event tech live: crunched by event wallet
TRANSCRIPT
€Event Tech Live 2015Crunched
The way we interact with the world has changed
“It’s an omni-channel world.”Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide
“73% of the UK population owns a smartphone [and] 50% of users will go to tablet or smartphone first for online activities by 2018.”Mitesh Patel, Microsoft
Which means the expectations of attendees have evolved
“The world went from being totally offline, to then being online. Everyone’s formed all these brand new online relationships, which has resulted now in a demand for new ways to meet offline.”Kate Jackson, CEO, TableCrowd
The events industry is big enough to meet these expectations…
“One of the big misconceptions about event tech is that the event industry isn’t actually big enough. Obviously that isn’t true.“Marja Verbon, Associate, Piton Capital
“The estimated global value of the events industry is $375 billion. The estimated value of the UK events industry is over $40 billion.” James Morgan, Event Tech Lab
But many don’t feel enough is being done to innovate
“The events industry needs a dose of what FinTech is getting; the legacy banks are being disrupted by disruptive startups. I think the problem you have with events is that too many of the startups are playing ball with the legacy players, rather than disrupting them.”Paul Dowling, CEO, Dreamstake
Why? Aside from anything else, it’s hard to break new ground without pushing attendees out of their comfort zones…
“There’s a massive opportunity for the development of technology in the events industry, we’re quite a long way behind the curve. I think the challenge to a lot of technology out there is the length of adoption – a big chunk of events are focused on middle-aged people, so we need to make it simple.”Richard Waddington, Event Marketing Association
To add to the experience, tech has to be convenient and unobtrusive
“Seamless integration, seamless experiences is what people want. Make it easier for them.”Richard Hingley, Creative Director, DRP Group
“App marketing 101 - make them need it, make them want it.”Stewart Price, Guidebook
Which is easier said than done…
“Getting someone to commit to a download is becoming increasingly difficult.”Richie Stote, WI-5
…especially in a noisy market place
“There are probably about 10 event apps you're being asked to engage with at this event. It's no wonder people are finding it hard to pay attention.”Iain Wallace, Lumi
“82% of people don’t fully engage with content.”James Wood, Event Wallet
That’s why it’s key to ensure attendees are engaged well ahead of time
“If you have an app the uptake is around 32%. On average 49% of people that are registered for an event turn up to an event. If you can get people to engage with your content online ahead of the event, it's likely attendance will increase to 72%.”Robert Dunsmore, GES
And all the way through the event
“Organisers [and their tech] should:
1) Encourage engagement from the inception of their experience
2) Facilitate network/sharing opportunities
3) Provide a full user journey for a full analytics picture to measure end-to-end success”Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide
But what does it mean to be engaging? It’s not as simple as removing inconvenience (though that helps)
“The average registration form takes over three minutes to complete. That’s too long.”Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide
...or incentivizing the use of tech
“Offering someone a free coffee if they download your app does not amount to engagement.”Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide
If you really want to engage, get personal
“Everyone talks about engagement. Let’s talk about relevance. Relevance drives engagement.”Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase
“You’re looking at increasingly personalised experiences outside of the event scene. When people experience that, they want it when they’re exhibiting.”Jim Curry, Exhibitor Smarts
“There is no intelligent content in event marketing. We aren’t putting out content that’s based on who people are. Just that alone will have an enormous effect on event registrations.”Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
“What’s going to be big? Things like iBeacon technology, proximity technology. Anything you can use to make event attendees feel like they’ve had an experience exclusively designed for them.”Gareth Dimelow, George P Johnson
But while people want an experience tailored to them, they also want the ability to reach out to others
“Attendee-to-attendee interaction is the holy grail of event apps.”Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, Web Spiders
“With in-app communication you can foster communities within communities.”Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase
But providing tools to help attendees communicate is great, channels that reach a wider world are still important. Especially as joining social media conversations creates future attendees…
“70% of people are more likely to attend an event after participating in the experience online.”Reuben Van Den Heuvel, Ticketscript
And widens the scope of the conversation
“Back in 2012 social media was a land grab. It was about getting as many fans as possible. Now it should be about using the customer voice to amplify your brand’s message.”James Prebble, Palladium Digital
Of course, the same technology that facilitates personalisation and interaction can be used to help organisers better understand their events
“Organisers should be using tech to:
• Follow crowd streams• Gain staffing insights• Gauge popularity of artists/speakers• Collect visitor and device data”Reuben Van Den Heuvel, Ticketscript
Because this information is, to put it mildly, pretty valuable
“Knowing what your audiences are doing is half of the game.”Kevin Williams, KWP
“The future of enterprise mobility starts with smart, connected devices that enable productivity from anywhere and run cloud powered mobile apps that deliver real-time customer insights. All from secured, well managed devices that users love.”Satya Nadella, Microsoft
Indeed, for many in the events world, these insights are the endgame
“The nirvana of the events industry is the 360 information you get around and outside of the event. That’s where data capture is so important.”Joey Hemingbrough, AAG Systems Ltd
“For many event organisers, the event is actually a means to data. So you need to be really careful that you have a data strategy in the front end.”Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
Because without it, you’re in the dark
“66% of executives admit that their next big decisions will all be made without data insights, and I can pretty much guarantee that in the event world almost all decisions are made with very little in terms of data insights.”Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
“We need to find better and less intrusive ways of being able to measure the effectiveness of events, being able to measure how engaged people are, how they’re interacting with your content and knowing how that content is being shared further.” Charlotte Bunyan, Senior Creative Strategist, Jack Morton Worldwide
And you’ll lose out as a result
“If you don’t apply data science to your event data, you might continue to go along as normal, but you’ll be up against companies who are.” Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
But to capitalise, you have to be able to make something more of that data
“Most event organisers employ anything from 3-10 different data technologies for their event. But what does the organiser typically do at the end of the event? They get a few siloed data visualisations, then they put the rest of the data in a folder on their laptop, say “bye” and go and work on their next event.” Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
And that means thinking long term…
“A lot of event organisers just focus purely on the build up. We’ve got to get out of that 12-month cycle.” Jim Curry, Exhibitor Smart
Even as you use technology to move faster
“Using iBeacons we can capture incremental leads simply based on where someone’s been standing.” Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase
“The window of opportunity for follow up after an event is very small. If you can use an application to get that lead you can covert and follow up that lead much quicker.” Mitesh Patel, Microsoft
So, if engagement and smarter use of data are the goals, what are the tools of the future?
“[I predict] Hands-free AR will actually produce a seismic shift in how we interact with our computers.” Howard Ogden, Kudan
“2016 will be the year of VR with new releases from Oculus, Sony and HTC.” Steve Dann, Amplified Robot
And are they within reach?
“A common misconception is that AR is really expensive. But it can be incredibly cheap. As an example, we recently designed, built and deployed an experience for less than £10k within a 48 hour turnaround.” Ru Barksfield, Gruve
Of course, it’s not really about tools. It’s about their impact
“Ultimately everyone wants to leave a show feeling enriched...it’s our role as an organiser to understand how event technology can help that.” Caspar Thykier, Zappar
“Where people have incorporated augmented reality or virtual reality into their stand, you know it will always be the busiest stand. People walk away from it with a ‘wow, what a magical experience’.” Howard Ogden , Kudan
Yes, there will always be some hesitance to adopt…
“Once people are using AR they do enjoy it, it surprises and delights them. The first hurdle is, how do you get them in?” Caspar Thykier, Zappar
But never assume your audience aren’t willing to embrace new experiences
“Anyone who’s ever seen C-level executives going down a helter-skelter will know that you can’t ever really pre-judge what people will and won’t do. If you create something engaging, people will find a way to participate in it.” Gareth Dimelow, George P Johnson
It seems the real paradigm shift has to be one of attitude towards the people who make events possible in the first place
“We believe that if you make attendees active participants, you’ll get better engagement at your events.” Iain Wallace, Lumi
So, whatever tech you use, make sure it’s making your audience feel like they’re part of something special
“We should be bringing in technology that creates an emotional connection.” Charlotte Bunyan, Jack Morton Worldwide
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