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Corbin's
November 2000 TechTalk Newsletter Greetings! I am writing this
newsletter on a lengthy return flight from a speaking engagement in Thailand. I
have never encountered more friendly people anywhere. Even the cab drivers were
calm and patient. There is a great hunger for technology information in Thailand
and, even in the depths of the crowded and teeming neighborhoods of Bangkok,
cyber cafés abound. There are several articles and
other items highlighted in this issue. If you have questions, comments or
suggestions for future topics, I would love to hear from you. Corbin ========================================================== IN THIS ISSUE
SPONSOR Thanks to Trade Show Central (www.tscentral.com)
for helping to sponsor this issue. NEW ARTICLE GROUPWARE - SPEEDING AND
IMPROVING THE GROUP DECISION PROCESS Board meetings and other
gatherings can be very unproductive. People who dominate are often given the
floor at the expense of the less assertive participants. A presenter or
facilitator can sway a group, even when the total group input is needed.
Prioritization and group consensus for decision-making can be very frustrating
and time consuming. Sometimes
meetings drag on without accomplishing a resolution. Group decision-making software
and services (groupware) can help! Groupware is designed to facilitate the work
of groups, group decision-making and brainstorming. The article focuses on
primarily on the real-time, face-to-face products. http://www.corbinball.com/articles/art-groupware.htm WEB WATCH I will be returning to Hong
Kong next month for another speaking engagement in Asia. To prepare for my
presentations there, I have been doing some research on the global demographics
of the Web: The NUA Survey (www.nua.com)
conducted September 2000 sets the total number of Internet users globally at 377
million. The percentages by
geographic area are:
Only 6 months ago, the U.S. and
Canada represented 50% of all Internet users. The drop to 42% listed above
represents the explosive growth of the web outside of the U.S. - especially in
Asia. However, 84+% of all web pages
are still U.S.-based at this time. Additionally, interesting web
statistics recently appeared in Nature Magazine (July 2000) regarding web
content. The survey indicated:
UPDATED ARTICLE Is it dangerous to register for
a meeting or buy airline tickets on the web? Can I use my credit card? What
about computer viruses? Are Internet "cookies" dangerous? Meeting professionals are
building and using webs sites in record numbers. With this explosive growth,
security questions abound. Unfortunately, there is much misinformation out
there. This article covers three of the most common Internet security
misconceptions. www.corbinball.com/articles/art-security.htm ADDITIONS TO CORBIN'S
"FAMOUS" FAVORITES FILE: www.corbinball.com/tips.corbinslist.htm QIXO (www.qixo.com) This site represents one of my
hottest finds in the past two months. I book almost all of my air travel online.
This process, however, can be a hit-and-miss process. What I used to do is to
check three or four of the top sites; Travelocity (www.travelocity.com); Expedia
(www.expedia.com) and others to assure that that, indeed, I was getting the best
rates and connections. Now, with QIXO, all of the
double-checking is eliminated. It is a meta-search site for airline fares. You
enter the basic info (when you wish to depart/return, etc.) and it checks the
top ten airline ticketing sites, and brings back the rates and fares in a nicely
collated manner. If you do any online airline booking, this site should be the
first stop. ******** Ditto.com (www.ditto.com) Are you looking for graphics to
spice up a presentation, or a letter to a friend, or other reason? Ditto.com has
one of the best searchable graphic databases on the Web.
Searches by nearly any item or topic will yield dozens of clip-art
pictures and photos. Of course, be careful of copyright restrictions for proper
use. ******* Businessmeetings.com and
EventClicks Mpoint (www.mpoint.com
-- formerly www.plansoft.com) and EventSource
(www.eventsource.com) provide very
comprehensive databases of meeting facility information and are two of the best
sites for meeting professionals on the Web. However, much of the information is
U.S. based. Although both are working to broaden their databases to include the
rest of the world, there are two non-U.S. sites that currently provide very good
databases for non-U.S. meeting facilities: BusinessMeetings (www.businessmeetings.com) Although the site has somewhat
of a user-hostile password protection entrance, this London-based enterprise
claims 37,000 venues -- the biggest database of international venues on the Web.
The data is good, especially in Europe and Asia. EventClicks (www.eventclicks.com) EventClicks, a relatively new
site, specializes in Asian luxury hotels with meeting space has a database of
about 600 hotels and growing. Aside from the annoying interstitial ad the pops
up every time you click the home page, the site is nicely designed. As a comparison, searching on
“Hong Kong” yielded:
******** MobileStar (www.mobilestar.com) I have seen the future and the
future is now, but in limited locations. MobileStar provides very high
bandwidth wireless Internet access (up to 40 times faster than a modem
connection) at 132 locations around the U.S. including hotels and airports
lounges with significant growth expected. Looking at streaming video on a
MobileStar-enabled computer looks as smooth as television video albeit on a
relatively small screen. This is the best picture quality I have seen on the net
and all without plugs or wires! A similar technology can be found at Wayport (www.wayport.com)
as well. As high bandwidth becomes more widely available, the move to true
merging or convergence of the web and television into the same unit will become
a reality. SOFTWARE BOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE! Finally, the latest edition of
my book, The Ultimate Meeting Professionals Software Guide -- Second I have the Introduction and the
19 chapter headings online listed online at: It can be purchased online at: http://mpiweb.safeshopper.com/8/51.htm?275 SPAM - UNSOLICITED UNWANTED
EMAIL I received a great message from
Marge Anderson, Education Program Manage for the Energy Center of Wisconsin, as
a response from my last newsletter distribution. (BTW: I very much appreciate
receiving comments, suggestions for future articles, and question regarding my
newsletter. I will read and respond to all inquiries.) She expressed to me a
frustration of receiving electronic I would like to stress to all
you suppliers reading this Email is a great way to
communicate with your clients. It is the future of marketing. However, it is
imperative that you receive permission to contact your potential client first.
This is called "opt-in" email marketing and can be as simple as
receiving a business card and an indication that they would like to receive
information from you. However, under no circumstances, send a broadcast sales
email to people you haven't made contact with previously. As our email boxes are
filling, the chances are very likely that they won't be read anyway. But there
are many that are offended that you would take up their download time for a
sales email that they don't want - and it will actually work against you. This email newsletter is a good
example of opt-in communication. The only way that you can receive this E-zine
is that you have expressly indicated that you want it.
Any requests to unsubscribe are immediately processed.
CORBIN’S SPEAKING SCHEDULE
My speaking
schedule is filling rapidly for 2000. Bookings in September and October are
bringing me to Madison, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, LA, Long Branch
(NJ) and Asia. Would love to come to your city as well! Want to help sponsor Corbin's
Tech Talk Newsletter with more than 2,800 targeted subscribers interested in
meetings technology? E-mail me at: corbin@corbinball.com PRIVACY STATEMENT: We
respect your privacy. Your name and
e-mail address will never be sold, traded, rented, bartered, or given away. Nor
will it be used for any other purpose than to communicate with you. Period! Earlier
issues are available for your free downloading at the web To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to corbin@corbinball.com with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If you know of anyone that would benefit from my free email newsletter (sent every two months) containing the latest in meetings technology in clear language designed specifically for the meeting professional, please forward this newsletter on. If you
are receiving this issue as a forward and would like to get your own FREE
subscription, please send a message to: corbin@corbinball.com.
Simply include “subscribe” in the subject line. Until
the next time, Sign up for Corbin's fee TechTalk
Newsletter distributed via email every 2 months in the
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