Poke me!

If 34 year young, Canadian born, Swiss based, electronics wunderkind Stephane Doutriaux has his way we will all be poking each other regularly, especially in very public places like conferences and trade shows.

Story by Ray Shaw

I am referring to Poken (www.poken.com) which is an impossibly cute little device about the size of a key fob. Its sole desire is to mate with other Poken and exchange bodily information, lighting up with a wicked afterglow when gratified. I and about 600 meetings and events colleagues poked our brains out at MCI’s www.mci-group.com annual staff conference held in December in Istanbul, Turkey. We could not get enough of it.

So why am I writing about Poken? Because it’s a significant, if initially unintended new MICE technology that you all should at least understand and hopefully embrace.

Technically speaking, it is an innovative use of NFC (Near Field Communications – think RFID) that can exchange all manner of information. It beats the hell out of carrying and exchanging business cards or collecting forests of brochures at a conference or trade show. And there are other uses like attendee tracking (at a fraction of the cost of RFID or barcode badges), ticketing, speaker paper distribution – the possibilities are enormous. And it makes you want to poke as many people as possible – encouraging networking like never before.

Stephane first thought of the idea when doing his MBA in Switzerland – he wanted to find a way to connect with people he met “off-line” (read “in person, face to face”) – a quick poke to get their contact details. As it evolved he realised that these people were far more than their business cards revealed (if they even had one) – they had Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin and heaps of other social media on-line personas (it’s a Gen Y thing). What Poken does very well is let you set up a personal profile (who you are, address details, interests, on-line links and more), and electronically share that with people you meet simply by touching your Poken to theirs. It is safe, encrypted and you can’t have non-consensual poking.
The idea, serendipitously assisted by the Swiss watch industry’s miniaturisation ingenuity gave birth to the Poken. Through clever viral social network marketing - “We have never spent a dollar on advertising” - Poken networking parties started to occur and the US$20 device became an instant craze. Stephane never even thought of the MICE possibilities until companies like IBM, Samsung and BMW (Poken is now the cornerstone of loyalty program, Club Mini) approached him to buy in bulk and use at their events. Poken was “released” at IMEX in May 2010 and has become a MICE sensation in Europe, Africa, India, Japan, USA and I suspect soon in Australia.

Events give or sell Pokens (with different shapes or logos) to all guests. Poken is a USB device that works with Windows, Mac or Linux computers. Prior to the event the guest clicks on a URL and goes to the event’s “Poken page” where they can upload a photo or use an avatar, list social network links, addresses and interests. At the event they can poke a delegate to exchange details, pick up a brochure, request copies of papers and much more. After the event they reconnect to the internet and all the people poked are shown in a novel timeline format. These can be downloaded to most contact management software. It can be used at multiple events (the current model has a replaceable watch battery that lasts about four months), and you can have multiple Pokens attached to your account (they have become collector’s items in Japan).

The future for Poken as a MICE tool is very promising. Stephane is designing a nametag-sized Poken, a smart phone app (to turn your smart phone into a Poken) and more software to make it even easier for events to set up a Poken page. It’s also inherently “green” with the potential to replace tonnes of wasted printed brochures at trade shows, speakers’ papers and even reusable name badges at a cost that is significantly less than other technologies. The potential of Poken technology opens incredible opportunities when combined with smartphone technologies like GPS, proximity sensors, and compass – delegate location will be so easy.