Technology and events, it is perhaps the most bizarre interplay in the entire world of event marketing and live communications. After all, there is so much that is so incredibly possible, so effective, relieving or simply improving your event, that it is almost incomprehensible that we still use it so little: event technology. Here are the 10 technology trends that will directly improve your event
10 trends in event technology that will improve your event
Facial recognition technology.
Once again, home technology is influencing event technology. As with voice search, we will likely see facial recognition from devices like Apple’s that we use daily spill over into the event industry. The ramifications and capabilities of this are extraordinary, but the processing time is still being refined. Still, it’s something we all need to look at. Ultimately, we are learning how to increase efficiency with facial recognition:
- Check-in and registration become much faster with this technology. Some theme parks are already using this technology. It is also more secure.
- Provides greater security by using facial recognition to recognize and keep out people on known security lists.
- Improves your social media outreach by using facial recognition to tag people in photos from your event.
Group experience technology.
Another big trend is the use of tech to create social experiences of moments that until now were experienced individually. Friends can watch the same movie 1000 kilometers apart at the same time. They play computer games together while being on different continents. This has some fantastic applications for your event and your participants and those who experience the event online at home. The latter group no longer has to feel like a voyeur, but can actually participate. Connect people online for an even stronger connection:
- Use live 360-degree video (loosely translated: VR) to connect remote audiences. Give them the opportunity to participate in the event together to encourage ticket buying for online event participation.
- Provide content that gets shared. Youtubers live off of just the comments on their videos. Those comments become additional content and a way to get even more fun and thus experience out of the video. For example, use industry influencers to comment on your events, create a second event.
- Develop channels with niche topics on your event. With a virtual or online ticket linked to a host, guests on the inside channels experience the event in a completely different way than during previous events. They can participate in “meet-ups” or meet people online instead of just attending sessions.
Use ‘voice’ for more engagement
Artificial Intelligence is already starting to become quite the norm when it comes to the visitor experience. Even if you’re not using it at your events yet, your guests/attendees are using it at home and at work. According to Google, in 2020, 2 in 5 searches were already so-called voice searches.
Build data from the floor up, with smart flooring
‘Clever flooring’ offers wonderful opportunities for events. It makes data collection and analysis almost organic and easier than ever before. Build a powerful data collection with:
- Use smart mats and other unobtrusive technologies that collect data
- Deploy smart mats to increase sponsorship because you don’t have real-time data on numbers of people, movements, etc. No more hollow phrases about ‘nice exposure‘ to convince your sponsor, no you can just hand them the facts. Live.
- Collecting floor data and using it to convince next year’s sponsors, even before they have left the floor. Scarcity and the Fear of Missing Out do well when there are actual hard numbers next to it.
The interpreter app
Digital interpreters are not new in 2020, but the technology has fully matured. These apps are now reliable enough to create a positive experience for event attendees and can really help overcome communication issues from the past of live events. To bridge the gap:
- Use “remote translation services. Finding local interpreters is not always easy. With this technology, translators and interpreters can offer their services through an app, no matter where they are located.
- Save money by offering remote translation. Apps do not have to be paid by the hour, there are no travel miles or other additional costs.
- Choose experts per subject without having to take into account the spoken language at the event or conference. This gives you as an organizer much more freedom of choice in speakers and in your search for the speaker who simply knows the most about the topic.
Put chatbots to work
There is an estimate from Q3 in 2020 that Amazon alone sold over 20 million Alexa units. Why should we care? If your event attendees are using voice assistance at home, you can assume that means it’s becoming normal. That means you can just apply it to your next event.
Roll out the red carpet and provide VIP experiences
No one wants to be just a number on the guest list, and that preference is being filled in nicely by technology. Voice assistants make us feel like royalty. Provide meaningful VIP experiences:
- Personalized by type: exhibitor, sponsor, attendee, etc, they all need to be administered their own marketing and communication set. Technology makes that challenge much easier by correlating and sorting available dates before sending to different groups.
- Reward loyal participants with automated communications and available discounts. In doing so, give the recipient the feeling that the message is coming from a friend for a friend and not an outsider or a stranger.
- Reward the successful guest with a VIP experience. Analyze data to find out what makes a visitor a successful visitor. What sessions have they been to, what have they participated in, etc. Reward them.
Increase sponsorship with augmented reality
Online marketing has made us want to know the impact, the return on investment and the tangible added value of every euro invested. Events now get the lid on the nose because they are not always able to substantiate the satisfaction of sponsors. Augmented Reality can help with that.
Enhance your guest’s personal experience with technology
Personalized attention at the event has been at the top of the trend lists for years, but with event technology, it is now more applicable than ever before. According to Statista, on average 18.8 percent open a personalized email and only 13.3 percent open a non-personalized email.
Influencer marketing technology
There are a lot of marketers who use influencer marketing all wrong. They understand the importance of it and that suggestions from “a tribe” have a greater conversion, but they fail when it comes to the approach. Making a proposition with a complete stranger and asking him or her for a favor,…it’s guaranteed to produce dismal results. But how do you develop such relationships over time? Is there an efficient way to build a valuable relationship with an influencer? Yes, there is with tech.
