At our latest TEDxStockholm event we experienced what almost all event organizers also do: a lot of people have signed up to attend just don’t arrive for the event.

We had 150 seats available and since we were met with lots of enthusiasm when we announced the event, we were worried about having to turn away many. So we clearly wrote in all invitation posts and emails that you had to apply for a seat and we would send out confirmations on the Friday before the event on Sunday, June 13.

Shelby Bonnie speaking. What you don’t see here are the empty seat rows in the back…

We had calculated with 10% no-shows, so we sent out confirmation emails to 165 people on the schedule.
Here is what happened:

During the weekend, we received 12 emails or twitter messages with cancellations, so we still had 153 reservations.

We also received 9 new requests to get a seat, even though the registration was closed. I turned away these people, since I was afraid that we would be over our capacity of 150.

At the event on Sunday evening, only 112 of the 153 confirmed people showed up.
So we had a no-show rate of 27%!
Another 6 people showed up at the door and said that they had heard about the event and wanted to attend.

We were a bit sorry for this since we had turned away people that wanted to come. But there was still great energy in the room and the event was a big sucess. And the local police was happy since we gave them our remaining food plates…

So what did we learn?
My conclusion: People don’t read instructions so we should have sent our remindersearlier and in more ways. We got explanations like these:
“Since I did not hear from you a week before the event I made other plans” (We said in the sign-up form that confirmation emails would be sent out on the Friday)
“I thought the registration started at 19.00″ (we said 18.00 in the confirmation email and on the web site)
“I could not find the venue” (we had very clear information in the confirmation email and on the web site)

People forget about their plans:
“I completely forgot about the event.”
“I thought it was next Sunday”

My guess is that this is because we now live in an information overflow society with a lot of buzz in many channels. There are many smart tools to handle this with online calendars and reminders etc, but most people don’t use these, there is too much choice. We rely more on being buzzed and reminded all the time so we can re-negotiate continuously. The main problem is that there is no single way of communcation that works for all. We all need to take this into consideration when we communicate.

What did we do wrong?

In hindsight, I think we should have:

1. Sent out the confirmation emails at least 5 days ahead
2. Sent out another confirmation email the day before or on the morning of the event day
3. Sent out an SMS text message on the morning of the event day (surprisingly many people said that they did not access their email during the weekend)
4. Overbooked with 20%

What do you think? Please share your experiences.
Some people told us that we should charge a SEK400 fee for no-shows, like they do at other seminars. But this is a non-profit event, so I am not sure that would be OK, besides, does that really work?

                 

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I just love smart tools that helps me work more efficiently. Especially when they are simple to use, web-based and cost-efficient, like this one:

Evernote, a very smart, simple and free online tool for powerful management of notes and clips.

Also check this video, it is the founder of Evernote doing a 52-second pitch. Run the video to the end (52 seconds) and you will see a smart “overlay menu” with other related videos. A beautiful and intuitive interface!

This is a good example that I use when evangelising companies on smart tools that increase the usefulness of online video.

Basecamp is a terrific online project  collaboration tool that is very inexpensive and easy to use. It is developed by the company 37Signals, they are developing a set of online apps that are all easy to use. Also read their book Getting Real!´

Doodle is another smart little tool for booking meetings with several participants, and not having to mail around different dates and times until you settle on a time that suits everyone. It is free, simple to use and requires no registration or login!

                 

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Beautiful Iceland

We are used to tiny, fuzzy and jerky internet videos, due to technical limitations. But the technology is developing fast and new standards are now appearing that will make our video experiences richer on the internet.

So sit back, put on your best headphones and rest your eyes on this clip from Iceland, a music video with Sigur Ros, one of my favourite bands (very cool late-night music). Double-click the video to go fullscreen.

This video is compressed to use only 500 kbit/s using a new standard called H.264 (why do the engineers always come up with these awkward names?). It means that you can see this video on any computer even with a low-end broadband connection. The guy that encoded this video has tweaked it to its limits, but soon we will see this kind of quality everywhere. Compare it with this version of the same video, running at 1.3 Mbit/s, still possible to run on most broadband connections.
(Thanks Peter at Disruptive for the tip about the blog Flashcomguru.)

Another exciting technology that enables full-screen video at excellent quality comes from Move Networks. It uses dynamic bandwidth, meaning that it runs on any connection speed, the higher you have the better the quality gets. The national Swedish television SVT are the first to use this in Sweden, check it out by watching an episode of their drama series Andra Avenyn (click on “Se Andra Avenyn i högupplöst Play”).
It looks very good and also illustrates that picture quality is one thing and movie experience quality is something entirely different…

So now internet videos can be played in all sizes. From tiny thumbnails to full screen, almost HD-quality with superior stereo audio as well. This opens up for even more new ways of using video for communication, education, inspiration and information, also for corporate use.

                 

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KIVA

I am engaged in venture capital in Sweden, both as investor and as business coach. But I have also invested in 5 aspiring entrepreneurs in third world countries through KIVA, an internet based micro-lending organization that since the start in 2005 has financed some 30 000 entrepreneurs by small ($25 and up) loans from more than 130 000 people like me from all over the world.

KIVA is an example of something that could not be done without internet and the support from online payment service PayPal, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, MySpace and other partners. The web site is a school example of building an engaged community with lots of smart tools for networking between the lender and the entrepreneurs and also between lenders.

See how it works in this New York Times video story, where a reporter goes to Kabul in Afganistan to check up on his investment in a local bakery.
Exercise: first read this blog text and about KIVA on their web site.
Then watch this short video.
Compare the two experiences!
My point: video is a very powerful medium for explaining things and creating feelings for people and causes.

Also, listen to this excellent interview with the KIVA co-founder Jessica Jackley Flannery, from the Phorecast podcast.

And, if you want the entrepreneur’s look at this, check out Guy Kawasaki’s blog post “The six lessons of KIVA” (Guy is the father of the term “evangelism” for marketing and brand building).

KIVA is enabling thousands of people to improve their lives by doing everything right:

1. Creating a great user experience by connecting people globally on their site.
2. Keeping the lenders updated about the progress of each individual that they have lent money to.
3. Having a clear, easy-to-understand business model (a voluntary $2.50 or 10% from the lender for every loan).
4. Using evangelism to recruit lenders, not spending a dollar on marketing.
5. Inviting big corporate sponsors to help out with their services to create win-win.

                 

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My favourite pastime when I am riding a bus or the underground is to watch video clips on my iPod Touch from the american elite conference TED (Technology Entertainment Design). It “brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).”

They made the smart decision to post all of those talks online, and they do it in a very professional way. Watch some of them and then contemplate: Would you want to attend a TED conference in the future? Or would you rather just watch the videos? Well, millions have already watched the videos and TED is sold out every year a long time ahead.

For example, they have a new rating system for the videos: Most jawdropping, most persuasive, most inspiring, most courageous, most fascinating, most ingenious, most beautiful and funniest.

The famous talk by the Swedish researcher Hans Rosling talk “New insights on poverty and life around the world “is in the “Most jawdropping” category, you will understand why!
It is interesting to note that Hans Rosling held his first talk on TED in 2006 and ever since this talk was posted online he has received speaking requests from all over the world.

See also the TED video introduction:

Also check out the TED blog, highly recommended!

                 

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I use this smart online application for to do’s and reminders. It has an outstandingly easy and fast interface. RTM also has a very useful mobile version that you access with your mobile’s web browser (no plugins necessary).

For example, I make notes about things to buy when I am in the city. Then I can access these notes on my mobile when I am shopping. Very convenient.

RTM is free to use and comes in many different languages, including Swedish!

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

There is also a very handy plug-in for RTM in Gmail

                 

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Jag har glatt mig åt att interaktiviteten och användarnas aktiva medverkan ökar på Internet, och funderar på vilka möjligheter och hot detta skapar för företagen.

Business Week har publicerat en intressant artikel om detta, “The Power of Us” där man tar upp intressanta exempel på hur både nya och gamla företag utnyttjar dubbelriktad dialog via Internet till att skapa mervärde för kunderna och få in utvecklingsidéer mm.

Några citat ur artikeln:

“For the first time in human history, mass cooperation across time and space is suddenly economical.”

“We are seeing the emergence of an economy of the people, by the people, for the people.”

“If companies can open themselves up to contributions from enthusiastic customers and partners, that should help them create products and services faster, with fewer duds — and at far lower cost, with far less risk.”

Det sista citatet sammanfattar det jag predikar; att man med fördel kan och bör involvera kunderna i utvecklingsarbetet om man har smarta system som gör det enkelt för alla och som ger lämpliga incitatment. Exempel på effektiva verktyg för detta är t ex bloggar och förslagsforum på webben, jag är involverad i utvecklingen av ett nytt system som låter kunder helt enkelt ringa in synpunkter och automatiskt få återkoppling och belöning.

I artikeln nämns också att en grupp av människor är under rätt omständigheter ofta smartare än den smartaste gruppmedlemmen. Detta förklaras på ett bra sätt i boken “The Wisdom of Crowds” av James Surowiecki. Rekommenderad läsning som kan leda till nya bättre sätt att organisera företag.

                 

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Igår var jag på kul releaseparty för svenska upplagan av boken Medicieffekten, av Frans Johansson. Jag har läst den amerikanska boken två gånger i vinter, och kan varmt rekommendera den till alla som är intresserade av innovationer och kreativitet. Se även den svenska boksajten http://medicieffekten.se
(Lägg märke till att varken författaren eller bokförlaget ännu insett möjligheterna med interaktiv, dubbelriktad kommunikation. Ämnet är ju som gjort för att låta läsarna skicka in sina egna historier från “skärningspunkter”, t ex i en blogg, och på så sätt driva efterfrågan på boken och skapa underlag för en del 2.)

Själva partyt var roligt och välbesökt, med spännande och ovanlig mat från stjärnkocken Marcus Samuelsson (Akvavit i NY), samt en liten paneldebatt med författaren Frans Johansson, den unga artisten Ayesha och innovatören Håkan Lans. Ayesha stal showen med sin underbara berättelse av hur hon startade eget skivbolag mot alla odds. Jag ska försöka värva henne till Founders Alliance.

Henriks not: jag kopplade ihop Aesha med Founders Alliance och hon gjorde ett bejublat framträdande på den stor Entreprenörsgalan i Stockholms Stadshus där hon berättade om sin under-cover teknik för att starta sitt bolag.

                 

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