Those emoticons you see above may just be the difference between a happy or angry customer.

According to research from Penn State University, people who text chatted with customer service personnel gave higher scores to those who used emoticons in their responses than those who didn’t.

“The emoticon is even more powerful than the picture, though classic research would say that the richer the modality — for instance, pictures and videos — the higher the social presence,” said S. Shyam Sundar, distinguished professor of communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State University, who worked with Eun Kyung Park, a researcher at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea. “But the fact that the emoticon came within the message and that this person is conveying some type of emotion to customers makes customers feel like the agent has an emotional presence.”

In fact, patrons prefer customer service representatives who can demonstrate empathy in guest services.

“Emoticons can be effective vehicles for expression of empathy in customer relations, especially in the mobile e-commerce context,” Park said.

Also, the researchers found that customer service agents who responded more quickly to customers during a text chat were rated more positively than those who did not.

“When people are instant messaging, for example, and the messages are flying back and forth, so that one person sends a message and the other person immediately responds, it feels like they are in the same place,” Sundar said. “That can create the feeling of social presence.”

And this is especially important when dealing with complaints.

“Feelings of co-presence, constructed by the agent’s promptness, might lead customers to be loyal to the company by creating a favorable service experience,” Park said.

The researchers conclude that emoticons make customers feel emotionally connected to an agent, and the quick conversations give customers a feeling of being together in a physical sense.

“To have a meaningful conversation we often need to be in the same place at the same time, however, in a mediated environment, when you’re distant and not in the same place as the person you are communicating with, it’s hard to create that feeling of togetherness,” Sundar said. “What this shows is that if a conversation can’t happen in the same place, at least it can happen at the same time, which leads to positive evaluations.”

(Story source: Penn State University/Matt Swayne)

(Image: James Young/Creative Commons)

We’re not the only ones excited to visit Baltimore this year for VenueConnect. So is Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

“Thank you for supporting Baltimore. We appreciate all the love the IAVM family has shown Baltimore in the recent weeks,” Rawlings-Blake said. “We’re excited to host the 90th annual VenueConnect convention, and we look forward to welcoming you and your families in August.”

Please watch the video above to hear the mayor’s personal welcome and to learn more about the city.

See you Aug.1-4 in Baltimore!

We debuted our new live, call-in podcast, The Venue, last week. We had a blast interacting with members, and we’ve already upgraded our equipment (to get rid of those pesky echoes) for the next episode.

In case you missed the live version, you can listen to the recording above and hear what the Wolfe, myself, and members had to say about live-streaming, selfie-sticks, and comedians.

A shout out, also, to Chuck Tate—house manager and event supervisor at the Luther F. Carson Center for the Performing Arts in Paducah, Kentucky—for being our first call-in member. Thank you for participating.

We plan to have The Venue up on iTunes soon, and we’re looking at recording an episode at Venue Management School next week. Stay tuned!

I think I figured out why Millennials are being talked about again in such quantity—it’s because it’s graduation season. They’re entering the workforce. Or maybe they’re already a part of your organization. Nevertheless, you, as a venue manager, will be working with them, so it’s imperative you understand how to motivate and engage them.

However, it’s not just Millennials you have to consider. The Baby Boomers are still working, and more people from that generation are retiring later in life. Then you have the Gen X crowd to accommodate.

One of the ways we’re helping you manage different generations in your organization is through a training session at VenueConnect 2015 in Baltimore, Aug. 1-4. Jack Messenger, vice president of instruction and a certified trainer at Dale Carnegie Training, will lead a discussion on “Motivating and Engaging Different Generations.”

For example, Millennials want a workplace environment that offers flexible hours to allow a work-life balance, managers who trust them to do their work, and the availability of incentives for higher performance, according to a Dale Carnegie Training white paper.

And since more Millennials are in the workplace, that means more of them are in leadership roles. For young professionals, we’re offering a seminar called “From Friendship to Leadership,” led by Lindsay Adams, CSPGlobal, a principal at Teamocracy in Australia. Attendees will learn the essential traits of leadership, the must-do actions of leaders, and the critical items new leaders must avoid.

But wait, there’s more.

U.S. Navy SEAL Curt Cronin will present a session titled “Building Unstoppable Teams,” during which he’ll introduce to attendees an integrated leadership framework that identifies the key values, tasks, actions, disciplines, and attitudes required for success for any generation.

Then we’ll also offer more leadership training with the session, “You Can’t Make Omelettes Without Breaking Eggs: The Messy Work of Refining Your Leadership” Attendees at this session—led by Adams and Paul Bridle, CEO of Excellence Squared Limited—will learn how connecting people, processes, and performance creates profits and how identifying the right measurements and engaging people drives better results.

Whether you’re a current leader or a leader on the rise, VenueConnect offers several sessions to help you be successful. Register now, and we’ll see you in Baltimore!