.”

He later predicted that the professionalization of our personal lives will grow to the point of people knowing you as a brand.

“I used to be able to look at my inbox,” he said. “Now, I can’t.”

On engaging constituents: “There are very few ways to get people to do stuff,” Rushkoff said, suggesting one way to heighten engagement in the social mediasphere is to work with prominent social media personalities in your field. The growth must be organic from a true social component of your industry, not an obvious shill. He added that not every organization needs to be directly active on social media, reminding the crowd that true social media activity comes from your fans/audience/members/attendees.

On the corruption of communication methods: “One of the reasons I got involved with MPI is that I think long-distance communications will eventually be corrupted to the point of being useless. At the same time, my faith that human-to-human contact will solve the problems we have has grown.”

On the future of social media: “Once you’re friends with everyone, what’s the point?” He says people will leave Facebook once a level of saturation is reached (which many think has already happened).

“Sorry, but it doesn’t get fun again,” he closed, referring specifically to Facebook.

--Michael Pinchera

The most powerful advocacy is local, and that means each of the 2,000 meeting professionals at WEC can play a role in telling the industry’s story, an expert panel told participants during Monday’s Advocacy Luncheon.

“The opportunity for our chapters and chapter leaders is to become better informed, understand the impact we’re making in our local communities, and get together with our convention bureau partners to understand not just our local economic impact, but our business impact,” said MPI International Chair Kevin Hinton.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned, particularly in my new role, is that you can’t just do this when there’s a crisis,” added Christine Duffy, former MPI international chair and now president and CEO of the Cruise Lines International Association. Duffy quoted a senior U.S. Congress member’s advice that “you can’t just show up here and expect us to understand what your industry is about…you have to be here every day, every week. We need to hear from people in the local districts.”

Advocacy specialist Roger Rickard noted that all politics are local, and that means a handwritten note is one of the most effective forms of advocacy. The note should contain exactly three sentences:

• Who you are and who you represent.
• Why the issue is personal for you and your organization.
• What the elected representative can do to help.

He explained that handwritten correspondence will land on the Congress member’s desk, unlike the 40 million emails he or she receives each year.

Panelists encouraged members and chapters to contact their local Congress members and identify local partners with an interest in supporting a strong meeting industry. A participant said MPI’s Greater Calgary Chapter had generated profile by giving an award to the mayor during National Meetings Industry Day, an event co-organized each year by eight chapters across Canada. “We knew we would get him to our meeting because we were giving him something,” she said, and local media followed in his wake.

Michael Massari, senior vice-president of Caesar’s Entertainment, said the Las Vegas industry realized the need for ongoing advocacy after the community came under attack in 2009. Since then, Caesar’s and other properties have become more prominent in MPI, the U.S. Travel Association and other industry organizations. 

“We realized we had to do this in a meaningful way, get involved, and advocate to make a difference,” he said.

--Mitchell Beer

The Big Deal last night at WEC was a huge success. After several hours of poker playing, three new winners emerged triumphant. 

Trevor Lui, director of operations and sustainability for International Centre Toronto, won first place in the tournament. He recently joined the MPI Foundation Canadian Council, and he likes to wear bow ties.

Cindy Kramer from Aimia, and a guest of Venetian/Palazzo, was the second place winner. Stephanie Bodanyi from Turnaround Management Association had never played before but came away as the third place winner.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who took part in the event. 

Watch the MPI-TV News coverage of last night's event.

Today's all-attendee lunch features an interactive panel discussion that explores a timely and critical topic for our industry: Reputation Management and Industry Advocacy.  Engage with industry experts as they answer audience questions.  As a group we need to understand the issues facing our industry, and as individuals we must understand how we can influence change.  

This event was live streamed and is now on demand in the WEC video session catalogue.  You can access the recording here.

Go hybrid on Monday with the session “Meeting Pros Are from Mars, Attendees Are from Venus: Techniques for Creating a Remarkable Hybrid". You can be among the first in the industry to hear key insights from the most comprehensive study ever conducted on hybrid meetings, just completed by the MPI Foundation, in partnership with Mediasite Events. Join researcher Samuel J. Smith and vice president of marketing, Erica St. Angel of Sonic Foundry, as they show you how to overcome common obstacles and gain insights on the technology and formats needed to engage live and virtual audiences.

The hybrid session can be accessed remotely for free, and WEC attendees have the opportunity to attend the event at its staging location here in St. Louis. If attending remotely, sign into the event when it begins on Monday at 9 a.m. CST. Learn how to create a remarkable hybrid event by experiencing it first-hand.