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NEWSLETTER 155
 
VIRTUAL EVENTS GROUP
 


The Internet is very new. 90% of the data on the Internet has been created since 2016, according to an IBM Marketing Cloud study.

 
 
 
 
 
 
NOVEMBER 16 | 3PM EDT | SCOOT APP
 
Explore Scoot
 
In a post-pandemic world there may be as many ways to hold a meeting as there are meetings to hold. This month’s VEG field trip takes you to Scoot, a different sort of meeting engagement platform that can give your team the shot of adrenaline it needs. Join us on Thursday November 16th for this interactive journey with a Thanksgiving theme. You’ll need to RSVP to get registered on Scoot.
 
 
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FEATURED STORY
 
Smile: You’re on Spot My Photo
 
 
 

You could be the star of the next event you attend. SpotMyPhotos, an AI-powered, automated private photo-sharing service, lets your photo find you. It’s an opt-in events service that sort of combines a roaming photographer and a photo booth at an event.

 
 
SpotMyPhoto sends your event photos directly to you. Image credit: TSNN
 
 
 

Here’s how it works. A pro photographer snaps your photo. You provide an email or cell phone number to the photographer. From that instant, the AI in SpotMyPhotos will send you any photo that it finds you in, almost instantaneously. You can decide to share (or not). And because event planners can brand the photos, it’s a viral way to promote an event. The underlying technology marries pattern recognition with opt-in facial recognition. What does this mean? You’ll have a photo record of your journey through an event. OTOH, tech-driven mistakes will be made. (You may be surprised at who is misidentified as you and those with privacy concerns may be less than overjoyed.) For a deeper dive, read TSNN.

 
 
Joe Biden Wasn’t Born Yesterday
 
 
 

Joe Biden might not look like the face of new technology, but he’s seasoned enough to recognize a watershed moment and get out in front of it. The President’s new Executive Order lays out a broad framework for mitigating any harm that might be caused along the path to an AI economy. It calls for a reporting structure to notify government agencies about any Large Language Model that jeopardizes the security of the military, health or consumers in any way. For example, it calls for standardized tools to assess AI models' safety, and it calls for a method of labeling or watermarking AI content to protect against misuse.

 

The Department of Commerce would be charged with marshaling the plan. On the heels of the order, Gina Raimondo, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, announced a new U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (USAISI) that would be housed within the Department of Commerce and specifically underneath the department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

 

Across the pond, 28 European countries and the EU published a similar Bletchley Declaration Report calling on creators of AI technology to adhere to principles of transparency and accountability. 


Of course this call for standards and accountability has its detractors, mainly from free-market proponents who are calling these steps premature and pessimistic.


The good news is that governments world-wide recognize the magnitude of AI’s potential to change the world. For the moment, but not to over-regulate.The best news is that they’re addressing the tidal wave of change that the AI era will usher in, and they’re doing it  early and clearly. I liken it to when the Internet was first rushing to the scene; governments took a much more wait-and-see route back then. After decades of Internet and subsequent social media foment, it’s commendable that governments are taking a “we’ve already seen this rodeo” approach, proactively laying out a framework to ensure that no humans are hurt in the making of this new AI-culture. 

 
 
WEEKLY
 
Scuttlebutt
 
 
 
 
Meet Mika, CEO
Did you hear the one about the robot who’s the CEO of a rum company? Hanson Robotics’s robot creation, Mika, powered by AI, is the CEO of Dictador, a maker of top-of-the-line personalized rum. Mika is the newborn sister of Sophie, one of the original robotic humans. But does she drink on the job?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving, Metaverse Edition
While physical retail falters, Macy’s hopes to pump it up with mstylelab, a metaverse platform where you can interact with the West 34th Street store digitally. Create an avatar, collect Macy’s stars, explore new fashion, and more. And surprise. There’ll even be a metaverse rendition of the Thanksgiving Day Parade. PS: You’ll like it in mstylelab. No traffic. No crowds.

 
 
 
 
 

Elsewhere, Sony Pictures teamed up with MeetKai and Spyglass Media to build a cheeky/spooky/bloody metaverse experience about surviving Thanksgiving, released in advance of Sony’s new horror film “Thanksgiving.” The setting is Plymouth, s, with a macabre Halloween twist.

 
 
 
Sony’s bloody Thanksgiving metaverse. Image credit: Sony
 
 

Both Macy’s and SONY’s online worlds represent new, more approachable metaverses (metavi?). Both can support headsets, but both are perfectly fun and navigable in a browser.

 
 

Measuring Sustainability
In the “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” category, there’s a new report from Honeycomb Strategies that spotlights how to measure the environmental impact of those “everyday things” you see at events: signage, single-use plastics, and what it calls “waste diversion.” Whether you’re attending or organizing, being mindful and vocal about sustainability is paramount. Think about going beyond net zero, offsetting the environmental impact on the communities where we convene.

 
 

Old Tricks Get New Life 
Kaltura, a company that specializes in streaming video, recently held its Virtually Live Conference with content divvied up into memorable buckets to orient its guests, including The Lookout Lounger, The Test Lab, and The Think Tank. For entertaining/educational content that blends a load of content with a fun game, they enlisted Julius Solaris to host the Virtually Live Game. It’s chock full of information in a game show format, with great video and graphics to add to the fun. Game shows are a time-tested ploy, but they work. Listen and learn.

 
 
Sony’s bloody Thanksgiving metaverse. Image credit: Sony
 
 

Person of Interest
John Chen is an ex-Microsoftie who became a virtual events convert/maven during the pandemic. Chen believes we can make virtual events more engaging with a little hand holding (that he provides). He’s got a simple six-step engagement plan that he’s sharing at his latest event.

 
 
DECEMBER 14 | 3PM EDT | ZOOM
 
Mark Your Calendars
 
 
Mark your calendars for Dececember 14, 2023 when we’ll explore work-from-home research with Tracy Judge of Soundings. Connect and practice your collaborative drawing skills with Chris Bent of Piccle’s.
 
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Robin Raskin | Founder
917.215.3160 | robin@virtualeventsgroup.org

Gigi Raskin | Sales/Marketing

917.608.7542 | gigi@virtualeventsgroup.org