Trade Show Booth Setup Blues

Though tomorrow is the first official day of the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, CO, I had to arrive last night so I'd be ready this morning to set up our booth in the exhibit hall. Ain't she purty? Yes, that's a leather sofa.

Fortunately, everything arrived as scheduled, so there was no need for my late night cold sweats from anxiety about a crucial booth component getting lost in transit. But when I say "everything," I mean four large 100-pound crates, two large 50-pound boxes, a cylindrical container and a large flat box.

Why so much packaging? Well, this booth is a monster. For this particular show, we're exhibiting as the Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises, which is the parent entity of our research center (CAMT.Artsnet.org), and two master's programs (MAM.Artsnet.org and MEIM.Artsnet.org).

During a particularly hairy moment this afternoon, one of the booth's walls toppled, nearly killing the guy at the neighboring exhibit space. If I had knocked him unconscious, my plan would have been to drag his body into a restroom, pack everything back up, and fly home to Pittsburgh. Surely he would have been hit hard enough to forget who or what had struck him, right?

Anyway, the booth is all set up, and I'm looking forward to the convention. I'm especially excited to tour the exhibit hall, as on display will be hundreds of amazing performing arts groups, technology providers, arts management companies, etc.

As you can see from the image at the top of this entry, our booth features a seating area with a leather couch and chair. I'll feel a little like Dick Cavett when I sit and chat with passersby.

Going North

Technology in the Arts bloggers David Dombrosky, Brad Stephenson, and I are packing up to go to our sister conference, Technology in the Arts:  Canada, hosted by the Centre for Cultural Management at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.  We're flying out tomorrow for the Friday-Saturday conference. I'll be giving a presentation on navigating the murky waters of CMS selection in a session called Content Management Systems: Would You? Could You? Should You?  The simile in my presentation that I'm most proud of myself for writing?  "Open Source Software (OSS) is free like a piano listed in the classifieds is free:  Free grand piano.  Needs tuned and refinished.  You haul."

Brad's delivering his hands-on session Attack of the Pod People: Engaging Your Audience with Audio Podcasts.  He's currently trying to figure out how to get 50 pairs of headphones into Canada without breaking them or causing him to be pulled aside at any security checkpoints.

If you're going to be at the conference, be sure to stop us and say hello.  If you're not, no worries.  We'll be posting thoughts and musings about what we learn from our friendly neighbors to the north during and after the conference.  Plus, there's the U.S. conference coming up on October 9-11, 2008, in Pittsburgh.

Sponsor Technology in the Arts 2008 and be the envy of all your friends...

Want to be one of the cool kids? Sure you do. Who doesn't? The Center for Arts Management and Technology is currently offering sponsorship opportunities for its 2008 Technology in the Arts Conference, scheduled for Oct. 9-11 in Pittsburgh, PA.

Be almost as cool as this guy.

Some additional sponsorship notes:

• Any sponsorship of $1,000 or greater secures a spot in our Tech Expo.
• We have built into our three-day schedule more than four hours dedicated exclusively to the Tech Expo. We will also be promoting the Expo as a primary feature of the conference.
• The Tech Expo will be located near registration in a very prominent location in the hotel.
• All coffee breaks will be held in the Tech Expo area to provide additional exposure.
• We will be providing a 15-minute recognition announcement and demo/speaker opportunity for the sponsor of our Keynote/VIP Luncheon.

Want more info about the conference? Follow this page for regular updates.

Want more info about sponsorship opportunities? Get it here.

Come on... everyone's doing it.

(Image in this post licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy of ninjapoodles' Flickr photostream.)

Notice something new?

Those of you who actually visit TechnologyInTheArts.org rather than simply subscribing to our RSS feeds may have noticed a change to the site earlier today. We just completed the first phase of a graphics and content overhaul to bring the Center for Arts Management and Technology’s various services together in one convenient location. We welcome you to explore the site and provide us with feedback by clicking here or using the Contact Us button on the main menu at any time.

Next week, I'll describe in detail the changes we've made and how we've tapped into the full potential of WordPress.

By the way, subscribing to our blog and/or podcast feeds is a good thing and not at all vile like I made it seem earlier in this post. Find out how to subscribe and have all of our content sent directly to you!

CAMT to Attend Museums and the Web 2008

CAMT team members will attend Museums and the Web 2008 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 9-12, 2008. The annual conference explores "the on-line presentation of cultural, scientific and heritage content across institutions and around the world." If you are planning to attend MW '08, please email CAMT, as we'd love to connect with you.

CAMT to Attend Nonprofit Technology Conference

CAMT team members will attend NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference in New Orleans, LA, March 19-21, 2008. The theme of this year's conference is "Building Community," and CAMT will be connecting with members of the arts community throughout the week. If you are planning to attend the NTC and wish to meet with a CAMT team member in New Orleans, please email us.

Ahhh intentions.

It's been almost three weeks since the 2007 Technology in the Arts conference and, I'm sure you're wondering, what happened to the Technology in the Arts blog!? Well, my friend, you're not alone. I've been wondering the same thing. Particularly when I'm dozing off to sleep after another long hectic day and it pops into my head that, once again, I haven't written anything.

Rest assured that things have not really slowed down that much on the Conference side of things at CAMT. We've been busy making all the session evaluations electronic, determining how best to analyze our results, tying up all the lose monetary ends (event planners, I know you feel my pain), and, well, generally cleaning up. (Don't you like how I tell you to rest assured? I'm sure all of you were having panic attacks over whether or not we were working on the conference!)

Oh, and there's been one other tiny, little, minor change: I've moved to San Francisco. That's right. I'm actually sitting and writing this now from the City by the Bay. This transition has been a long time in the coming, and I'm delighted to say that the new ED of CAMT is a phenomenal man and one who loves the arts and technology... David Dombrosky.

In fact, David and Jerry Coltin are going to meet up with me here in SF tomorrow and Friday for a good old fashioned brain dump. Then, David will start full-time at CAMT on November 26. I, on the other hand, am starting an arts management consulting firm and my first client is... wait for it... CAMT! For whom I will be running both the Technology in the Arts conference in Pittsburgh as well as our new sister conference in Waterloo, Ontario.

Now that you're fully in the know, feel free to stop stressing over the terrible, terrible lack of blog postings at your favorite blog. And feel free to drop us a note... Particularly if you attended this year's event! We'd love to hear what you thought, and any ideas you have for making the event even better next year!

CAMT Partners with Historic Pittsburgh Hotel

CAMT is proud to announce its Technology in the Arts conference partnership with the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. Located close to all conference activities, as well as a wide array of cultural and dining experiences, the Omni William Penn will be offering special rates to Technology in the Arts attendees. View more information about our partner hotel.

CAMT joins YouTube

First the blog, then the podcasts, now we're on YouTube! In case you missed this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference, you can now see a brief video of Cary Morrow accepting the Grassroots.org Techie Award on YouTube. CAMT received the Techie Award for the development of CueRate, software developed to facilitate application and review processes for fellowships, exhibitions, festivals, and universities. In addition to the conference travel scholarship, the award also included a tree sculpture, created by Amoration Studios.

CAMT in style at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference

CAMT was in full attendence at NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference this year in Washington, DC, from April 4-6. Brad flew out early to attend the Day of Service on Wednesday. He helped an organization learn how to record and post a podcast.

Emily and I flew into DC together late Wednesday night and strategized our session attendence. The conference came at an integral time when Emily and I are looking for jobs, so we focused our networking opportunities to certain session tracks. She mostly attended Web 2.0 and communication sessions, while I focused on consulting and project management ones.

Some of the highlights of the sessions I attended:

Bill Strathmann's session, "The ROI Question: Demonstrating the value of technology to your organization," was particularly informative. He presented some nice models and diagrams of how to demonstrate your IT value to your funders or CEO in a clear and concise way. I'll definitely be looking to the complimentary thumbdrive that NTEN gave away to access that Power Point presentation.

The rule of managing expectations was re-enforced in a casual and anecdotal setting at the "Contracting with Consultants: How to engineer a better working relationship." Eric Leland and session attendees shared their expertise and stories about the consulting relationship.

CAMT had a prime spot in the grand hallway to the conference's main ballroom at the Innovation Plaza. Brad and I demonstrated CAMT's new CueRate tool, a visual art panel review management system, to conference passerbys. I also had the chance to talk to professionals who were interested in presenting at Technology in the Arts 2007.

The conference finale came when Grassroots.org awarded CAMT a one foot tall glittery tree statuette and $1000 for CueRate, one of the top 6 innovative tools recognized for the Techie Award of the Year. Cary pleased the audience and placated the time-laden MC with a quick victory pose.

Photos and the award video will be up soon on Flickr and YouTube, respectively.�