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Last updated
18 October 2000
Why do you have a cell phone? What does a cell phone provide that your desk phone does not?
What has caused cell phones to become so popular is that they are convenient. They don't have wires and can be used almost anywhere. One result is that meetings get interrupted as association leaders receive incoming calls. This is a down side of the convenience and extended capability that are the primary benefits. It follows the general principle that the more options we have the more responsibility we must exercise in choosing how to implement options. The association leader has the opportunity to guide the effective use of these technologies and to reduce the down sides.
What is happening with cell phones is a convergence of technologies. A cell phone is, in essence, a wireless connection to a network. The standard telephone network has supported features such as paging, voice mail, caller ID, and so on. But the telephone network can also be connected to the internet. This means that the cell phone becomes an access device for any function that can be implemented over the internet as well as over the standard telephone network. Your cell phone can become a calendar and alarm clock, an address book, a check book and credit card manager, a personalized stock ticker, an entertainment device, --- the imagination is the limit. Many ideas are already being tested and tried. It may take a while to find the right balance between technology, cost, and utility for these ideas to be a common part of the cell phone feature set. The good ideas that fit, are cost effective, and are useful will become accepted and expected features.
Can you imagine having a conference registration desk with fast access to the central database and not needing any special connections? You would get immediate acknowledgment of pre-registrations. You could sign up a new registrant with immediate scheduling coordination and confirmation. You'd have accurate and up to date attendance information for all events and activities. These kinds of capabilities are available now. They will be faster, more convenient, more secure, and less expensive as wireless technology advances.
Can you imagine being able to immediately notify conference attendees of changes in schedules, of events and happenings tailored to their unique interests, or being able to provide customized registration packet information so that they can get the most of their conference attendance?
The key to understanding what these developing technologies mean for association leaders is to realize that they emphasize communications - communication that is complete, responsive, and organized. This puts the burden on leaders to create systems that will _ be _ complete, responsive, and organized and to feed that system. It is not a task that can be turned loose and let to grow by itself. It must be maintained and sustained and managed. It will be an opportunity to lead.
"Telecommunications enables companies to move information rather than people." Eric Clemons. 1986.
"The finest eloquence is that which gets things done." David Lloyd George. 1963-1945.
"Communication is not just words, paint on canvas, math symbols of the equations and models of scientists; it is the interrelation of human beings trying to escape loneliness, trying to share experience, trying to implant ideas." William Marsteller. 1984.
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Education, management, and information services especially for small businesses and associations.
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