Tag: Personalisation

4 Technology Trends from Experts at Europe’s Largest Event Tech Show

The annual Event Tech Live show took place in London this month, and once again, it didn’t disappoint.   As Europe’s only dedicated exhibition and conference for event professionals interested in event technology, it attracts more than 1,600 attendees and 100-plus exhibitors from the event tech industry.  The show had a generous display of new technology innovations and solutions, including a launchpad pitch competition which gave a good insight on what’s coming next. More interestingly, the conference brought together a number of experts from technology vendors to event organisers to discuss and debate the latest technology trends and issues shaping our industry today.

From GDPR, personalisation and the future of event apps to the emergence of new applications like chatbots and facial recognition technology – have a look at our top takeaways from Europe’s largest event tech show:

In case you missed it…GDPR is coming!

If there was one topic that kept popping up time and time again across most of the sessions at the show, it was the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the impact it will have on the events industry. And yet surprisingly, an audience poll conducted by a panel of experts from Glisser, SpotMe and Krowdthink revealed that MOST event planners had actually very little understanding about the new regulation – which is quite alarming, given the implications.

GDPR is coming into effect in May 2018 and will apply to ANY event collecting and processing the personal information of European attendees – regardless of location. For event planners, the new regulation presents a change in the way they decide what data needs to be collected from attendees and how that data is used for things like marketing campaigns.  It will change the way attendee data is shared with other third-party organisations like venues, sponsors and tech providers. It will also change attitudes to data security and what measures need to be in place to keep attendee data safe. And let’s not forget about the fines.  Compared to current data protection regulations, non-compliance to GDPR can lead to some very serious financial consequences – and lawsuits.

But it’s not all bad news. GDPR will bring about some big opportunities for our industry too.  In fact, one of the main take-aways from the panel was that GDPR is a big chance for event planners to advance their careers. How? By taking ownership of GDPR.  By ensuring that events are dealing with personal data in a transparent and secure way – and always in the individual’s best interest.  And by getting their event tech ready too. If you’re interested in finding out more, have a look at this free eBook ‘The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance’ which explains why the events industry has to start taking responsibility for GDPR, its impact on event marketing, data management and event technology and what steps event planners need to take now to get ready for the May 2018 deadline.

Related Article: 5 Questions You Need to Ask Event Tech Providers About GDPR

Event Apps Vs. Chatbots

The popularity around event apps has evolved so much over the last few years – most people attending any kind of event expect an app and it seems most event planners want one too.  But are apps starting to get a bad reputation?  How effective are they really in engaging audiences? And will other emerging technologies like NFC and chatbots replace the need for event apps all together?  These questions were addressed in a very interesting discussion by panellists from Sciensio, Beeem, NoodleLive and CrowdComms exploring the future of event apps.

In the always-connected world of smartphones, social media and information-on-demand, it seems that the attention span of our attendees is getting shorter and shorter.   And this is something that event planners need to address if they want their attendees to interact more with their apps. People don’t want to waste their time browsing through irrelevant content on an app just to find out the location of their next session.  They want the technology to add value to their event experience and they want the interaction with the technology as easy as possible.  And this is where chatbots come in.  They don’t require attendees to download anything.  They apply easy text-based messaging t technology that most people are comfortable in using and more importantly, they provide that instant personalised information service that attendees are looking for at an event. Though we firmly believe that native apps still have a firm place in the events industry – perhaps we will start seeing more people move towards what chatbots can offer over the coming few years.

All the panellists agreed that pushing more personalised content on people’s smartphones will be a key trend over the coming years. Websites can already send personal push notifications on people’s phones through Google Chrome (coming soon on Safari).  Google is also driving a big push towards progressive web apps – which basically allows you to run apps on a web browser. The technology will bridge the gap between apps and websites by offering the functionality of both, with more offline capabilities, improved speed and better performance.  Watch this space.

How Important is Event Personalisation?

Personalisation was another hot topic at the event and we can understand why. More and more attendees are starting to expect both the communication of an event and the live experience to be tailored to them in some way.  At the same time, the abundant use of sophisticated data capture tools – from registration systems and apps to surveys, social media, networking and on-site tracking solutions – are helping event planners collect and analyse valuable attendee information to create more powerful and customised event experiences.   But as good as it all sounds, is it something we should all do?  And how do we decide how much personalisation we should actually do?

This was the basis of one panel discussion between Eventsforce, Haymarket Media and the British Council which unveiled the results of a new research study on event personalisation.  It seems that despite it being a growing priority for 73% of event planners, more than 50% struggle to see how effective their personalisation efforts are in engaging attendees and building brand loyalty.  The study also revealed that more than half don’t end up using all the data they collect for personalisation and another 44% find it difficult to determine how much personalisation they should actually do.

So what was the advice?   Decide what data you’re going to collect, why you’re collecting it and agree across your organisation on how it’s going to be used before collecting it for the purpose of personalisation. Don’t ask your attendees any unnecessary questions as this will have a negative effect on their event experience.  And finally, explain clearly how the information they provide will bring value to their experience and that you’re looking after their data and privacy – especially with the upcoming GDPR. Click here to watch the full session.

Event Technology – What’s Next in Innovation?

This year’s show also saw the return of the Launchpad, a dedicated area for start-ups and providers of new event technology solutions – except this year, they also ran a pitch competition where providers had to battle it out in front of a panel of judges.   There were some very interesting applications of event tech, all designed to save time and enhance the attendee’s event experience in one way or another.  The winner was a web-based solution from Zenus which uses facial recognition technology to cut waiting lines and speed up the check-in process of attendees at events. When an attendee approaches a kiosk, their profile will pop up and a scanner can print their badges on the spot. Alternatively, you can place a tablet facing the line of people and attendees will be automatically checked-in as they walk.

Another noteworthy winner was Sciensio’s Concierge Eventbot solution which offers attendees an alternative to apps through a range of text messaging services, including agendas, directions, floor plans, surveys, polls and more.  We also saw a great staffing solution from Liveforce which promises to scrap the need for Excel spreadsheets when recruiting, scheduling, booking and paying temporary staff around events.  Worth checking out.

You can watch all the pitch presentations of the ETL2017 Launchpad competition here.


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How to Personalize Attendee Packages for Your Multi-Day Events

untitled-design-64Take any multi-day conference today and chances are it will offer attendees a choice of registration packages. Some will give attendees a choice of dates at different rates, others will bundle things like meals, accommodation or entertainment into the price. This concept of ‘packages’ first became popular when organizations used paper-based registration forms and needed a simple way of managing payments around their events. All attendees had to do was pick a package, submit their form and send the necessary cheque to the organizers.

Over the years, the advance of technology has made this process of managing payments a whole lot simpler. Online registration systems provide automatic calculations at the check-out stage of the attendee’s registration journey – regardless of the number of items purchased along the way. So the need for simplification no longer exists. In fact, ‘digital’ registration pages can do a lot more for attendee packages. They can give attendees the ability to tailor their own custom packages around these events.

untitled-design-55Common Challenges of Event Packages

Having a defined set of package options to choose from doesn’t necessarily simplify things – not for the attendee or the event organizer.  Let’s take a look at a typical example. Suppose you give your attendees the option to select one of the following packages on your event registration page:

  • Package 1 – Monday only
  • Package 2 – Monday to Wednesday (3 days)
  • Package 3 – Wednesday to Friday (3 days)
  • Package 4 – Monday to Friday (5 days)

It’s relatively easy to set up, but offering these package options to your attendees can bring about a number of issues:

1. Trouble Counting Totals – Knowing exactly who is coming on each day should be the kind of information that needs to be available to an event planner at the touch of a button.  Yet looking at our example, if you want to get the total number of attendees at your event on the Monday, you will have to add up the number of people who selected packages 1, 2 and 4.  This number will reflect all the people coming on the Monday but it will also include the ones who have registered for the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions too. Also, it may include people who have no intention of attending the event on Monday but chose package 2 as they wanted to attend the sessions on the Tuesday and Wednesday.

2. No Transparency on Event Requirements – Knowing the exact number of people that are expected to attend on any given day is important for managing things like delegate communications, catering requirements and health and safety regulations.   It is pure guess work to assume that people who have chosen package 2 will be attending your buffet lunch on the Monday, for example.  Or that they’re interested in receiving content on topics that will be discussed in sessions on that day.

3. Limited Choice for Attendees – Options that are not listed usually end up with the attendee picking up the phone and calling your team to ask if they can attend ‘Tuesday only’, for example.  This increases your workload, delays registration and could affect cash flow.  Your attendee may also feel he’s not getting a good return on his investment as he’s made to pay for a 3-day event when he’s only interested in attending one particular date or session.

personalisationLet Your Attendees Tailor Their Own Packages

Offering your attendees a selection of package options for your event is a lot like a restaurant offering its customers a selection of set menus.  Both are easy to set up. Both offer the same set of choices to everyone.  Yet registration software can help attendees personalize their own packages around your multi-day events. In the same way that a restaurant offers customers the choice to order whatever they want using an a-la-carte menu, event planners can use their online registration forms to offer attendees the option to pick and choose what they want to ‘consume’ when registering for the event.

So instead of giving attendees a list of packages to choose from, registration forms can ask attendees which dates they would like to attend. Or you can break it down further and ask them what sessions they would like to attend.  Upon selection, attendees can then be given a set of questions that allows them to choose individually priced items such as meals, meeting rooms, entertainment activities, transport and accommodation.  They won’t need to do the mental arithmetic as the system will do it for them and they can focus on what they actually want to get out of the event.

Some may argue that breaking down prices like this will only complicate the registration process.  That simplified package options provide a better experience for attendees.  Yet the reality is that these packages are taking the choice away from attendees.  And your attendees want that choice.  They want the ability to decide that they will attend your conference for the first two days, spend one night in the hotel (as they’ve made other arrangements for the other two) and attend the networking drinks on the third night. They are used to making these choices in many aspects of their lives.  They do it when buying add-ons for their flights such as meals, extra leg room or baggage allowance.  They do it when ordering their meals in a restaurant.  And there is no reason why they can’t do this around your events.

Benefits of a Personalized Approach

Creating a more personalized approach around event packages can bring a host of benefits to the event planner and the attendee:

  • Increased ROI for Attendees – Providing attendees with the ability to pick and choose bookable items around your events gives them a clearer understanding on the value of their purchase. A subconscious connection is made with the content of each day, rather than simply the package fee.  This provides the event planner with the opportunity to present additional value in context rather than just a price on a page.
  • Personalized Event Communications – Knowing exactly which days your attendees will be attending can help you personalize all your email communications in the run up to your event.  It makes more sense to send your attendee information about the sessions of the day they’re attending than have one generic email that goes to everyone on your list.
  • Better Speaker Content – By having a more accurate picture of who will be attending the sessions on each day, event planners can break down attendee lists by company type, interests and goals and share it with speakers beforehand.  They can then use this information to tweak the content of their presentations or personalize it with content or examples that are more relevant to the audience.
  • Clearer Insight on On-Site Requirements – Knowing exactly who will be attending on each day of the event provides the event planner with a more accurate picture on what catering arrangements need to be made.  So if you know that people are leaving early on the last day of your event, you may decide to offer them a packed lunch instead of the buffet you had initially planned. This can reduce your catering costs and reduce unnecessary food wastage.  This kind of information will also help with emergency evacuations and other health and safety requirements.
  • Alternative Source of Income – Asking your delegates specific questions on the kind of things they’re interested in purchasing around your event can also maximize your opportunity to make money. How about offering them to rent out that extra meeting room you have available on that specific day you know they will be at your event?  Or offer them the choice to buy WiFi connectivity in their hotel rooms?

For some other ideas on how online registration systems like Eventsforce can help you personalise your attendee event experiences, have a look here.

Written by Paul Harris,  Event Technologist and Client Services Manager, Eventsforce

Have You Got Your Free Pen? The Power of Promotional Products

The pen is mightier than the swordDespite living in a digital age it seems that Brits just can’t get enough of a free pen. New research from the British Promotional Merchandise Association (bpma) shows that the number one product people in the UK like to take home as a freebie is a promotional pen. However, promotional products are often seen as an afterthought rather than an integral part of a marketing campaign.

In order to encourage companies to recognise the value of promotional products and understand the many ways of improving brand awareness, the bpma is running Promotional Products Week (PPW) from 12-16 September. Now in its fourth year, PPW aims to raise the profile of promotional products and encourage their use within the marketing mix.

According to the bpma’s research, 76% of marketers surveyed will keep a promotional item given to them while 73% of those will go on to purchase from that company. A staggering 83% will even be able to recall a branded product on their desk without having to refer to it. Also, it appears that the best gifts are considered useful in everyday life – such as a branded bag or USB stick – or indeed edible – such as branded sweets, mints or marshmallows.

Promotional Products Week - Eventsforce pensIf you want your brand to be remembered then you might need to think outside the box. Last year, almost £1bn ($1.32bn) was spent by UK companies on promotional merchandise with an average spend of £5 ($6.6) per item. Gordon Glenister, Director General of the bmpa, told Eventsforce: “Promotional products are one the most powerful advertising mediums in existence. When a branded giveaway is relevant to the organization and is useful, recipients will keep it on average for almost three years.” The more unusual items people have received includes plants, ice creams and shoe polish while the more praised items mentioned in the research were retractable phone chargers, desktop fans and travel adapters.

A branded gift is one of the most effective stop mechanisms at exhibitions.

“IT and phone-related gifts are some of the fastest growing premiums, yet the pen and bag still remain the most popular particularly at events. A branded gift is one of the most effective stop mechanisms at exhibitions. The team all wearing colorful shirts with a call to action message creates impact and huge awareness,” Glenister continued.

What promotional products will you be using for your next event? Will you go with a branded reusable silicone tea bag, a pocket mini hangover kit, a light-up pet waste bag dispenser (all of which are surprisingly available online!) or will you be sticking with the tried-and-tested old favorite – a branded pen?

Promotional Products Week Infographic

Click to view larger image

This year, the bpma has teamed up with Pancreatic Cancer UK to raise £10,000 by encouraging companies to promote themselves using a promotional product or garment in a photograph or video, and at the same time donating to charity. To find out more about PPW visit promotionalproductsweek.co.uk and to donate £3 or more, please visit justgiving.com/bpmapromoteyourselfday

INFOGRAPHIC: Ten Most Popular Data Collection Tools for Event Planners

1309 EF Infographic Top 10_small preview imageWe’ve been talking a lot about event personalization over the past few weeks – the idea that you can tailor a delegate’s experience based on what you already know about them.   It is seen as one of the top priorities for event planners this year and its uptake is largely due to the use of sophisticated data collection tools – from event registration systems and RFID to online surveys and event apps.

Event planners are using these tools to collect and analyse valuable delegate information to create more powerful and targeted events.  But which are the most effective?

Have a look at the infographic below for our top ten list based on the feedback of more than 160 senior event planners – starting from the most popular:

1309 EF Infographic Top 10

How Much Personalization Should We Do at Events?

Personalization is seen as one of the hottest trends in the events industry as attendees increasingly expect both the communication of the event and the live experience to be tailored to them in some way.  At the same time, data capture tools like registration systems and apps are helping events collect valuable information on attendees to create more powerful and customized event experiences.  But as good as it all sounds, is personalization something we should all be doing?  How effective is it really? And how can we get the right balance between providing value and protecting attendee privacy?

Eventsforce recently debated the topic with Carla Jones, Head of Event Operations & Client Services at Haymarket Events and Caroline Hills, Head of Digital Global Delivery at British Council at the Event Tech Live show in London. The session (available on video here) looked at what kind of tailored activities work, how effective they are in engaging attendees, as well as what impact the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have on personalization at events.

Have a look at what they had to say:

Can you please give us a quick background on the kind of events your organizations run?

Carla Jones (Haymarket): Haymarket Media Group is one of the largest media and publishing companies in the UK – we run more than 120 events each year that gather over 20,000 attendees – from award ceremonies and gala dinners through to breakfast briefings and large-scale conferences.

Caroline Hills (British Council): The British Council is the UK’s international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. With operations in over 100 countries, we host hundreds of events across the world, including the Going Global annual conference and the finals of the FameLab international science competition.

A recent study on the ROI of Event Personalization found that 73% of event planners see data-driven marketing as a top priority for their events, with 96% using personalization to tailor their attendees’ experiences. How important is personalization for your organisation and how do you use it around your events?

Carla Jones (Haymarket): I think basic personalization is a given now – we do things like using personal names in invites, confirmation emails and so on. We also ask specific questions for people who hold certain job titles and tailor content for them. We personalize event agendas – we look at why type of people have registered and use that information to create an agenda that we know would be of interest to them.  When we’re bringing in speakers, we talk to them about who has registered and see if we can tailor the content of their presentations to the needs of the audience.

At Haymarket, we have a single customer view and this is very important for us.   We run events as a marketing vehicle for our publishing brands – so we gather all the data we collect on an individual who engages with all our different brands and events in one place.  This means at any given time, we know if someone is a valued conference customer but maybe not a subscriber to one of our publications –  and we are able to personalize our activities accordingly.

Caroline Hills (British Council):  The majority of events we run at the British Council globally are educational in some way, from large international conferences down to small workshops that help students prep for an exam.   Personalization in the form of multilingual event websites, registration forms and email communications (our systems currently support over 60 languages) is very important for us as it allows us to attract as many attendees as we can by offering them the ability to register in their own language.

Going Global is one of the most high-profile events we run annually – with more than eight different attendee categories each year.  So we do things like personalise the registration journey for each  category. We use networking tools to allow attendees to set up their own meetings prior to the event.  We also use an app to give attendees a more tailored experience of the event – they can see their personal agendas, arrange meetings with other attendees and receive material from sessions they’ve attended directly into their app.

What challenges do you face with personalization and how do you address these challenges?

Carla Jones (Haymarket): Lack of time and resources is definitely an issue. I think the bigger issue, however, is that it’s difficult to see what kind of return you’re getting from doing personalization – which is probably why the majority of event planners stick to basic personalization. For example, we don’t see the value of apps for our events – personalized push notifications and fully integrated apps simply don’t offer value for money.  I also think it’s difficult finding that balance that’s going to benefit both you as an organisation and the attendee.

Caroline Hills (British Council):  We find it very difficult to measure the ROI of personalization, even when you’re personalizing down to the level of using event apps – so we use these very sparingly at a handful of conferences a year as they are expensive. We try to measure the return of some of our personalization efforts by looking at how efficient the registration journey has been using various methods. Analytics can be very helpful to pinpoint drop off points.  For Going Global, we sent one of our User Experience colleagues to the event with a big tub of chocolate which he used to incentivise attendees to answer a small number of questions about the registration journey. That helped us a lot and we made a number of changes to the journey the following year!

Registration systems are seen by 84% of events planners as the most effective data collection tool for the purpose of personalisation. In light of that, how do you decide what personalisation data you need to collect in registration forms?  How do you get the balance right in a way that brings value to both attendees and the organisation hosting the event?

Carla Jones (Haymarket):  I think you always have to put yourself in the place of the attendee.  Remember that too much personalization can be invasive and doesn’t necessarily bring any value to the event experience.  I attended one event recently where each time I attended a seminar, my badge was scanned and consequently was sent lots of stuff that I wasn’t interested in.  You really have to be careful not to take it too far.  Instead of that warm fuzzy feeling that shows we care about you – you’re being bombarded with info. This isn’t personalisation – it’s boxed as personalisation, but it’s not.  It’s actually tailored marketing. You have to think about your end user.  What is your attendee going to get out of it?  What is the impact? If you don’t get balance right, you’re going to annoy them. Remember that people are happy to give you their information if they see value in doing so.

With our events, we agree beforehand what data we need to collect and for what purpose – so if we know we’re going to tailor content according to job titles, then this is something we take into consideration when deciding on questions in registration forms. I also think to get the balance right, you need to be aware what questions should be mandatory and what shouldn’t. Mandatory questions should be there only for the purpose of getting them to the event – anything else should not be mandatory. Also, if you ask lots of questions and make it all mandatory, then you’ll get a lot of people just filling in the forms with rubbish.  Where is your quality of data?  You don’t want data that is useless.

Caroline Hills (British Council):  Yes, I think it’s really key to ask only those questions that you need the answers for to successfully register someone and get them to your event.  Always ask yourself what you need to know and then figure out how to ask for that information in as few questions as possible. If you want to ask additional questions for the purpose of personalization where the answers are nice to have but not essential, then yes, make them optional so attendees don’t have to answer them if they don’t want to.

It’s also key to think about how you’re asking for that information. Don’t ask for their data of birth, for example, if you only need to know if they are over 18. Don’t ask for passport numbers if you want to make sure they have a valid passport – ask if they have a valid passport instead. By doing this you’re reducing the amount of sensitive data you’re collecting to a minimum, which will make potential attendees more comfortable parting with their information. This also reduces your data protection risk level, which will become even more important when GDPR comes into force this year.

The issue of data protection is a big one when it comes to personalisation.  What impact you do you think the EU GDPR will have on personalisation efforts around events?

Carla Jones (Haymarket):  With GDPR, you won’t be able to have registration forms with pages and pages asking for sensitive demographic information anymore – there’s been a general attitude that if people are coming to an event (especially when it’s free) then take advantage and ask as much as possible.   But GDPR will flip this.  Event planners will need to think about things a lot more carefully. You’ll need to get the right kind of detailed consent to use this data. You will need to think about how you’re going to keep this data safe –  as the more data you hold, the higher the risk of breach.  So, it’s not worth collecting ‘personalization’ data if you’re not going to end up using it. GDPR will force event planners to be a lot more careful about how much data they’re collecting from attendees and for what purpose.


Are your events ready for GDPR? Get your FREE eBook: The Event Planner’s Guide to GDPR Compliance, and learn what impact Europe’s new data protection regulation will have on event marketing, data management and event technology – as well as what steps event planners need to take now to get ready for the May 2018 deadline.


Caroline Hills (British Council):  The biggest impact of GDPR on the events industry will mostly be around consent and permissions, and the biggest challenge around this for us will be educating people about the dos and don’ts so that we stay compliant with GDPR.  Our small central team can’t audit every single event and say you can’t ask this and you can’t ask that, it’s not practical for organizations like ours. You also have the challenge of new people coming in all the time, so you have to have a continual programme of training running. We’ll probably end up having more basic registration forms to control this better globally and it might limit how much personalization we actually do as our priority will be making sure we are compliant, rather than looking at how we can improve personalization, as the consequences of not being compliant are potentially enormous fines.

Read: Ask the Experts – How BIG an impact will GDPR have on meetings and events?

Conclusion

The issue of data is a big one when it comes to personalization.  Before even starting the process, event planners need to think about what data they’re going to collect from attendees and agree across their organization on how this data is going to be used for the purpose of personalization.  Attendees also need to understand why organizations are gathering their information and how it is going to bring value to their event experience.  Getting that balance right is key for successful personalization.  In summary:

  • Decide what data you’re going to collect, why you’re collecting it and agree across your organization on how it’s going to be used before collecting it for the purpose of personalisation
  • Don’t ask unnecessary questions – this will have a negative effect on the attendee experience
  • Make it clear to attendees that the information they provide will bring value to their experience and that you’re looking after their data and privacy – especially with the upcoming GDPR.
  • Those organisations that can personalize event experiences but show they they’re dealing with data privacy in the right way will be the ones people choose to deal with in the future.

You can watch the full video of the discussion on event personalization between Eventsforce, The British Council and Haymarket at Event Tech Live 2017 here.


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The New WhatsApp and 4 Other Event Tech Stories You Should Read

Untitled design (90)

In this month’s round-up of the latest and most interesting event tech stories, we come across video beacons, Twitter’s hashtag emojis and an app that can help create projection-mapping experiences at events. We also look at how WhatsApp is taking on Snapchat with its own content consumption platform, a new online community connecting event planners and freelancers, as well as a very interesting case study on the role of AI in event personalisation.

Have a look at what you may have missed this week:

BizBash: 5 Innovative Tech Tools for Events

Untitled design (91)Great summary piece from BizBash here – a quick looks at some of the latest apps, software and interactive technology for events and experiential marketing.  It includes the audience engagement system, Glisser, which allows event presentations to become instantly interactive and shareable.  Presenters can use the system to instantly send polls to audiences and display the results, while members can submit questions anonymously and vote on the questions that have been asked. Another tool is the Estimote Mirror – a video-enabled beacon which not only communicates with nearby smartphones and apps but also takes content from those apps and displays it on nearby digital screens.  For example, the system can be used to show personalised content on digital signs around a venue as visitors pass by or to show product information at an exhibit booth that’s based on the attendee’s interests, needs and previous buying habits.

Also included in the list is Air Events Global, an online marketplace for event planners looking to hire freelancers, and the $4.99 Project Mapper app that allows you to quickly create projection-mapping experiences for your events.

Forbes: WhatsApp Changes Everything with Its New ‘Status’ Feature

Untitled design (89)As an event planner, you probably use Whatsapp to communicate back and forth with your team members, especially on the day of your event. The company, however, has just announced that it’s turning the app into a content consumption platform – similar to the way people scroll through their Facebook or Instagram newsfeeds. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s exactly like Snapchat’s hugely successful Stories feature but the twist is that it’s -end-to-end encrypted like WhatsApp messaging (great for data security). The new ‘status’ feature will let users share and watch updates from friends and reply privately, shoot and adorn their imagery with drawings and captions and send their creations to chosen contacts with a persistent privacy setting. See full story here.

Similar to Snapchat’s stories, the feature opens the door to new advertising and marketing opportunities for businesses and events. At South by Southwest last year, for example, Mashable used Snapchat as an interactive way to connect with attendees.  MTC also uses Snapchat’s stories to complement events the network hosts and add an editorial element to the other large-scale events it covers. WhatsApp currently has 1.2 billion monthly users that send 60 billion messages per day, including 3.3 billion photos, 760 million videos and 8- million GIFs.  Its market is huge and if the status feature takes off as the company hopes, it could be a very interesting development for user-generated social content platforms.

Contently: How Boomers & Millennials Use Online Content Differently

Copy of crowdA new infographic from Adweek, illustrates the difference in online behavior between boomers and millennials – which can be useful for planning content marketing activities around your events. Boomers, for example, like branded content that focuses on the product or service, while millennials like branded content that focuses on experiences. Both demographics like photos, but boomers are more likely to prefer written content or video. And when boomers share content online, they’re going to Facebook instead of Instagram. Take a look at the infographic here for a full picture.


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Event MB: Twitter Starts Trialing Sponsored Emojis For Events

Untitled design (88)This month’s Sanremo music festival in Italy has seen a social media first: a brand sponsor’s logo, in emoji form, attached to an event hashtag. The custom emoji accompanied every tweet mentioning the #Sanremo2017 hashtag – which meant every time anyone used the hashtag, they were putting the sponsor’s logo right into the timelines of their followers.

Although this form of advertising can seem somewhat brazen to some at the moment, don’t be surprised if it soon becomes the norm.  According to this story from Event MB, hashtags have been helping us facilitate and organise event-related engagement for some time now. This simple addition of a company logo in emoji form could make the hashtag/emoji ad combination an extremely valuable sponsorship opportunity for events of the future.

BizBash: What Was IBM’s Watson Doing at a San Francisco Dance Party?

shutterstock_233448184Want a glimpse of what personalised events will look like in the future?  Daybreaker hosts about 15 events in San Francisco each year, and last month, it hosted what it called the ‘world’s first cognitive dance party’ powered by Watson – IBM’s cognitive platform.  The company used Watson to analyse attendees’ Twitter profiles and personality quizzes to create three tracks that would determine the colours guests were encouraged to wear at the event (purple for conscientious, red for outgoing and yellow for expressiveness). The tracks also determined pre-party lists, a pre-dance fitness class suggestion, Chef Watson-designed breakfast menus and original Watson Beat music during the event.  As party goers bounced around the venue, a swirling storm of lights illuminated the interactive LED dance floor – with patterns powered by the ‘energy’ (the social feeds) in the room.  A custom-built LED sun also rose at the front of the room, which reflected the guests’ personalities.  You can read more about it here.

What kind of impact will tools like Watson have on the events industry? Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) truly personalise experiences?  According to an article by Event Tech Brief, attendees these days want tailor-made information, connections and experiences and current event technologies have set the stage for hyper-personalised attendee experiences – but we’re not quite there yet.  AI has the potential to take event tech to the next level – from AI-enabled concierge event bots to personalised attendee matchmaking tools like Grip.


If you would like to learn more about what Eventsforce has to offer, take a look at a few other blog posts listed below or get in contact with out friendly team.

Call us on 0207 785 6997 or get in touch here.

7 Easy Ways You Can Personalise Event Registration

7 Simple Ways to Personalise Event Registration

Creating personalised experiences is something that companies tend to do very well in the online world.  Just take a look at companies like Netflix and Amazon, suggesting personalised recommendations based on what they already know about their customers. The likes of Cadburys, Starbucks and Marmite have also been getting in on the act over the last couple of years.  And it’s safe to say that personalisation is now finally making its mark in the events industry. Why?  Because it works.

In the same way marketing targets different messaging for different audiences, event planners can use personalisation to deliver content, offers, event experiences and networking opportunities based on what they already know about their delegates. Sophisticated data capture tools – from event registration systems and RFID to online surveys and event apps – are helping event planners collect and analyse valuable delegate information to create more powerful and targeted events.

This month, a study from Eventsforce found that personalisation was a key priority for 82% of event planners, with 97% believing it would have a positive effect on a delegate’s perception of their brand and event. Despite these claims, however, many felt that the lack of time and resources posed as the biggest barriers with only 27% consistently using it as part of the marketing efforts around their events.

Though it has its challenges and can vary in its effectiveness from one event to another, personalisation doesn’t have to be as complicated as one might think. Most organisations today use some form of automated system to manage registrations around their events and it is good starting point for any kind of personalisation you may want to do around your events.  Why?  Because it acts as the first point of contact for your delegates and lies at the heart of all your communications in the run up to your event.

Have a look below at seven easy ways you can use your registration process to personalise events:

1. Personalised Event Invitation

Untitled design (27)Personalising invitations is simple and effective. By tailoring them as much as possible to the invitee and their specific business sector, you massively increase the chances they will attend. Our study showed that 38% of event planners break down their attendees by type when deciding on marketing activities around their events.  So if you know that your delegate list is made up of corporates and academics, then it makes sense to create two separate versions of the same invitation with each one outlining the sessions that would be of interest to them.  Remember – both audiences have a vested interest in attending your event but they have very different goals and very different ideas on why your event matters to them.

Read: How to Create Invites that Draw Crowds to Your Events

2. Create Different Landing Pages for Your Event Website

Untitled design (33)In the same you can tailor the content of your invitation, you can also tailor your event website for different audiences – our study found that 21% of event planners are already doing this and we expect this trend to grow.  For example, an event site that provides information on peer reviews, abstracts, a list of research fellows and referenced publications may be more interesting for your academics.  Whereas your corporate audience will be much more interested in seeing commercial ideas that the event aims to address, a list of other businesses that are going to attend and who they’re going to meet when they are there.  You may use the page to promote an early bird rate to an academic but may not bother for a commercial audience as academics are more likely to book their places months in advance due to budget allocations at the beginning of the year.

Read: 10 Creative to Promote Your Corporate Events

3. Use Unique Registration Paths for Different Attendee Categories

Untitled design (28)Personalise the registration journey by creating different registration paths for each type of attendee.   Some registration systems support this functionality so it doesn’t have to be complicated.  Before starting the registration process, find out the category your attendee falls into – whether that be a delegate, sponsor, exhibitor, speaker and so on. Or you may also choose to categorise by industry – like academics or corporate as mentioned in our earlier example. Each attendee will then be led through a set of registration questions that are specific to their selected category.  For example, exhibitors may get asked about stand sizes, whereas journalists may be asked to upload accreditation documents. Members may be able to select special discount options, whereas a VIP may get asked if they’ll be attending the VIP cocktail party at the end of your event. Having a unique registration path for your VIP guests will ensure their questions aren’t visible to other attendees – and more importantly, it will make your VIP feel that the questions were ‘personalised’ for them throughout the whole registration journey.

4. Find Out What Your Delegates Want

Untitled design (29)Our study found that 62% of event planners are personalising events by using crowdsourcing tools with their attendees to determine things like agendas and session topics (44%), speakers (24%) and dining preferences (18%). Using your registration form to capture your attendees’ views and opinions can be a quick and cost-effective way of personalising their event experience. For example, you can ask your delegates what topics are of particular interest for them at your motor show. Are they interested in the servicing side of the business or electronics?  You can then share this information with your exhibitors and ensure the right kind of discount offer is included in the right delegate pack upon checking-in at the event. This is a lot more personalised than including discount offers from all your exhibitors as you will almost certainly include things that are of no interest to them.

You can also use registration form to ask more ‘personal’ questions like what is their favourite coffee and offering them a personalised free coffee offer as part of their delegate pack.  You could capture information about their hobbies or thoughts and include that on their delegate badges – a great icebreaker when attending networking events.  The more people network, the more business occurs and the more likely they are to come again.

5. Use Delegate Networking Tools

Untitled design (30)Almost 20% of event planners are using delegate networking tools to personalise experiences around their events. By integrating ‘meeting planner’ tools as part of your registration process, delegates will be able to personalise their agendas, see who is attending that may be of interest to them and set up meetings with people they want to meet. These tools are quite good in that they don’t allow delegates to schedule meetings that clash with other meetings or sessions that they’ll be attending at the event.  Or if the system knows if the delegate is leaving a day early, it won’t allow them to accept invitations for meetings on the next date.

6. Personalised Email Communications

Untitled design (31)In the same way you’re able to personalise the invitation, the event website and registration form for different attendee categories, you can also personalise all your email communications in the run up to the event. Let’s look at an example of a delegate who has requested a Kosher or Halal meal at the event.  Typically, this meal is almost never served with the main event buffet so the delegate has to liaise with the catering staff or event planner to locate it on the day.  This isn’t a great experience for your delegate and it is also inefficient as it means the event planners has one more thing to think about at a time when they are very busy.  Instead, send the delegate a personalised registration confirmation email that will include details on where they can pick up their meal on the day of the event.

Again, some registration platforms will support this through an integrated mail merge service, which collates all relevant delegate information in an automatic confirmation email.  And it makes no difference if you have 50 people attending your event or 50,000.  The process is quite simple and takes very little time. It also makes more sense to include this kind of ‘personalised’ information in your delegate emails than details on the weather or the nearest taxi firm (most of this information is instantly available to anyone with a smartphone or an internet connection these days).  Again, remember that you only have a limited time to capture your delegates’ attention – the more information on your confirmation email, the more likely they will jump through some of the more important things like the start time of the session they want to attend.

7. Don’t Forget About Reporting

Untitled design (32)The kind of personalisation you offer delegates will be determined by the kind of data you decide to capture and the reports you produce. The earlier you do this when you’re setting up the registration for your event, the more effective your personalisation efforts will be. Think about it from the start as opposed to when you NEED the data because that will probably be the time you’re at your busiest and data structures are unlikely to change the closer you get to the event.

Think about the reports you want so that you can figure out the right questions you need to put across to your delegates. Think about how you want to slice up the data so that you can get the reports you want and collate the analytics that will allow you to personalise your events.  For example, you may decide to create a report that will collate all the delegates attending a particular session.  Some event planners may share this list with all the other delegates attending that session.  But you can do more. Break it down by company type, interests and goals and share the list with your session speaker.  He or she can then use this information to tweak the content of their presentation or personalise it with content or examples that are more relevant to the audience.

Click to get in touchBreaking down your delegates by type will allow you to create the segregated reports you want.  Knowing that 70% of your delegates are female, love coffee and their primary objective is networking can give you the intelligent data you need to help you personalise their experience. So if you’re hosting an event in London and you know that a large part of your attendees are coming from overseas, you may opt for ‘fish and chips’ as your lunch menu as international delegates prefer local cuisine.  Or if you know that most of your attendees will be leaving early on the last day of your event, it may be a better option for you to offer them a packed lunch that day instead of a buffet and ask them in advance about their sandwich preferences.

If you require a registration process that can personalise your attendees’ event experience, speak to our experienced team today.

 Written by Paul Harris, Eventsforce.