New Zealand Calling

Smart technology showcasing smart technology

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:21:00 -0800

We're delighted to be hosting New Zealand Learning Technology 2010 in March. This virtual trade show is an extension of New Zealand's presence at the International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology (iCTLT 2010) and the associated Education Resource and Technology Exhibition 2010 being held in Singapore in March. These events focus on enriching learning experiences through the innovative use of existing and emerging technologies.

A New Zealand pavillion is being set up at the physical events to represent the education sector. It will feature four of New Zealand's leading lights in learning technology; South Pacific Press, Tentacle, Learning Media and Core Education.

The virtual exhibition is being set up to mirror the New Zealand Pavilion, including virtual booths for the four companies participating in the physical events. There will also be three additional ones - Accent Learning, Ako Aotearoa and Auckland UniServices - who can't make it to Singapore. To reinforce the 'Expo within an Expo' concept, a conference programme will be run within the virtual conference centre, featurning news, interviews and highlights from the physcial conference. The programme will also include a synopsis of the conference papers being given by Core Education, and mini-keynote presentations by exhibitors.

This combination of physical and virtual events is a perfect example of how technology can be used to work smarter. By including companies that couldn't attend the physical event, it enables a wider participation, as well as more air time for all participants. The virtual event will stay online until the end of March after the physical events have finished, meaning marketing collateral has a longer 'shelf life' and there are continued opportunities for exhibitors to engage with potential clients and channel partners.

The virtual exhibition will be promoted to people registered for the physical events. They will be able to access it via a dedicated touch screen within the New Zealand Pavilion, as well as via ExpoNZ's dedicated event URL. For each of the three conference days in Singapore, the virtual expo will be 'live' for three hours in the afternoon, meaning that exhibitors will be manning their booths and attendees can view presentations and connect with exhibitors, presenters and othe attendees via ExpoNZ's integrated video, voice and text chat.

New Zealand is a pioneer in the successful introduction of smart content, innovative softare and new technology to enhance teaching and learning, and staging this 'Expo within an Expo' is a great way of demonstrating the sector's credentials. The organisers of the physical events are excited about adding another feature to their event publicity and promotions, particularly as the virtual exhibition is such a good fit with the event's theme.

The 'Hell hole of the South Pacific'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:22:00 -0800

Kororareka (now Russell) was the stomping ground for whalers and pirates in the early days of European involvement with New Zealand and gained a reputation as a den of iniquity, full of bawdy houses and grog shops.

"Of all the vile holes I ever visited this is certainly the vilest. It consists of some 20 cottages (some tolerably good ones) exclusive of native huts standing on a shingly bank of some very small extent, backed by a nasty fetid morass, five times as large as the space which the "Town" covers, immediately behind which the hills rise steep and abrupt, covered with coarse fern and dwarf cypress, and looking as barren and inhospitable as can be conceived. Of the Town it is impossible to speak in terms which can convey an adequate idea of my disgust - the half-drunken, devil-may-care sort of look of the European inhabitants, and the squalid, debased appearance of the natives form a tout ensemble which has certainly produced anything but a pleasing impression on me."

When the H.M.S. Herald dropped anchor in Kororareka Bay in January 1840 bringing Captain William Hobson to New Zealand as British Consul and ultimately Lieutenant-Governor, his Surveyor General, Felton Mathew, was scathing about his first impressions, noted above. Mathew was not alone in this opinion. Five years earlier, Charles Darwin had visited the country on the Beagle, noting in his diary,

"All on board were glad to leave. New Zealand was not a pleasant place...absent among the Māori is the charming simplicity found at Tahiti, and of the English, the majority are the very refuse of society."

A dependency of New South Wales since 1914, New Zealand was considered at the time to be one of the toughest places in the world to live. The governors of New South Wales had enough problems on their own doorstep without worrying about the two relatively unimportant islands several thousand kilometers away. As a consequence, feuding and lawlessness prevailed and justice was summarily dispensed by vigilantes, if at all.

In addition to the "white trash" actually living in the town, at any time there might also be up to 1,000 sailors of many different nationalities from the ships at anchor in the Bay of Islands rampaging around, intoxicated on the wares pedalled by the numerous 'grog' shops. Kororareka offered many of the other trappings of 'civilisation', with five hotels, a theatre, billiard halls, skittle alleys and gambling houses and several brothels. Paradoxically, there was also a Protestant church where the law-abiding citizens could presumably pray for the souls and improved behaviour of their wayward fellow citizens.

Augustus Earle in A Narrative of Nine Months Residence in New Zealand in 1827 painted a vivid picture of these lowlife elements, including runaway convicts from New South Wales who "are idle, unprincipled and vicious in the extreme and are much feared in the Bay of Islands: for when by any means they obtain liquor they prove themselves most dangerous neighbours," and "Beach Rangers; most of whom have deserted from, or been turned out of, whalers for crimes which, if they had been taken home and tried, they would have been hanged."

From the time of James Cook's first arrival in New Zealand on HMS Endeavour in 1769, there had been increasing contact between European ships and sailors and the indigenous Māori population. Other than convicts escaping from Australia and shipwrecked or deserting sailors who sought refuge amongst the Māori tribes, the first European settlers in New Zealand were looking for commercial opportunities, sealskins, the native kauri timber for ships spars, New Zealand flax and whale oil all offered lucrative trading possibilities.

Since it's inception as a penal colony in 1788, Sydney had become a base for whaling in the South Pacific. Kororareka was a favoured stopping-off place for British, American and French whalers. Many of the Sydney whaling operations also established tiny whaling communities around the New Zealand shoreline. Mercantile businesses sprang up to supply the whalers and a growing number of other ships stopping for provisions and repairs, many of the commodities provided by the Māori tribes. Mahurangi, the Hauraki Gulf, Tauranga, Cloudy Bay and Hokianga were well-established ports by the 1830s.

During 1838, 131 vessels were known to have visited the Bay of Islands: 56 American, 23 English, 21 French, 24 from New South Wales, 1 German and 6 from New Zealand itself. By that time, the Māori people had already been in contact with European ships and seamen for more than fifty years. Growing numbers of British migrants arrived in New Zealand in the late 1830s, and there were plans for extensive settlement. By 1840, New Zealand had a European resident population of some 2,000; about half of this number being estimated to be living at Kororareka. The overwhelming majority of the 'Pakeha' setters were British, with two other significant national groupings of about 50 Americans and 20 French. During this decade there were large-scale transactions with Maori for land, unruly behaviour from some settlers and signs that the French were interested in annexing New Zealand. The British government was initially unwilling to act, but it eventually realised that annexing the country could protect Maori, regulate British subjects and secure commercial interests.

Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson had the task of securing British sovereignty over New Zealand. He relied on the advice and support of, among others, James Busby, the British Resident in New Zealand and the end result was The Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document. It takes its name from the place in the Bay of Islands where it was first signed, on 6 February 1840. This day is now a public holiday in New Zealand - Waitangi Day. The Treaty is an agreement, in Maori and English, that was made between the British Crown and about 540 Maori rangatira (chiefs).The Treaty was prepared in just a few days, then missionary Henry Williams and his son Edward translated the English draft into Maori overnight on 4 February. About 500 Maori debated the document for a day and a night before it was signed on 6 February.

Ultimately the new colony's centre of commerce and politics moved away from the Bay of Islands to Auckland, then Wellington, and the Bay of Islands nowadays bears little resemmblance to its earlier incarnation. A more picturesque place it's hard to find; cute old world charm rubbing shoulders with a thoroughly contemporary lifestyle. It's a fantastic place to visit with great sailing, diving and visitor attractions. Relaxing also comes naturally there - sitting on a deckdrinking in views that are truly breathtaking, perhaps watching bottle-nosed dolphins frolicing or doing whatever dolphins do, in the sparkling, crystal clear waters of the bay. Or following boats as they cross your field of vision, disappearing behind the myriad of small, sandy ringed crags that give the place its name. Add a chllled glass of one of the great New Zealand wines - somthing like West Brook's magnificent Barrique Fermented Chardonnay which took out the Wine of the Show Award at the New Zealand International Wine Show this year - to complete the picture.

Doesn't get much better...cheers!

Riding the Big Balls

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:41:00 -0700

Until yesterday zorbing was a complete unknown. Our first thought was that it must be might to do with folk dancing - the sort of thing Zorba the Greek was into. Apparently not. Zorbing is when you get inside a big plastic ball (zorb) and roll very fast down hill, trying not to damage yourself into the process. Kiwis are actually startlingly good at thinking up new ways to scare ourselves and the rest of the world...thinking bungy jumping here and think about the truckloads of expeditions following in bold Sir Ed's (as the the late great Sir Edmund Hilary is universally known hereabouts) trailblazing footsteps to the peak of Mount Everest and back.

Zorbing in Rotorua

According to journalist Harry Mount, hydro-zorbing is the only watersport practiced on land. "It involves climbing into a zorbing ball which is ankle-deep in warm water and attempting to keep striding, as if I'm on a treadmill, while the ball hurtles downhill." The other alternative is harness zorbing where you where you are strapped to the inside of the ball, opposite another "optimistic madman, unable to move a limb as you roll head over heels, screaming, your gaze locked on the expression of terror in your companion's face."

Zorbing was invented in New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, in 1994 and the large inflatable ball (10m in diameter) was originally intended to move across water until the possibilities of heading downhill became apparent. We're happy to report that, although New Zealand lost its world distance and speed records for zorbing as other countries got on a roll (!) with the new frightner, Steve Camp took the distance record back in 2006 (570m or 1,870 ft 0.9in) in a single roll in Paengaroa and we also now hold the speed records, both of which appear to still stand.

Zorb Rotorua, where it all started in 1995, has seen 575,689 eager 'zorgonauts' walk through its doors, roll down its hill and jump their best jump, apparently with an unquenchable appetite for more!

Zorbing's just one of a truckload of ways you can test your mettle in this land of the brave, Aotearoa New Zealand. The thills and spills opportunities are everywhere. Want to shoot the rapids? White water or black? Raft or jet boat. It's like ordering coffee, you're just spoilt for choice. Then there's abseiling into canyons and freeviding. You can ride a rocket ship on a wire should you wish to. Throw yourself off any number of bungy's, including inner city ones, walk on glaciers and even ski on an active volcano.

But don't despair. If all or any of the above hold no appeal, we also have a great symphony orchestra and national ballet and opera companies as well as a thriving arts scene. But that's a different story.

Eat your heart out Wales!

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:38:00 -0700

There we were thinking that with 58 characters, I think - got lost at the third "go" in the "gogogoch" - aka "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave", was the longest placename in the world. Imagine our surprise to discover that New Zealand actually has one longer!

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenua -kitanatahu, at 85 characters (or 92 depending on which version is used), is acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records to be one of the longest place names in the world. In the mind of the locals there's no question that it's the world record holder although apparently there's one in Thailand that's longer, much, much longer, but it's so long it would use up this whole blog post and what would be the point in that? In any case, if Guiness doesn't acknowledge it, why should we?

Anyway, back to 'Taumata' as it is familiarly known. It's the Maori (New Zealand's indigenous people) name for a hill 305 metres high near Porangahau in the North Island region of Hawke's Bay, more widely known for it's award winning wines, great food and amazing beaches. I understand the name means "The place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed, and swallowed mountains, known as land eater, played his flute to his loved one."

According to Maori legends, Tamatea-pōkai-whenua (Tamatea the explorer of the land) was the father of Kahungunu, ancestor of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi (tribe) Mention of Tamatea's explorations of the land occur not only in Ngāti Kahungunu legends, but also in the traditions of other iwi around the country.

The action at Taumata consists of a brisk walk up and down (formerly you could be chauffered up and back down the hill in SUVs) after which you can opt for a 'collectors' Bottle of Longest Place Name Hawke's Bay Chardonnay or Cabernet Merlot at the local hostelry. Who could resist? Happily there is a conveniently placed sign marking the hill, although it has to be said the Welsh are much better at cashing in on their long-named national treasure. They run to a website, which positions itself as the 'longest single word (i.e. no hyphens) .com name in the world. And we've only got a signpost!

It's not only Maori names that bestow a rich exoticism to the New Zealand land and seascape. We owe many of place names to the early European pioneers, many of whom were farmers, miners and whalers. Consider the drama that might have been involved in naming Cape Kidnappers, the sentiments of the people responsible for Mount Aspiring and The Remarkables and the onomatopoeic nature of a name like the Noisies for an island cluster with crashing surf breaking...er...noisily. Many names were simply practical - Ship Cove in the Queen Charlotte Sounds, where Your Link Captain James Cook moored on his voyage of discovery. Similarly the Ship at Anchor, a peak from where the namers presumably could see....well, their ship at anchor.

The hybrid quality of this cocktail of Maori and European place names reflects the duality that is contemporary New Zealand. Why not come and see for yourself?

The Business of Weather

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:53:00 -0700

We Wellingtonians have been shivering away as an extended cold snap rolls over New Zealand's capital. Overnight the temperature was around 6 degrees, rising to a high of 9 today. Auckland? Not too bad at 12 degrees during the daytime and only a little drop overnight to 10.

In the South Island, Queenstown residents actually had something to gripe about with 3 degrees overnight rising to a balmy daytime temp of 5! But they get some of the best skiing in the world by way of compensation, so no complaints there, particularly as the skiing season is in full flight.

Thanks to the wonderful New Zealand MetService for the weather updates. MetService's website one of the most popular in this country. MetService Blog is particularly cool with all sorts of fascinating and bewildering posts about the science (or not depending on your viewpoint) of weather forecasting.

But wait...there's more - MetService is so good at this stuff, it actually exports weather technology via it's subsidiary Metra. Metra enables millions of people around the world have access to information about the weather through a suite of specialist software products and services which interpret data and deliver relevant and accurate weather information to an impressive range of international media and energy organisations including the BBC. If you check out the weather on TV or in your daily paper, it's quite likely Metra has powered the graphics.

But, back to the weather. Like most nationalities, Kiwis complain a lot about the weather. But, compared to lurking optimistically at a bus stop being blasted by vertical freezing sleet, feet doing a good impersonation of ice blocks, having squelched along grime-encrusted, slush laden streets (the aftermath of last week's romantic snow covering, waiting in vain for deliverance by a bus that doesn't seem likely to arrive, our reality doesn't seem so bad!

One degree of separation

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:21:00 -0700

Imagine living in a country that is the roughly the size of France with a population just over four million. Well that's the reality for us in New Zealand. Our total population is smaller than a significant number of the world's largest cities. In fact it's half or less than half of the likes of Seol, Sao Paolo, Bombay, Jakarta, Karachi, Istambul, Mexico City, Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, Bangkok, Beijing, Delhi and London, which range from 10+ million to 7+. It's about the same size as Sydney, Wuhan, Singapore and Calcutta.

Granted, thanks to Captain James Cook and a succession of other importers, we have a lot of sheep - some 38.6 million sheep in New Zealand, down from a mind-boggling peak of 70.3 million in 1982. Those were the days when sheep jokes were all there rage and there were 22 of them to every one of us. Now there are only a paltry 8. Still leaves us people as something of an ethnic minority, but hey, who's counting. Well, actually, Statistics New Zealand for one!

Anyway, the point is that such a small population is good and bad. On the one hand, it's a contstant source of amazement that 4million tax payers cough up enough cash on an annual basis to keep the country functioning as a first world going concern, with New Zealand personal income tax rates of 22.7% up to $48K per annum, rising to 38.6% for those on big bucks! (i.e. around the $70K mark).

On the other hand, rather than the usual six degrees of separation, in New Zealand, it's more like one. And why does that matter? It matters because it means people are more accessible. There's a sense of community. If you don't know someone that you wish to meet, you can bet your bottom dollar you will have a contact who does. That means you have a better than fighting chance of speaking direct to everyone from the highest in the land, including senior politicians and people like eminent scientist Professor Paul Callaghan, head of the prestigious Macdiarmid Institute and our keynote speaker for ExpoNZ's inaugural event on 16 July. It means people are pretty egalitarian in their approach - you don't encounter the human EA/PA barricade - and it makes for a pretty cohesive, caring society. It also means our environment is reasonably clean and certainly green, because there aren't that many of us per square kilometre to pollute it, despte our best efforts!

But...and there is always a but...it's like living in a small town as opposed to a city. Everyone knows what everyone else is doing. There's little anonymity. People are generally unpretentious and un-impressed by pomp and circumstances. Flat organisational structures are the norm and big egos can easily be deflated.

However, love it or hate it, it's one of the defining characteristics of this country on the edge of the world, and something that people thinking about engaging with us need to factor into their thinking.

Mixed media

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:32:00 -0700

The word layering is bandied about a lot these days. Back in the day, layering was what you did with clothes. Nowadays, it's more likely to be how you approach marketing. Contemporary marketing is all about harnessing a richly layered combination of new and conventional channels including the proliferation of social media channels. I was a bit of a sceptic about these until recently. The whole concept of social media playing any role in the business of serious communications was something of an anathema. However, I'm happy to say in the liight of mounting proof of what can be achieved, I've seen the light!

Take yesterday. A colleague and I had travelled to Auckland for a couple of key meetings. Ignoring for a moment the contradcition of those words 'we travelled,' our business being premised on the concept of 'going virtual' and all - the interesting point was that two of our Auckland meetings were Twitter contacts. These were people we would never in a million years have encountered otherwise, but who ould turn out to be important partners. It's astonishing how much additional reach Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook et al provide and the randomness of how the connections are made. It's mind-boggling really. Another example. M-C tweeted the last media release we put out and within about a nanosecond of someone re-tweeting, it had been picked up be a couple of media sites, including GeekZone NZ, resulting in an instant flood of visitors to our demo site. The conventional releases did achieve results, but only several days later.

Through social media channels, it's possible to cast your net wide and connect with people that would have previously been off limits. For events like ExpoNZ showcasing a relatively small country on the edge of the world, on the one hand social media marketing offers extended reach beyond most people's wildest dreams even a decade ago. On the other hand, they allow the possibilitiy of pin-point targetting that must be the envy of magazine publishers and television advertising executives. The caveat? It's a time consuming business and you really have to stick at it and really work at understanding how to cut through all the trivia and inconsequentialities so that you can harness the power of the medium to serve the busienss objectives. At least that's what my clever colleagues who do the lion's share for our organisation tell me...

Godzone or Geekzone? asks NZICT Chief Executive Brett O’Riley

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:33:00 -0700

We're delighted that Brett O'Riley, Chief Executive of the New Zealand ICT Group (NZICT), has joined the speaker line-up for ExpoNZ's inaugural event on July 16. Brett has recently returned from Australia to head up NZICT which was formed in December 2008 to position information technology as the key ingredient in New Zealand's development and competitiveness.

The Group already has a membership of more than 50 of New Zealand's leading ICT companies - actually the membership list is more like a Who's Who, and it's fantastic to see these industry giants playing together and sharing their toys...at least that's the idea.

If New Zealand was traditionally thought of as Godzone, nowadays it certainly can also claim to be a land of milk and honey for Geeks - even our celebrated primary sector is characterised by the astonishing IT that underpins it. Brett's presentation - Godzone or Geekzone? - will offer a wide-ranging look at New Zealand's ICT industry and the opportunities within it for migrants, including professional development, training and education.

Brett has over twenty years experience in the ICT sector. Prior to joining NZICT, he was Managing Director of Ochre Services and Ochre Networks in Australia, responsible for building a start-up telecommunications infrastructure development business with projects in Australia and Asia.

Brett has also held senior executive roles at Gen-i, Telecom New Zealand, Nava Networks, Southern Cross Cable Network and Pacific Gateway Exchange. Earlier in his career he spent time in corporate and public affairs - he was been both a press secretary and ministerial advisor under previous National and Labour governments. He is vice chairman of the Advisory Council of the Pacific Telecommunications Council. Brett also writes and speaks regularly on a range of ICT issues.

Eminent scientist heads ICT All-star line-up for ExpoNZ launch

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:46:00 -0700

Paul Callaghan, currently Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington, heads the all-star line up for ExpoNZ's first event on 16 July. People who can make even the most complex aspects of science and technology interesting and accessible are a rare breed. Listening to Paul Callaghan talk almost made me wish I'd paid more attention in physics at school! His regular slot on the Kim Hill's Saturday Morning radio show has served up some fascinating dialogues about life, the universe and everything. Conversations About Science, a collection of these were published in 2007 and make great reading, as does the recently published Wool to Weta and a related documentary Beyond the Farm and the Themepark, which will be the theme of Paul's ExpoNZ presentation.

The place with all those sheep is still the vision conjured up by the words New Zealand for a depressing number of people overseas. While no one wants to trivialise the success of our agricultural sector and the importance in our development as a nation of all those sheep, clever use of science and technology have been significant contributors to this success and are in many ways the unsung heroes in our national story.

In fact, we're really good at science and technology and there are some exciting careers options here. We have world leading scientific research programmes in emerging disciplines like biotechnology and nanotechnology and many others that feed a dynamic and innovative technology sector.

Paul's message that we have to get beyond the farm/themepark stereotype is important, particularly if people with the skills we need to prosper and grow as a competitive, contemporary nation are to be convinced to come and live here.

Paul has had more than 200 articles published in scientific journals. In 2001 he became the 36th New Zealander to be made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He was awarded the Ampere Prize in 2004 and the Rutherford Medal in 2005, appointed a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006 and, in 2007, was recognised by a KEA/New Zealand Trade and Entreprise World Class New Zealander Award and received the Sir Peter Blake Medal. In 2008, Paul was awarded a 2 year James Cook Research Fellowship by the Royal Society for New Zealand.

Pretty impressive stuff!

Just tryin' to keep the customers satisfied

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:30:00 -0700

I was lucky enough to have a ticket Simon and Garfunkel's first concert of their world tour in Auckland last weekend. When I say lucky, I mean it, because it was a fabulous concert, but also because the tickets sold out in something ludicrous like nine minutes.

A couple of years ago I watched the DVD of S&G's Central Park Concert held in 1974 at the peak of their fame and shortly before an acrimonious split. The faces were fresher, Art's voice was more sublime, but in essence what I saw on Saturday was not dissimilar in repertoire or quality. The biggest difference was that it was live - I was part of the audience cheering the great men's every utterance, as opposed to being a spectator watching the enthusiasm of others on the DVD. It's just not the same singing along to a DVD as it is singing along with 11,999 other excited people, but I still had tears in my eyes watching it.

But....the ticket prices were eye-wateringly high, return air tickets at peak times over the weekend don't come cheap, nor do down-town hotel rooms, food and drink, getting from airport to downtown to venue and back. And then there's the temptation to succumb to the blandishments of new shops! If one were to be mercenary about it, such events really need to deliver big time to justify such high price tags.

Of course, with a concert involving two of the greatest contemporary musicians, that's not really the point is it? But, in the business world there has to be a measurable return on investment to warrant the outlay and time consumption of attending an event and the opportunity loss of whatever else you could be doing instead to achieve business growth. In many cases, it really isn't necessary to actually be there and attending virtual events in many cases achieves results with minimum cost and disruption to business. Plus you don't' end up knackered with aching feet. Granted, you don't get free sweeties or pens, but virtual goodie bags can contain some surprisingly tasty offerings!

Adding a virtual 'last city on the tour' event or a virtual track running simultaneously with a physical one great ways of ensuring that people don't miss out whether it is because the event sells out or because they can't afford to be there, or can't be there at the right time.

While S&G agreed to stage an extra concert for their fans who missed out on tickets, I'd put a lot of money on the fact that there were still many who would have moved heaven and earth to be there for whom financially or because of timing, seeing their idols was simply out of the question. In the music world you can buy the DC or DVD of the concert. In the business world, virtual events technology should mean no-one has to miss out...come the day!

30 days...and counting!

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:03:00 -0700

Well, we're now counting down to ExpoNZ's inaugural event, ICT All Stars to the World - only 30 days to go. Yesterday, we got a preview of the new version software, which will host ExpoNZ. After all the planning it's incredible to be watching our vision for a national virtual expo take shape, and we start loading exhibitor booths next week.

When a colleague and I stumbled across a virtual events platform last year during some research we were undertaking, it was love at first sight! Like a shiny new Christmas toy, try as we might, we just couldn't stop thinking about it and the potential it has to transform how people do business, particularly as it became apparent that 'credit crunch' was really a euphemism for global recession. This was one toy we definitely wanted to share!

Because of New Zealand's distance from our international markets and the relatively small scale of even our largest businesses on the world stage, going virtual has to be part of our national trading repertoire, particularly if we want to justify our claim to be a nation of clean green innovators. Going virtual offers a genuine opportunity to justify our 'can do' credentials and take some pressure off our resource-strapped businesses by working smarter and more productively and without further damaging our environment.

It seemed appropriate to open ExpoNZ with a technology theme - using innovative technology to showcase technology has a certain symmetry to it. So here we are, thirty days from launch with a fantastic line up of speakers shaping up, including the Professor Paul Callaghan, head of the MacDiarmid Institute, open source guru and coffee aficionado Branda Wallace of CatalystIT, New Zealand's recently crowned IT Rockstar 2009, Josh Waihi and our opening exhibitors include some of New Zealands iconic technology companies.

Don't do as I do, do as I say

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:04:00 -0700

Ignoring for a moment the carbon emissions belched out by people getting to it, a typical 5 day conference for 2,500 attendees will go through 90,000 cans or bottles, 750,000 cups and 87,500 napkins (source: Meeting Strategies Worldwide, 2003).

Over Friday drinks with my colleagues last week, one of them mentioned an organisation he's involved which is staging an international conference on climate change in Geneva shortly. The irony of hosting a physical event whilst pontificating about global warming stimulated lengthy discussion about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, hypocrisy etc.

Still pondering this 'don't do as I do, do as I say' conundrum this morning, I typed 'sustainability conference' into my browser to see who's doing what. Conference Alerts was first up and lists close to 150 conferences between now and the end of the year presenting some issue relating to sustainability. 150!!! On some days there are as many as three a day kicking off in different locations all over the world. Interestingly enough, nearly buried amongst this cornucopia of themes and exotic destinations were two rather forlorn looking little webcasts, so there are some visionaries out there - that's alright then!

Seriously, isn't it about time conference organisers banging on about sustainability began to seriously practice what they preach? The Sustainable Business Network has some great advice for things to take into consideration when planning a sustainable event. But they don't mention going down the virtual track as an option at all. Virtual events technology is now sufficiently sophisticated to make it a genuine and genuinely good-for-the planet alternative. Come on people, get with the programme!

Getting the virtual wires crossed.

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:35:00 -0700

These days, the word 'virtual' is scattered about like confetti at a wedding. Almost everything the enables someone to click a link on a website page is described as a virtual experience. Interactive yes, a virtualised rendering of a 'real world' scenario, not so much.

According to the American Heritage Science Dictionary, virtual reality is "the computer simulation of a real or imaginary world or scenario, in which a user may interact with simulated objects or living things in real time."

At the farthest end of the continuum of virtual reality, you use googles and other specialst equipment and, generally, spend a lot of money to achieve a totally immersive experience for users - computer games and virtual worlds like Second Life fit this category.

Our own technology enables virtual face-to-face meetings where people can talk to and see each other. As CEO of one of our competitors, Malcom Lotzof puts it, 'if you can see someone else it's like the difference between HDTV and a black and white (TV) set."

It's really misleading when people use the word virtual to describe a standard website - the virtualness is a reality only to them and it muddies the waters for everyone else struggling to find words to describe this new frontier. We run the risk of virtual going the same way as confetti - ending up in a multi-coloured soggy mess in the churchyard!

Beating the swine flu blues

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:23:00 -0700

I'm a major fan of virtual technology solutions. Well, to be honest, my advocacy borders on obsession, but that's another story. I was therefore ecstatic yesterday to stumble upon another reason why going virtual is a GOOD THING.

A friend dropped into my office. She and her family are on their way to Malaysia for a holiday, via a change of planes in Melbourne, then a brief business stopover in Singapore. Apparently, travelling from swine flu-infested New Zealand via swine flu-infested Australia to Singapore, which is not similarly afflicted, means that their chances of doing anything in Singapore other than get stuck in a holding pen until the can be sent on their merry way to Malaysia, are remote. The best laid plans of mice and men eh?

Anyway, that got me thinking. Why bother? It's all so hard these days, what with the hassles of all that additional security, now the prospect of having your temperature taken at every port of call further adding to the enjoyment quotient.

Think about for a moment. If you stay home, you avoid getting contaminated by your fellow New Zealanders. If you use virtual technology to build and maintain internatioanal relationships you don't have travel plans to get de-railed, or cancelled meetings with irritated international business contacts and minimal disruption to your life. Much better for the planet AND you get to spend more time with your family. I rest my case.

A screen within a screen

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:54:00 -0700

Isn't televsion a marvellous invention? TV3's Nightline programme, did an item on our launch. The news item ended up with the TV presenter streaming live from within the virtual auditorium. How cool is that?

It was amazing to see our virtual world beaming into my living room - it was a truly futuristic moment - and, judging from the responses we've receive this morning, one that made an impact on many others. However futuristic, virtual events are firmly in more than the frame for TV3. According to a survey published in the USA last week by On24, there could be as many as 100,000 plus virtual events each year by as early as 2011. This is one dot com bubble that doesn't look like busting.

During the interview, TV3's presenter Tova O'Brien asked me what was my vision for the future. My answer wasn't included in the item, but I thought about the question a lot afterwards. We're right at the beginning of this emerging technology and it's a wave that's ready to be caught. The so-called immersive worlds like Second Life are still a bewilderment to most people and there's a long way to go before SL and it's like make an offer small and medium-sized businesses can't refuse. The technology we're working with is quite different. It's accessible, immediate, easy to use - no avatars and gaming controls required - and within reach financially. Most of all it feels like something that's anyone's can get into, just the geek community. My prediction is that people will find virtual events so appealing that they won't want to go back to all that unsustainable, costly and uproductive travel. Within the next five years, 'going virtual' will be as commonplace as sending an email.

You heard it here first!

Check out the nightline item here