Social Media Guru Keeps Planners Tuned in to Technology

Calling Dan Parks an early adapter is a serious understatement. Parks has devoted his career to being ahead of the technology curve – especially when it comes to meetings.

Parks is president and creative director for California-based Corporate Planners Unlimited. But he is probably best known as a social media guru for meeting industry insiders.

A co-founder of MeCo, The Meetings Community, the industry’s largest online Listserv (an email group), Parks also hosts a Facebook community called MeCo Social Media Headquarters.

Parks posts incessantly on Facebook – mostly links to the latest information on social media and other technological developments. He also holds regular Tweetups and contributes to other online forums, blogs and more.

Travel Market Report asked Parks about why he is so passionate about meetings technology and why other planners should share his passion – or at least pay attention. Parks splits his time between homes in Dana Point, Calif., and Victoria, British Columbia.

When did you get involved with meeting technology?
Parks: My love for technology goes back to my time in the navy in the early 1980s. When I met my wife (Sherry) in 1988, she was already a professional meeting planner. Between my technology and sales skills, and her planning skills, we started the company (Corporate Planners Unlimited).

How did the meeting planning social media community come about?
Parks: Even before Facebook, I put together a Listserv to help planners connect with each other for referrals and shared experiences. We got into social media a few yeas ago. Every Monday, I do a Monday Morning Motivation pep talk on MeCo.

How do you have the time do all this social media and networking?
Parks: My wife handles the operational side of the meeting planning. I bring in business, and handle the marketing and public relations, which is my background. But my job is really to go out and find all the coolest, neatest technology – and figure out a way to provide that to our clients. 

How do you keep up?
Parks: I read hundreds of articles every day and share what I think is important to planners. I participate in tests of new products and constantly network with others who are interested in the same developments.

Have you gotten involved with location-based social media?
Parks: Very much so. I’m a Foursquare Superuser. And I was involved in getting the mayor of Victoria to declare the first official Foursquare Day here.

Why do you do all this?
Parks: I feel a tremendous obligation to all my followers on all these networks. There’s a 99-90-1 rule that says that 90% of people on social media never do anything; 9% share and interact; and 1% are actual content creators. Those last ones are the ones with the most value in moving things forward.

Does all this help with your meeting planning business?
Parks: People who follow me see me as having earned Woofie, which is your social credibility (a concept that emerged in a book called Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, by Cory Doctorow). Because I have shared all this for free for so long, we end up getting business because of it.

What is the latest technology you’re looking at?
Parks: I really like Spreecast.com, which is in beta test. It will allow you to show four people on the screen at the same time – as in a panel discussion – and have an unlimited number of people watching.

Also, teleconferencing is getting to where there will be units in your home. I can imagine a meeting where you have a four-by-four box in your home. There are square frames in it, and people popping in and out of those frames as you interact with them.

Obviously, you’re beyond an early adapter in this – and are in a position to make the most of it. What about the average, under-pressure planner? What should they do?
Parks: If you’re a real meeting planner, you have to be on top of all this. We save clients a ton of money by being on top of this.

Being such a fan of technology, how do you see the future of face-to-face meetings?
Parks: Face to face is always on the top of our list as an option – when it makes sense and it’s viable. I see it becoming a premium product.

I recently told my daughter that someday it will be an honor to turn the pages of a book rather than read it online. That’s where face-to-face meetings might go at some point.

What are your favorite meeting and non-meeting apps these days?
Parks: I love Vlingo. It’s a voice-activated program that enables me to write and send email, do search and all kind of things. For meetings, I like Meeting Recorder, which is for small meetings and records everything being said around the table – sort of instant minutes for your meetings

What comes next?
Parks: Who knows? However, when it happens I’ll know about it because my ear is on the railroad track.