January 2010  
Introduction

Can conferences be interactive? What would it mean for conferences as we know them today? What value would this type of conference add to the current order of things? How would it impact information exchange? How would people interact?

These are some of the questions we asked ourselves while trying to find a way to make our 2010 Standard Chartered Bank Executive Conference more interactive, more engaging and more constructive. The result, three long weeks later was ‘Huddle’.



So what exactly is ‘Huddle’?
Huddle is an iPhone application allowing real-time messaging & polling that we have developed to encourage interaction and collaboration at Standard Chartered Bank conferences.

How does it work?
Pretty straightforward really. A speaker solicits responses from conference delegates, each of whom has been supplied with an iPhone bookmarked with Huddle. Responses from each delegate are then projected onto a screen in chronological order for all to see

There are two main functionalities in Huddle i.e. Tweet and Vote.


Tweet: Audience can comment or share ideas prompted by a presenter which will be projected on to a screen on stage instantaneously. Tweets have 2 classifications; Comments and Questions. This means a member of the audience can tweet to make or comment or tweet to ask a question. Comments and questions alike can be reviewed during or at the end of the presentation.

Vote: Here’s where ‘Huddle’ leaves those data-addict managers wanting for more. With this functionality, presenters are able to take polls on certain issues to gauge opinions. Results are displayed immediately on the screen in chart and text form. You can actually see the charts take shape on screen as votes come in!

There are 3 additional functionalities in Huddle as well i.e. Agenda, Hi5, Like:

Agenda: Typically conferences are split into different sessions with multiple speakers. Huddle helps audience track the conference using the Agenda screen which lists all sessions and highlights the in-progress session.

Hi5: If a member of the audience likes a speaker's session, they can hi5 the speaker. This gives the speakers a feel of the audience's reaction to their session.

Like: Members of the audience can “like” a tweet from a fellow audience. Speakers can answer tweets with the most “likes” (more “likes” a tweet gets the more popular it is).

How To Use Huddle

Huddle is an iPhone web app. This means that you’ll need to access it using the Safari browser. For easier access, we’ve made it so that you can save a Huddle launcher on your homescreen. The way to do this is by entering the following into your browser http://dev.aleph-labs.com/clients/SCB/huddle2010/iphone. Once your browser opens the page, you’ll need to bookmark the page and add it to your homescreen as shown by the below series of screen shots:

Once you have launched the app and navigated to the login screen, you can use the following login ids to try Huddle:

100
101

Happy Huddling!


     
 
   

Has Huddle actually been used before?

Huddle was used for the first time on the 19th and 20th of January, 2010 at an annual conference for Standard Chartered Bank Senior Executives. The following is an account on the event from one of the Huddle team members. (Side note: A Huddle team member is called a Huddler.)

Huddler’s Blog – 2010 SC Conference

Tuesday, January 19th 2010 – Conference Day 1

0600hrs: Arrive at the Shangri-La and proceed towards the Ballroom to start preparation for the day ahead. My colleagues and I are all nervous as this is the first time Huddle is being used … by more than 500 of SC’s most senior people at that. No pressure. No pressure at all!

0730hrs: I’m helping with the iPhone distribution now. The delegates seem enthusiastic about the prospect of using the 32GB iPhones 3Gs at their conference. Comforting. On the other hand, they also look like senior executives of a large bank. The type that do not appreciate people wasting their time with applications that do not work. Again, absolutely no pressure.

0830hrs: Meeting kicks off. All 550 iPhones have been disbursed. The team and I wait anxiously for the CIO to come on stage and introduce ‘Huddle’. It is widely believed within the team that the success or failure of ‘Huddle’ will make or break a number of people’s careers. Each and every one of us secretly hopes that the person who said “fortune favors the brave” knew what they were talking about. We wait…

The introduction and the demo video eventually come to pass. A signal is given for the delegates to test tweet and at that exact moment, a few hands go up. Some delegates need help. I walk over to the nearest person and find out that her phone won’t connect to the network. I look up to see what’s going in the rest of the ballroom and I see more hands up. I break into silent panic…

What seems like a lifetime later, I get a signal from one of my fellow ‘Huddlers’ to try again. He says the network switch had snoozed for a second but it’s running again now. I try to fix the phone I have in hand and hey presto; manage to login! I breathe a sigh of relief. There ends the longest two and a half minutes of my professional life. Never-the-less, things get under way.

1050hrs: Tea break. We’ve hit over a hundred tweets. The delegates are definitely enjoying their ‘Huddle’ experience! I make my rounds and collect a couple of pats on the back for a job well done. Nice!

1320hrs: Lunch’s here. Tweet rate still going strong. Questions have just been reviewed on the board. Everyone seems very impressed.

1600hrs: Another tea break. Tweets just passed the 400 mark. We’ve gone through one poll. Bet the other speakers are wishing they had polls in their presentations too! Yes, the feature’s that cool. Period. The first agenda item by the Global CEO, Peter Sands has garnered slightly over 15000 Hi5’s. Last time I checked there were only 550 or so people in the room. They must have really loved that session!

1745hrs: Conference ends. That went brilliantly! We’ve arranged to put in additional access points and switches to make sure of no technical glitches tomorrow. Bring on tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 20th 2010 – Conference Day 2

1800hrs:Had about 10 hours sleep the last week preparing for this and today I’m way too tired to give another blow by blow account. Here goes with the round up. The second day passed incredibly smoothly … so much so that the Global CEO had great things to say about the app and the Global Head for Consumer Banking asked to use it in another conference he’s running tomorrow.

Looks like fortune did favor us after all. I'm proud to be part of the team that brought this baby to life!

Over and out.

End of Blog Post.

So what's next for Huddle?

Hurray, every one in the leadership team is excited about Huddle and wants it to be part of the conference going forward. After the two days we’ve had, I’m confident that we'll be successful in this endeavor.


What the executives have to say about Huddle?

Jan Verplancke – CIO Technology

“Huddle has contributed to possibly the most interactive global conference we have had with a level of collaborative discussion not seen before”



Steve Bertamini – CEO Consumer Bank

“This is fantastic! Can we use it for the conference I’m running tomorrow?”



Aman Narain – Head of Remote Banking

“Huddle has taken this year’s global conference to the next level of interactivity”

Conclusion

There were lots of non-fatal cardiac arrests and sleepless nights while making Huddle. We had our fun moments too! In the end all of us are proud to be part of the team that made this app. The rave reviews and positive feedback make it hard for us to keep from growing really big heads, but we’re sure we have room for an additional token of appreciation.

Huddle. Because every winning team starts with one.
Huddle FTW – Huddle for the win ... Huddle for the Webby!

 

 

Click here for Demo Video 

Click here to Try Huddle (best viewed on an iPhone)