Technology

Friday Buzz: The City With the Best Wireless (Hint: It’s Windy)

Chicago tops the list of large cities with the best wireless access, beating out several other event hubs. Also: why your association should prioritize community managers in the hiring process.

Mobile signal quality may be an odd thing to base a meeting location on, but then again, it’s pretty clear that attendees really want to be connected.

Which is why it might be worth keeping an eye on RootMetrics’ list of the cities with the best mobile coverage. According to the list, one major meetings hub—Chicago—comes out on top, ranking far above Atlanta (10th place); Orlando (33rd place); Washington, DC (48th place); New York City and the surrounding region (98th place); and Las Vegas (115th place).

Overall, cities in the Midwest did particularly well, with five Rust Belt cities—Chicago; Lansing, Michigan; Rockford, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Detroit—sitting in the top 10. Rockford, the smallest city on the list, topped the charts on the speed front; Oklahoma City had the most reliable connections. And each city is broken down by specific networks, so you’ll know whether Verizon or AT&T is the bigger speed demon.

“Good mobile service has become as important to us as running water and electricity that works every time you flip the switch,” RootMetrics notes in its study. “But, just as some cities have better infrastructure than others, our comprehensive U.S.-wide testing shows that not all cities are created equal when it comes to mobile service.”

Hire a Community Manager

The world is not like “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they won’t necessarily come.

That’s why your association should take a good hard look at hiring a community manager. Writing on her Mizz Information blog, Maggie McGary suggests that associations should take a cue from startups and prioritize community managers in the hiring process.

“Here’s the thing—if associations are struggling with engaging the next generation of members and grappling with the fact that millennials don’t trust traditional organizations, they should really be paying attention to this rising trend of startups relying on community managers as key hires to grow business,” writes McGary, senior associate at the Strategic Communications Group.

Agree? Disagree? (ht @maggielmcg)

Other good reads

Knowing when it’s time to go home is not easy for the workaholics out there. Jullien Gordon is one of them, but he’s got it figured out. Read his tips on his LinkedIn blog.

Thinking about using a PDF to display relevant content for your readers? Read this NTEN article first.

Swag as a business strategy? It can be done. Check out how Starbucks is going all-out on its coffee mugs and gift cards this year.

(iStock/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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