Welcome to Corbin's TechTalk Newsletter, in its sixth year of providing the latest in technology for meetings, hospitality and travel professionals in more than 60 countries.
In this issue: NEW ARTICLE: The Semantic Web -- What It Means for You NEW ARTICLE: 30 Tips for Keeping Meeting Expenses to a Minimum RECOMMENDED ARTICLE: Online Attendee Management NEWS 17 WEB FAVORITES FOR BUSINESS AND FUN 2 RECOMMENDED ARTICLES with "Quotes from Corbin" QUOTE OF THE MONTH CORBIN'S CALENDAR and the fine print.
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Thanks to our sponsors who make TechTalk possible.
Please click on the links below and tell them "Corbin sent you." 
| ITS
Handling over $12 million of corporate, incentive and convention air travel each year, ITS offers hassle-free, real-time online reservations and support services 24/7. Call Bill Martin at ITS at 800-462-9430 for your full-service housing and travel solution. | 
| Meeting Planning Boot CampTM MPBC is a comprehensive course designed for individuals who plan/coordinate meetings/special events. If you never received formal training, or want to brush up on your skills, this is the course for you. Registering now for December. Boot Camp trainers also offer professional out-sourcing for meeting planners. Call 480-874-1851. | | Great Online Registration Software RegOnline is a leader in the registration business with innovative technology, great pricing, and a support team that you will want to tell your friends about. RegOnline will make your event management lifeeasier.Contact: www.regonline.com or 1-888-351-9948 x3 | 
| N-Tag
nTAG Interactive provides a complete system for on-site event management built around our break-through interactive name badge – the nTAG. The nTAG system improves attendee networking and automates polls/surveys, agenda management, card exchange, taking attendance, and messaging. Customers include GE, MasterCard, IBM, WellPoint, Lucent, Accenture and many others. |
| Hawaii Convention Center
"Where Business and Aloha Meet." Designed to create a uniquely Hawaiian sense of place, the Hawai'i Convention Center is the perfect place for meeting of virtually any size or occasion. | 
| RFID Name Badges from Dietze Enterprises, Inc.
Improving on the capabilities of lead generation and session tracking systems that use 2-D barcodes or magnetic stripes, RFBadge (patent pending) delivers Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to show managers and their exhibitors. RFBadge provides enhanced security, identification, data exchange, attendance verification and exhibitor lead retrieval in a low cost, easy to use system. |  
|
Travel Planners, Inc.
The million things that could go wrong won’t when Travel Planners is your housing provider. Put an end to attrition. Forget about “bookarounds” and customer complaints. With 25 years of experience, Travel Planners can create an error-free Master Plan for you. Get a free copy of our Anti-Attrition Plan at www.tphousing.com.
| 
| EIBTM -- 30 November-2 December 2004 -- Barcelona Spain
EIBTM Is The Premier International Event Dedicated To The Global Meetings And Incentive Industry. EIBTM attracts 5,000 industry buyers and 2,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries. Over 2,500 buyers at EIBTM are top-level decision-makers bought to the event as part its Hosted Buyer Programme®.
|  | ConferZone
ConferZone is the first objective e-conferencing resource that tracks the latest technology and trends in the marketplace. ConferZone provides information on Web conferencing, video conferencing, voice/audio conferencing, collaborative conferencing as well as expertise on hardware, equipment and consulting services. |  | Attendee Management Inc. (AMi)
AMi breaks down the barriers to online registration, housing, travel and e-marketing. No license fees, no software to manage, just dedicated, experienced service. Pay only for what you need, and provide the solutions your attendees and clients expect. Contact info@attendeenet.com, or call 512.842.1613 |
 | CardinalWare
CardinalWare is a 4th Generation Content Management System that fully integrates management of information, personal profiles and distribution.Whether you need a new or better Website, online marketing and communications tools, integration with other data, or anything in between, CardinalWare may be right for you. Visit our Website or call us at 888-755-7075. |
Today's web is limited. Search engines index key words without understanding the content. We often have a hard time finding the information we seek in the more than 5 billion pages available.
The "Semantic Web" promises to move towards what can be called the 'machine to machine' web. Machines can talk to each other and exchange data in a fashion that makes sense to each other and make the Web much more useful than it is today. This brain child of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, and its implications are covered in this article.
NEW ARTICLE: 30 Tips for Keeping Meeting Expenses to a Minimum
This article, written by Susan Friedmann, CSP (the Tradeshow Coach) offers many good ideas to keep your meeting expenses to a minimum without losing quality you strive for.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLE: Online Attendee Management
This article in The Meeting Professional, by Jeff Rasco, is an excellent overview of the benefits and the options for online registration and attendee management systems.
NEWS:
TechTalk Newsletter Enters Its 6th Year
On November 1, 1999, the first issue of Corbin's TechTalk Newsletter was emailed out to a few dozen individuals with an interest in meetings technology. As TechTalk now enters its 6th year, it is sent out to several thousands of meeting and hospitality professionals in more than 60 countries. I would like to thank my sponsors and, especially, you the readers for your support and encouragement. This is what makes this newsletter possible!
New Content at the Tech3Partners.com site
Tech3Partners, the consortium of meetings technology consultants I am in with Jeff Rasco and Rodman Marymor, has new content at our jointly owned site: www.tech3partners.com. Stop by to read our news service focusing on meetings technology and our blog (web log).
New Content on E-Conferencing at the ConferZone
One of the best sources of e-conferencing information is ConferZone. They have recently added content to their site including an RSS news feed, blog and extensive glossary of e-conferencing terms. Also, check out their free online Web seminar "How to Select the RIGHT e-Conference Vendor" November 9th, 2004 at 3 PM CST
https://secure.commpartners.com/eventmanager/form.php?user=citizens&id=6
Express Yourself
Expedited online check-in comes to Radisson Hotels. Others hotels to follow.
17 WEB SITE FAVORITES FOR BUSINESS & FUN
5 Favorite Meeting Industry Sites:
IntelliBadge
http://intellibadge.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
Very creative use of RFID (radio-frequency identification) on meeting badges.
Proactive Displays
http://www.proactivedisplays.org/UbiComp/jsp/index.jsp
More novel use of RFID and signage for meetings from Intel Research
TheGoGame
http://www.thegogame.com
Cool high-tech team building ideas.
Hospitality Lawyer
http://www.hospitalitylawyer.com
This newly designed site has loads of content about meetings and hospitality legal issues.
Correction: IntroNetworks.com
http://www.intronetworks.com
The September/October 2004 issue of TechTalk mentioned IntroNetworks, this year's winner of the EIBTM Worldwide Technology Watch Award for meetings technology innovation. However, the link I listed was the parent site (MixedGrill.com) and not the direct link to IntroNetworks. IntroNetworks is an excellent business networking and matchmaking product. The correct link is listed above.
3 Favorite Utility Sites:
PowerPointBingo.com
http://www.PowerPointBingo.com
The objective of this game is to spot PowerPoint presentation mistakes the presenter makes and help them improve their presentations so that future meetings are more productive.
TheTravelInsider.info
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/
A super site full of content for the "road warrior." A excellent weekly newsletter for frequent travelers is offered as well.
Break the Email Chain
http://www.breakthechain.org/
Everything you wanted to know about email chain letters and what to do about them. Before you even think about forwarding that email message to all of your contacts, check here.
3 Favorite Search Utilities:
Microsoft, Google, and a host of other companies have come out with downloadable utilities that do for your computer hard drive what the search engines have done for the web. If you can't find a document, or an old email message, or other file, these free tools might just be the trick. Here are the best three in my opinion:
Lookout
http://www.lookoutsoft.com/Lookout/
This is a Microsoft purchase with full integration with outlook.
Google Desktop Search
http://desktop.google.com/
This integrates with your Internet Explorer browser and the Google Web search engine.
Copernic Desktop Search
http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/
Another excellent choice with advanced search options.
6 Sites for Fun:
20 questions
http://www.20q.net/
The computer version of the old parlor game.
BrainOfBrian
http://brainofbrian.com/facts-people.html
Useless (but interesting) facts about famous people -- and other odd facts as well.
The Picture of Everything
www.thepictureofeverything.com
The title pretty much says it. Check out this pretty amazing work.
The Ultimate Scrabble Fanatic
http://www.vidlit.com/craziest/craziest.html
The person that built this web site really loves Scrabble
Google application form
http://www.google.com/googleblog/2004/09/pencils-down-people.html
Google is looking for a few very smart people. See this interesting insight to what Google is looking for in new employees.
1-Terabyte Disk Drive
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10118
1000 gigabytes of storage on a single drive that is 6.3x3.4x10.6 inches (17x9x27 cm) -- less space than half a shoe box. To put this into perspective, if you converted the entire book collection of the US Library on Congress into plain text, you could store that entire collection on just 20 of these drives!
Recommend Recent Articles with "Quotes from Corbin"
Merger Creates Mega Provider Of Meetings Tech
Marshall Krantz's MeetingNews article covers the merger of two meeting technology web giants SeeUThere.com and PlanSoft.com. What does it mean for meeting planners?
IT Without a Net
This article by Michael Bassett for Corporate Meetings & Incentive Magazine covers the challenges for independent planners and other small businesses of managing IT and other technology support with suggestions on how to keep on top of it all.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH:
"The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense." -- Tom Clancy
CORBIN'S SPEAKING CALENDAR
My speaking and consulting schedule for November and December will bring me to Austin, Merida, Mexico, Chicago, Anaheim, Redmond, Lexington, Glasgow, Barcelona, Philadelphia, Seattle and likely a few other places as well. Check the link above for specific details. I would love to make your city one of my destinations as well, so please contact me and let's set a date.
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Corbin Ball, CMP
Corbin Ball Associates
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Latest issue of TechTalk is out packed with new meetings technology.
