Welcome to Startup Monday.  Our new weekly post will feature the hottest ideas from the tech and events industry.  If you have a startup that we should look into, let us know on Twitter!

Who would have thought that you could “collect people, places, and things with a touch”? Poken, is a small device that stores all of your personal information, such as, your name, business, and contact information. This information can be traded with other individuals at the touch of another Poken. This would be great for an event! Rather than trading business cards, you can simply exchange your information through the Poken, and in return, Poken creates a timeline of the people you met with all of their information. This is a great way to generate business leads and gather brochure information at your next event! Here are some of the benefits:

For You:

• Generate high quality business leads
• Simple and easy to deploy infrastructure
• Reduce paper waste and send a message of social consciousness
• Minimize printing and logistics costs of leaflets
• Track networking success with post-event analytics

4000 people were hosted in Orland, Florida and participants were allowed to collect information via Poken, click here to see the results. ABCey Events hopes to use Poken at our upcoming events!

We stumbled across this fabulous invention, created by Lumacoustics, that allows you to create a graffitied masterpiece without making a terrible mess! The YR Wall is an interactive drawing art tool where users create virtual digital graffiti on a large wall using a modified spray paint can. It is basically graffiti with a can that contains no paint, only a button and IR light source which is tracked using a computer vision system. The digital paint appears when the can is sprayed and looks exactly like graffiti.  Now it is possible to graffiti a wall, the way you have envisioned it since a little kid, and not get in trouble! No paint, therefore no drips and no damage! And no arrests;)

The paint includes a wide array of colors, symbols, stencils, animated stars, swirls and drip effects.  You can even custom make a user’s name, picture, or logo.  After decorating the wall, YrWall can then turn your art into a t-shirt, sticker, or photo for a keepsake.

This way the user can work with digital paint to create their own digital graffiti art. No more swapping paint cans to change color or having to wear a face mask and gloves. This is entirely environmentally friendly and accessible by anyone without any prior computer or graffiti skills. Oh, the excitement of working in a virtual envirornment.

YrWall, which can be hired short- or long-term or installed bespoke, has already been quite a hit at events like the UK’s Secret Garden Party. They have also recently worked with Daydream Network and Royal Albert Hall on an exciting new exhibition. Adding to the concept’s appeal and branding opportunities, people can receive a free digital copy of their art to share with friends, or can have their design printed on t-shirts and stickers right after they’ve finished their piece. Virtual postcards can be sent as well.

This is great idea for events as a way to keep people entertained and having fun! We love this creation and hope that we will be able to use it at ABCey Events very soon!

Check out the demo and tell us what you think!

YrWall Digital Surface Demo (preview video) from Lumacoustics on Vimeo.

Customers will use social media to give compliments or complaints about a company, regardless of whether that company uses social media itself.  Therefore, it is important for a business to use social media to give their customers an environment to share their thoughts. Dave Toliver, Director of Corporate Marketing at Angel, gives seven ways to create a memorable customer experience with social media.

• Give Your Customers a Place to Talk:  If you don’t have a place for your customers to talk openly, they will do it behind your backs and you may never know what customers don’t like. Therefore, having a place for customers to freely give compliments or complaints, allows you to know what you are doing well or need to resolve.
• Integrate Social Media Into Your Customer Service:  Giving a place for customers to voice their complaints allows for you to find a way to fix them, but be prepared to have resolutions for the complaints.  Likewise, if a customer compliments you, make sure to give them thanks or even coupons and rewards.
• Activate Your Existing Customer Base:  Many businesses have more customers than they do Facebook or Twitter followers.  Reach out to the current customers to start building your social media fan base. Then use the social media to reach new customers and perhaps promotions to sell your product.
• Be Proactive:  Interact with customers. Engaging in conversations will make you noticeable and customers happy.
• Reward Influencers:  If you reward customers, they will most likely be advocates for your business.
• Create Compelling Content:  Give your customers something they can admire on your page.  Remember, they are following you, so you want to make them feel special and exclusive.
• Stand Out From the Crowd:  The majority of social media is done by text. Be different and make yourself stand out. Use pictures, voice applications, or even music, to engage with the customers and make yourself memorable.

LinkedIn can be used for a variety of different reasons. For example, it can be used to post your résumé, network, promote your business, and conduct research.  A perk to having an account with LinkedIn, however, is trying to win new business.  Ann Handley, offers some tips for how companies might use LinkedIn to gain new clientele.

• Target Searches:  Keywords that are most important about your business.
• Track:  Who looks at your profile? Find out, then send them an agency portfolio.
• Research:  Find new companies that might be interested in a new agency!
• Set up a Company Page:  Give your company some presence.
• Discern Patterns:  Recognize who is connected in your industry and make sure they see your brand.
• Participate in LinkedIn Groups:  Find groups in your target market and engage in conversation.

How are you currently using LinkedIn?  Let us know if you think these tips are helpful… ABCey Events will be sure to try them out!

Virtual events and Hybrid Events have been a hot topic for a while now. If you’re unclear on what a Hybrid event is, it is simply the extension of traditional in-person events with tools such as broadcasting and social media. For some special event professionals, hybrid events are not cutting-edge but commonplace. Every event now-a-days should really be considered a hybrid from the start, unless there is a specific reason for there not to be. The more people to get involved into a brand, a product or a communication message, the better their response will be in the form of buying decisions or recommendations. Hybrid events involve people even more than classic events did in the past, and at this point you can see that virtual and social media elements offer a lot of advantages for companies planning to use them. It’s not just regular “ROI” anymore, it’s Return on Involvement as well!

International event powerhouse Vok Dams Group, headquartered in Germany, was among the first agencies to integrate the Internet into special events back in 1998. And the company’s commitment to hybrid events is clear: “The future belongs to hybrid events, which pair live with MoSoLo—the use of mobile/social/location-based technologies,” says company leader Coja Dams. For Microsoft’s partner conference in Germany last week, the Vok Dams team turned to a mix of elements, including a custom event guide app, communication via Facebook and Xing (the German version of LinkedIn), Xbox Kinect modules at the event, and scannable tag codes at networking events that helped the 1,400 guests learn more about one another.

ABCey Events loves learning about the immersion of new and innovative technology and events. Several event pros who routinely stage hybrid events stress that complex technology is not a must though. Multi-source events can also be incredibly cheap, from Skype and Twitter, to most costly, satellite and interactive texting. We do think that putting a digital spin on a live event can make the event better. Technology is changing at light speed. It is time for the us, the event marketers of the world to assess their portfolio and align new business models to their event marketing strategies!

This post was adapted from “Hybrid Special Events–So ‘Now’ or Not Yet?” by Lisa Hurley of Special Events Magazine.

Writing a business plan is not for everybody, and that is exemplified by how many ventures fail catastrophically! We wanted to extend our congratulations to San Francisco based Enloop for being featured in September’s “Entrepreneur.” In short, Enloop helps startups forecast their financial future as well as prepare a business plan that is ready for banks and investors. Cynthia McCahon, CEO at Enloop, created a platform that gives an opportunity for excited startups to evaluate their ventures realistically, so financial adjustments can be made sooner than later. Very often we observed hopeful young entrepreneurs overestimating their real possibilities and failing simply for the lack of planning ability. Also, fortunately for frugal startups, Enloop’s basic service is free. Don’t you just love it when there are new innovative (and hopefully free) services that make our life so much easier?

ABCey Events is always happy to hear about San Francisco success stories and always ready to celebrate too! Would you use this service as an entrepreneur?

As long as there have been people, there have been stories. People have always wanted to pass on their memories and share their experiences with those around them. The evolution of digital cameras has made it easier than ever before for people across the world to capture and share their memories in fun and creative new way.

That’s where Shutterfly comes in. They are the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, leveraging their innovative platform and manufacturing process to enable people to easily express themselves in extraordinary ways by turning their everyday pictures into innovative and stylish keepsakes.They are currently offering a promotional giveaway that will give you a product code good for 100 total (50 per code) free party invitations and/or cards via discount codes that can be used on their Party invitations or cards here!

Here are some of the other cool things they offer:

• Free online photo storage: Shutterfly has never deleted a photo.

• Free online photo sharing: Your friends and family can view pictures you want to share without having to log in or sign up. They just click on a link in your email and instantly view a slideshow of your newest memories.

• Express Uploader: Shutterfly Express Uploader is a free, easy-to-use software application that quickly uploads your photos straight from your desktop. You can also view and edit your pictures before uploading them.

• Photo borders: Enhance your prints for free with more than 400 colorful, festive and seasonal borders that range from new baby to birthday, wedding to so much more. You can even add personalized captions.

• Back-of-print messaging: Every photo you order from Shutterfly can be personalized for free with a short message on the reverse side. This ensures that you and future generations will always remember the who, what and where of special times.

If you are interesting in receiving a product code, please leave us a comment here!

Sometimes the best way to witness marketing done properly is by watching a couple of kids run a lemonade stand.  You will likely witness creative advertising, incredible energy, and careful relationship building. Here are nine lemonade stand marketing tips from Jim Loico’s article that you can use to promote your services:

1. Give people something for free and they will feel obligated to return the favor

2. Give potential customers a taste of your offerings

3. Make it “Extra Special”

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Tell Your “Neighbors” (Network!)

5. Do What You Need to Do to Be Seen

6. Be Persistent

7. Build Anticipation 

8. Find Good Partners

9. Advertise Your Popularity

At ABCey Events, we believe in continually using the power of marketing to increase awareness and excitement for our client’s events. Many of these tips are pretty common sense, but they’re practical and can apply to any sales practices. Which one of these marketing tips do you utilize within your organization?

As event planners, we often have to get the word out and help bring in target attendees to any given launch party, fundraiser, or conference. It’s not just about planning anymore. We are often hired to promote our upcoming events via social media, street team ambassadors, email marketing, etc. Pre-event hype is crucial. The guys who are paid to promote new movies have some cool tricks you can use. The Eventzi team discusses three great ideas to excite and inform people about your next event.

1. Tease: A few months before the event, drop some clues about the event. Post information about what you have planned. If this is your first event, set up a page where you can collect emails from people who are interested. This makes invites a lot easier. It can allow you to use ideas of the people who are interested to make the event even more appealing to them.

2. Preview: A few weeks before the event, start releasing some surprises. Let people see what they will get if they attend, but keep some surprises for the event. Also, tell people about the vision for the event and why it exists. This will get people thinking and talking about the event. Just like the premiere’s, you want to get attractive names to attend and let everyone know they are going to the event.

3. Tickets on-sale: As you put the tickets on-sale, send out your email invites and try to get relevant blogs to link to you. Tell the world how many tickets have been sold and show that you have drive and will keep pushing on. Keeping a strong momentum throughout the planning of the event will show people that the event is worthwhile and will be unforgettable.

These ideas are a great way to get the attendees excited for you next event. Have you tried any of these methods?