|
July 14, 2003 Issue:
 "The title of Corbin Ball's new book could serve as a description of the man himself: "The Ultimate Meetings Technology Resource."
Actually, the new book, to be released in August, is not a "book" in the traditional sense. Instead, Meeting Professionals International will be making it available via download or CD-ROM, which seems only fitting for this tech maven.
When we first named Ball to the most-influential list in 2000, we said the industry had a crying need for more people like him, who could provide organizations with perspective on how to use technology to improve their meetings management. Three tech-filled years later, it's still true. There just aren't a lot of places organizations can turn to for this kind of help.
Since last summer, Ball has been named MPI's Supplier of the Year, was appointed one of MPI's seven founding "global chancellors," and flew more than 230,000 miles on speaking and consulting engagements."
July 15, 2002 Issue:
 "What haven't we already said about Corbin Ball? To repeat ourselves from last year — and the year before that — we named Ball to this list because he is the foremost authority on all things tech when it comes to the meetings industry.
Since last year, Ball has been busy as ever explaining the whys and wherefores of information technology to meeting planners, who understandably can be befuddled by the dizzying array of new products and services that seem to hit the market daily.
Ball organized and until recently chaired the Technology Advisory Committee of the Convention Industry Council's Accepted Practices Exchange, an industry-wide effort to establish best practices. His many articles and presentations earned him a chancellor title from Meeting Professionals International as what MPI calls a "knowledge networker." His emailed newsletter, available through his website, www.corbinball.com, exceeded 5,000 subscribers. And he's working on the third edition of his book, "Ultimate Meeting Professionals Software Guide," due out this fall."
July 16, 2001 Issue:
 "We're not sure how much we can add to what we said about Corbin Ball when we appointed him to this list for the first time last year, a recognition that probably was overdue.
Ball is about as far ahead of the field in meetings-technology consultation as Tiger Woods is ahead of his fellow golf pros. The word to describe this position? "Dominance."
One big difference, it should be noted, is that while in the case of Woods there are a couple of hundred other golf pros to compare him with, there is a very small roster of folks who have identified meetings technology as their area of expertise and are earning a living from it.
Or more precisely, we should say, there are few who are earning a living from it who are not employed by a meetings-technology supplier. While Ball does serve on advisory boards for several such companies and has provided consulting services for others, he successfully has cast himself in the role of unbiased observer. This provides great benefits to the meetings-buying organizations that he also consults with and adds strong value to the many articles he writes for industry publications."
July 17, 2000 Issue:
 "If you set about counting on one hand the number of big-picture experts in [meeting] industry technology (who aren't biased by virtue of their employment with specific tech companies), you'll have fingers to spare."
"He's a speaker at most of the major (and lots of minor) industry conferences. He keeps the most comprehensive and up-to-date list of industry-related websites. And in the past year he published a book reviewing meeting software products that is already the de facto starting point for those looking into this area.
If you're a corporation or association planner and want to upgrade your department's technological approach, you can hire Ball as a consultant." |
