This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Find out more

ITCM

Since its launch in 1988 ITCM has been reporting on the latest developments in the MICE market from around the world.
  1. Home
  2. Categories
  3. Tags
  4. Authors
  5. Team Blogs
  6. Archives
  7. Calendar
  8. Subscribe
  9. Unsubscribe
  10. Feeds
  1. Home
  2. Categories
  3. Tags
  4. Authors
  5. Team Blogs
  6. Archives
  7. Calendar
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Subscribe to updates from author Unsubscribe to updates from author
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

One massively damaging data breach after another ….

Technology
…..but nothing ever happens… says Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer, RefTech
2018 saw a number of large companies suffer from huge data breaches, but it’s so commonplace these days that every announcement seems to follow a standard process: we read about it in the press, mutter to ourselves ‘oh that’s bad’ and then we move on to read the next news story.

Continue reading
Tweet
556 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

Technology can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

MICE Technology
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer, RefTech, illustrates his point
More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube each day but only a fraction of these attract the millions of users that are needed for something to be classed as ‘going viral’.

Continue reading
Tweet
979 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

Dangers of public Wi-Fi

Technology
Are you aware of ‘Man-in-the-Middle’ attacks ?
Walk past any café or coffee shop and you will see them – the freelancers and homeworkers who are using these local facilities as their office. The UK’s so-called ‘gig economy’ has encouraged us all to work in a more flexible way and some reports are saying that we will all be embracing the coffee shop working culture in ten years’ time. Our industry is full of freelancers – the very up-and-down nature of events lends itself to people who can work for one employer when needed and move on to another project when not.

Continue reading
Tweet
3567 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

Leading-edge can be double-edged

Technology
Pioneer techies often get hurt, says Simon Clayton of RefTech
When it comes to tech, event organisers are often faced with a dilemma: they want to use the very latest technology, but they need it to be completely reliable and dependable. These two factors never go together.

Continue reading
Tweet
2524 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

The new kid on the block

Technology
Is Blockchain a solution in search of a problem?
As a concept, Blockchain is actually quite interesting and is known as ‘distributed ledger’ technology. Pretty much everything we do online creates data and Blockchain is a new way of storing and moving that data. Data has to be held somewhere and usually gets stored in clumps in one place – whether that is on a company’s server, your own PC or in the cloud. With Blockchain the data is split into tiny pieces and spread out over thousands of places via a network and then held together with clever cryptography.

Continue reading
Tweet
3197 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech
Featured

GDPR will make data misuse very obvious

Technology
Simon Clayton stresses that data about other people belongs to them not to you
It’s occurred to me that GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) isn’t wildly different from the Data Protection Act that it replaces – except in one major and hugely ground-breaking way.
The overarching goal of GDPR (enforceable in Europe from May 25 2018) is one of transparency and fairness. Its main mission is to encourage companies to be transparent in the way they are storing and using people’s personal data and that they are fair in the decisions they take regarding that data.

Continue reading
Tweet
4808 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Confusion over new EU data protection law

MICE
Simon Clayton says fines are unlikely and offers a free Reftech guide
GDPR: by now, you will know that it is General Data Protection Regulation and when it will be enforceable May 25), but do you actually know exactly what you have to do? You are not alone - there are thousands of companies and millions of people who still don’t know exactly what they need to do either, and there’s good reason for that.

Continue reading
Tweet
4359 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Barcodes outperform facial recognition

MICE
Simon Clayton tells how even Apple’s demo failed
The Apple iPhone X launch has brought facial recognition into the news and so, of course, we need to look at its impact on the events industry. ‘Facial recognition is going to take the events world by storm and the humble barcode will soon be relegated to the past’. At least, that’s what the people selling it are claiming.

Continue reading
Tweet
5573 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Augmented Reality brings no benefits

MICE
AR doesn’t pass the ‘cost v. usefulness’ test, says Simon Clayton
Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR and VR) are the latest shiny tech innovations to hit the events press, so, as usual, I thought I should dispel the myths and fallacies.
I've grouped AR and VR together because they will soon be referred to as one entity; Augmented Reality (the layering of information or images over the real world) and Virtual Reality (completely fabricated worlds) will merge to be one technique.

Continue reading
Tweet
5504 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Technology should simplify things

Technology
But Simon Clayton finds it often makes things more difficultWe like tech, we like gadgets and we have come to expect that as technology marches on, our everyday items will include more tech features, have more functionality and be able to do even more whizzy things for us that will make our lives easier.

Continue reading
Tweet
6702 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Delegate Data breaches can cripple a company

Technology
Simon Clayton says they prove how valuable the data can be
How often do you hear people say: “If it seems too good to be true, then it most probably is…”?
This saying came to mind when we found out that some companies are purporting to sell delegate information from specific events. Emails from a third party company are issued to exhibitors and non-exhibitors alike and claim that they are selling delegate or visitor data from XYZ event.

Continue reading
Tweet
8195 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Is some high-tech solving problems that are not there?

Technology
Or will its use soon become very valuable?
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas prompted a whole range of reactions from the press – ranging from the ‘wow’ to the fairly sarcastic. One article highlighted the array of technology created ‘to solve a problem that just isn’t there’.

Continue reading
Tweet
7207 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

May 25th is a key date in data handling

Technology

Simon Clayton explains its importance to event organisers

The EU’s new data protection regime - the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - will come into force in May 2018, when it will make EU data protection rules a lot stricter.
While the future of data protection law after the UK fully leaves the EU is as yet unknown, the fact remains that the exit is still many years away. In the meantime, the UK’s Information Commissioner has confirmed that the UK will go ahead with implementing GDPR into our own national regulations regardless of the Brexit vote.

Continue reading
Tags:
Simon Clayton event organisers EU ’s data protection regime General Data Protection Regulation
Tweet
7181 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Hacking a fridge…

Technology

Simon Clayton warns it might not be so funny

The internet of things (IoT) has suffered some bad press of late due to the current lack of any security standards. Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security, recently documented his experience setting up a $55 JideTech security camera at home. According to Graham's series of Twitter posts, his camera was taken over by the Mirai botnet and compromised in just 98 seconds.

Continue reading
Tags:
MICE Simon Clayton internet IoT security standards
Tweet
7924 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

No, you don’t have Big Data!

Technology

And don't look for meaning in meaningless data, advises Simon Clayton

Big Data: it's a great term, but it's being bandied about our industry like sweets at a kids' party. It's everywhere at the moment. I've been to several conferences and I read the industry press and you can't move for references to it.
But I can state categorically that no-one in the events industry has Big Data. There, I've said it. Every one of the people discussing the use of Big Data within our industry is peddling a misconception. Big Data does not exist in the events industry.

Continue reading
Tweet
9479 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Has AI now reared its head in the events industry?

Technology

Simon Clayton is not convinced

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the stuff of sci-fi for decades and is now finally making some interesting leaps into the consumer world. Seth Shostak, Director of the Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), says: ‘Within 20 years, you will have one computer that's smarter than all humans put together.’

Continue reading
Tweet
8616 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

How long are you allowed to keep events data?

Technology

Simon Clayton highlights the dangers

Event organisers collect a lot of data, but how long can that data be kept, what can be kept and how do you determine what’s safe to retain?
Two of the core principles of European data protection law, under both the old and new regimes, are that the data you collect must be relevant to the ways you are using it and that it must not be retained for longer than is necessary. Event organisers should consider these two standards together.

Continue reading
Tags:
MICE data dangers Event organisers core principles European data protection law
Tweet
7629 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Deleted data is often accessible

Technology

Event organisers have to prevent it being misused

We live in a busy world and the transient nature of our industry can mean that we are quick to move on to our next event. But before moving on, it’s worth making sure that your policies and procedures include tying up some loose ends.
It can be tempting to keep registration data indefinitely, because you never know when you may need it, but the more data you have stored, the more likely you will be hacked – especially if it is spread over multiple servers.

Continue reading
Tags:
MICE data data protection Event organisers deletion
Tweet
8217 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Free advice on data protection

Technology

Answers to important questions for event organisers

Data is the key to the success of events. Every event generates a mountain of data ranging from contact details to dietary requirements to sponsor leads. As the event approaches, that data is typically shared across a variety of participants, from exhibitors to advertisers to hotels. This data can also move across international borders. Put simply, a lot of information moves around a lot of different people in a lot of different countries.

Continue reading
Tags:
MICE data delegate Event data protection
Tweet
8471 Hits
0 Comments
Simon Clayton, Chief Ideas Officer RefTech

Invest only in proven technology

Technology

Sort the hype from the real benefits

I’ve often written about the hype surrounding new tech products and our industry’s insistence on announcing them with fanfares and declarations that they’re life-changing. This insistence in promoting untried tech can be confusing and organisers often say that choosing the right tech is the most confusing part of their role. Anyone in this bewildering position may find it useful to consider this: all new technology goes through a ‘hype cycle’ – five key phases of a technology’s lifecycle. Understanding the hype cycle will help you decide if, or when, to adopt a technology.

Continue reading
Tags:
MICE technology Lifecycle event tech hype cycle
Tweet
8599 Hits
0 Comments
Previous
1 2

Popular Posts

Sydney Paulden
Sydney Paulden
09 October 2013
"I’m in Thailand and I’m perched on the neck of a very large elephant"
My mobile rang and I reached into my pocket with difficulty to answer it. ‘Sydney’, said my acc...
132986 Hits
Read More
Sydney Paulden
Sydney Paulden
24 October 2013
Sleeping giant very much awake
There is always an exception to the rule. The world continues to complain about sluggish economi...
74089 Hits
Read More
Sydney Paulden
Sydney Paulden
25 November 2013
One event, 50 RFQs
Should something be done about it? And if so, what? Requests for quotations for events are ...
49044 Hits
Read More
Sydney Paulden
Sydney Paulden
09 December 2013
MICE sector is a major contributor to the welfare of the world
MICE sector is a major contributor to the welfare of the world
How can we get more accurate global statistics?e In 1989, I read in a national newspaper ...
42685 Hits
Read More