Read what some groups are doing to boost attendance, engage audiences and create buzz

Trade shows, conferences and other big association events are getting evermore interactive and innovative. Groups are staging "Shark Tank" style competitions for startups, asking attendees to play games, and exploring all the pros and cons of new live streaming tools such as Periscope and Meerkat.

Associations are also tapping data in new ways to identify what their target audiences want, and then tailoring their marketing to different profiles.

In this special report, CEO Update looks at some of the latest tools and trends in the association meeting space.

Knowing your audience is the first step to event success
A few years ago the International Sign Association took a hard look at its annual trade show and concluded it didn't have a good grasp on who made up the event's core audience. That set off alarm bells.

"If you look at how corporate brands reach their potential markets, they do lot of research into personae," ISA CEO Lori Anderson said. "In other words, a collection of personalities and buying habits and attributes you can lump together into a bucket, if you will. We didn't understand what our buckets were." FULL STORY

Startup contests merge mission, entertainment at meetings
The American Farm Bureau Federation is channeling both "Shark Tank" and "American Idol" in its search for the 2016 rural entrepreneur of the year. Four finalists will take the stage next January at the Farm Bureau's annual convention in Orlando. Judges will determine who walks away with $30,000, but voters nationwide will pick a "people's choice."

The event—now in its second year—neatly achieves multiple goals: It advances the Farm Bureau's efforts to strengthen rural areas with new businesses, and it provides some real-time drama for convention attendees. FULL STORY

Get your game on: Gamification adds energy to events
Conventional wisdom holds that life is not a game, but some associations are finding you can boost attendee satisfaction at your events if you treat it as one.

Take the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which last year introduced a new feature in its Annual Executive Conference app that allowed attendees to earn points and digital badges for different activities, such posting photos, checking in at sessions, liking posts or commenting on other posts. Scores were displayed on large screen on the conference floor. The new feature was a hit, with app activity increasing 15 percent the following year, said Mary Leonard, CHPA's associate director of marketing communications. FULL STORY

Live-streamed video: Opportunity or threat to meetings?
Everything is on video: Cops, cats and conflagrations can't seem to avoid the camera.
But there's a new twist. In the last few months, technologies such as Meerkat and Periscope have emerged that allow anyone with a mobile device to broadcast any event live to followers with nothing more than a Twitter account and a 15-second download.

Association executives interviewed by CEO Update are either planning to test the services at upcoming events, readying a full rollout soon, or have already included them at their main events.
The question: What do these services mean for meetings and trade shows? Are they a boon or a menace? FULL STORY