news

Technology Update

This year’s Summer Eventia marks a turning point for the association, with a redesigned format and strong focus on technology education.

Day 1 of the programme still includes plenary sessions and panel discussions, focusing this time on the status of the economy and its impact on events, the Olympic opportunity for the industry and the interesting topic of creativity in the creation of an event.

The novelty comes on the second day when delegates have the opportunity to attend brief ‘TED style’ talks on a number of technology trends and innovations in the Learning Lounge moderated by ‘yours truly’ I will be posing questions to the panel of technology experts to gain their insights into the future of event technology and how those trends will affect us in our everyday life of organising and hosting great events.  For a more ‘hands on’ experience delegates can visit the Creative Learning Clinic where they can meet with technology experts who will demo their solutions onsite.

So what will delegates of Summer Eventia learn by attending the Learning Lounge sessions and the Creative Learning Clinic?

Delegate registration and attendee management applications are without question the best friends of event organisers. Thanks to the latest online evolutions, what used to be a clunky, expensive and time consuming process is now a user friendly – no need for IT knowledge! – cost effective and 360 degree marketing and management tool.  Nowadays, event professionals can create fully branded email campaigns and registration forms, publish event websites and send online surveys with one click.  The great value here is that all the data captured through the various communication touch points of an event can be gathered into one centralised system and easily accessed in different formats with customisable reports.

Mobile and tablet technology is also going to play a central role in the life of event marketers. Looking at some of the latest statistics (5.9 billion mobile subscriptions with 1.2 billion mobile web users worldwide) it seems a no brainer to even question whether event professionals should start to deploy applications for their events. Not only are Mobile and tablet applications a great resource for event organisers to check people in at the event and access attendee data in real time during the event, but an app can be also an exceptionally engaging tool when in the hands of the delegates. As well as providing access to key  event information, reducing the need for printed material – environment friendly technology – a delegate can connect and schedule meetings with other attendees, exchange contact details through a QR code reader, take surveys just after a session ends and get more info about a product or a company with augmented reality technology.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is probably one of the biggest trends in the events industry today as it allows the exchange of data through radio waves from two small devices, usually called tags, without the need to be within line of sight. RFID is particularly successful when linked to social media as for example at consumers’ events when each participant wears a wristband with a tag containing their personal information and social media details. In order to amplify and share the live experience to the online world, event organisers can locate RFID devices next to a product or a particular location. When the participants touch the RFID station with their wristband, the station reads their information, logs into Facebook and automatically uploads their status on their walls with messages created in advance by the organisers. Below you can watch a video of another way RFID technology has been used by a brand to enhance the live experience of some lucky participants of the New York Marathon.  Cick here to view the video.  

To find out more about these fascinating topics plus other production technologies attend the learning lounge sessions I will be moderating on Day 2 of the Summer Eventia.

If you have a specific question about these or any other technology trend you’d like covered in the session, send me a message through the Eventia Linkedin message board, lets get the conversation started early, and I will do my best to cover the topics/questions requested.

I look forward to seeing you there for what will be an exciting and informative two days of education and networking,

Best wishes,

Izania
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Active Network

Book for Summer Eventia here