My First Experience at the XLIVE Conference in Las Vegas

Next, was the usual prep-work needed to get ready for speaking engagements. I spent several hours researching the session topic: beacons and geofencing. I assembled my headshot, speaker bio, and talking points. I conducted primary research by speaking with customers. And I participated in a few pre-conference calls with my fellow co-panelists. The expected benefits would be hard to measure and potentially long-term, but I was prepared for that. A serendipitous introduction, the possibility of finding a new customer, discovering new strategies and ways of doing business – all in all it was a bet worth taking.

As my friend Todd Rosholt says there are 50 ways to convene people. XLIVE followed the familiar format of keynote + breakouts, expo hall, and nightly mixers. Prior to my panel, I attended a session led by a music industry executive. I stayed afterward to meet him. We exchanged business cards, learned we live five minutes from each other in Los Angeles, and agreed to meet up. You never know if the camaraderie and conversations you have at a conference will translate into anything meaningful post-show. To my surprise, this conversation led to a lunch meeting the following week. The meeting went well, and we’ve been asked to develop a private WiFi/captive portal solution to deploy at one of his artist’s upcoming concerts. Expectations exceeded.

Thirty minutes prior to my session, my fellow co-panelists and I gathered in XLIVE’s swanky speaker lounge, complete with bar stools and hip mood lighting. We pounded Red Bulls as we reviewed the discussion questions slated for the next hour. My panel discussion provided a great learning opportunity. I was privileged to sit alongside impressive folks – a former google exec, founder of a mobile technology company, and the founders of two major music festivals. We discussed the challenges of deploying technology at live events. We shared mutual concerns around protecting attendee privacy, ensuring transparency, and not pestering people with endless sponsor notifications. We discussed the need to ensure every technology deployed at a live event enhances the experience without detracting from it. I learned about the concept of “balance of value,” the need to create reciprocity when asking an attendee to give something up (in this case, downloading a mobile app and agreeing to share one’s GPS location), in exchange for relevant and useful content. A few participants stayed afterward to thank me and exchange business cards. I even got to meet two competitors who were in the audience – the conversations were friendly.

As my first experience participating in XLIVE, the conference alone exceeded my expectations. The mix of socializing with industry professionals, learning opportunities, and the chance to create new business is what keeps me motivated and excited not just about XLIVE, but about the event industry in general.