Tag: event technology

Infographic: The ROI of Event Data Integration

Posted on by Eventsforce

We have talked a lot about data integration (Why is Data Integration So Important for Your Events) and APIs (Top 5 Things to Think About When Dealing with APIs) over the last few weeks.  It is a topic that is hotly debated across the events industry as more and more organisations try to find new ways of increasing the ROI of their event technology investments.

Integrating your event management software with other business systems within your organisation can bring a host of benefits. It can save you time by reducing manual data entry. It can eliminate errors and inconsistencies that commonly cause problems in communications.  It can cut costs and make your team more productive – and more importantly, it can unlock the true value of your event data by putting it in the hands of the people who need it.

So how does it work and what does an integrated system look like?  For a quick overview on some of the key integrations that make sense for your events, have a look at the infographic below (or click here to download):

Top 5 Things to Think About When Dealing with APIs

Posted on by Eventsforce

shutterstock_43720780Many experts are predicting 2016 will be the year of APIs and integration for the events industry.  The concept has been around for a while but is gaining momentum as more and more organisations see the benefits of integrating their event data with other systems. If you’ve already worked with APIs, then you know why they are important. But some of us may well be wondering: What are APIs and why should I care about them?

Simply put, an API – or Application Programming Interface – is a way for two pieces of software to talk to each other and exchange information. For example, when making a purchase online, the website sends your credit/debit card information through an API to another application, which confirms that the details you have provided are correct. You can think of it as a piece of software that functions as a door or window, if you want. From the perspective of an event planner, it’s the mechanism that allows your event management system to share data with your event app. Or it’s what allows your registration software to share delegate details with your Salesforce.com CRM system. Or even payment confirmations to your finance package.

Top 5 Considerations When Dealing with APIs

Integrating your event management software with other business systems within your organisation will bring you a host of benefits (see our blog post: Why is Integration So Important for Your Events).  A well designed event app, for example, is one that integrates with your event management system to offer real-time accurate content, not just during the event, but before and after as well. Central to this design is figuring out which systems needs to talk to each other, which fields within the app need to be updated and how often this needs to be done. And this is where APIs come in.

1) Putting the Right Data in the Right Place

When integrating your event management system with other applications, you need to decide how the API will pull and share information between the two systems. So if you’re integrating your registration software with the Salesforce.com CRM solution, you should decide which questions from your registration page (names, address, telephone numbers) should be updated in Salesforce and vice versa. This ‘field mapping’ process is important as it ensures that the right data goes into the right field of each system.  So your event app, for example, may use ‘preferred names’ for addressing delegates but your event registration system records first, last and preferred names. By mapping the ‘preferred’ name field between the two systems, the API ensures that the app addresses the delegate as his preferred name ‘Johnny’ – instead of his full name, John Smith.

2) Choosing the Direction of Your Data Flow

The next thing you need to decide is whether this sharing of information is a one or two-way process.  With event apps, the flow of information is usually one way where data from the event management system – like event agendas and delegate schedules – is pushed into the event app. With CRM, finance or membership systems, it makes more sense to synch data in both directions.   So you’ll be able pull invitations lists from your Salesforce directly into your event management system – similarly, any changes to a delegate’s profile will automatically be updated in Salesforce.

 

3) How Much of Your Data Should You Share?

Another thing to consider around your API is the filtering of your event data. By default, your API may expose all your data to the integrated systems.  Your finance team, for example, may want access to all your event data but your event app may only need access to data around one particular event. You may want to create one app for your exhibitors and another for your delegates – by setting the right filters within your API, you can make sure that only relevant event data gets shared with your other integrated systems.

4) How Often Should You Synch Your Systems?

This is an important question that can determine your API ‘pipeline’.  Mobile apps, for example, consume a lot of data from event management systems, especially on the day of the event.  That data needs to be constantly refreshed to ensure delegates have access to up-to-date information around the event.  Finance or CRM packages, on the other hand, have a low but constant usage of event data. Data synching in this case can be set for once a day. Your event tech API provider may charge you for the amount of data you are consuming between your different systems or they limit the amount of data you are running through your API – so make sure you choose one that won’t limit your data use.

5) Determining Data Access & Security

Once you have decided which systems to integrate with your event management solution and set the parameters of your API, you (or your system administrator) can obtain an API key –  often used instead of usernames and passwords.  This key is one way of enabling integration by providing your event app and other third party applications access to your event data, and vice-versa.  It comes in the form of a computer-generated password that can be revoked (changed) if lost or compromised. If you don’t revoke it, your event data is vulnerable as it is left exposed to anyone who has access to this key.

Make sure you know who has access to your API key and try and limit the numbers.  When you do need to share it with other technology suppliers (like an event app provider), do so by phone instead of email, as it’s more secure.  Also, if you’re integrating with more than one system, make sure you have separate API keys for each integration.  This way, if one of your API keys gets lost or exposed, you can revoke the key (which disables the integration) and set up a new one.  If you have one API key for all your integrations, then you break all the integrations at the same time, which can result in some costly downtime until you’ve sorted it all out.

Conclusion

Click to get in touchTaking time to make these key decisions around your APIs will determine the success of your integration. While most event tech vendors provide APIs for their software, many also have established partnerships and API integration capabilities with tried and tested software solutions (Salesforce.com, Sage, Insight Mobile). This is helpful as you’ll be able to get things up and running without investing the time and money into any coding work that allows data to be pulled from one system to another.  And if these API relationships don’t exist, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. By making sure your suppliers can provide you with the necessary advice, recommendations and workflows for integration means the whole process can take as little as a few days at a fraction of the cost.

Get to know Eventsforce’s integration and API system, plus how it can unlock the true value of your event data, by clicking here.

Written by Paul Harris, Eventsforce

New EU/US Data Sharing Deal: What Event Planners Need to Know

Posted on by Eventsforce

Untitled design (5)Last week, the EU and the US finally struck a new deal on data sharing designed to protect EU citizens’ data when transferred across the Atlantic. The so-called ‘Privacy Shield’ deal replaces the ‘Safe Harbor’ agreement that stood for more than 15 years before being struck down by a court last October. The decision left thousands of businesses – especially those reliant on the cloud – scrambling to figure out how to legally operate data transfers, while US and EU regulators spent the last three months hammering out the terms of Privacy Shield. But there are already questions being raised about the new agreement.  The language used in the official announcement is woolly at best and there are fears that the deal has a number of flaws which can raise further legal challenges in the future[1].

So how is this relevant to the events industry?  Events deal with highly sensitive delegate information – from names, addresses and employment information to things like gender, disabilities and dietary preferences.  Up until last year, the pact made it relatively easy for any company hosting events to legally store EU delegate information in US data centres.  However, with the absence of Safe Harbor and a general lack of certainty around the new deal, there is still little to prevent European Data Protection Agencies from taking enforcement actions against companies suspecting of breaching European law.  Storing EU delegate data in the US can still put organisations at risk.

What Was Safe Harbor?

The Safe Harbor agreement allowed US companies to transfer European citizens’ data to America, provided the location it was being sent to had the privacy conditions that met EU standards. It was first put in place in 2000, because the US does not have one single federal law regulating data storage. Its constitution does offer some protection to US citizen data, but it provides no assurances for foreign citizens.  It is an important agreement for thousands of companies operating in Europe.

Why Was the Agreement Ruled ‘Invalid’?

When former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, made revelations in 2013 about the US surveillance system, an Austrian student filed a complaint against Facebook to the Irish data protection authority. He claimed Snowden’s claims confirmed that Facebook wasn’t sufficiently protecting user data as the NSA was carrying out mass surveillance on technology companies. The case went all the way up to EU’s top court, which in October 2015 said that the Safe Harbor agreement was no longer valid because US public authorities were able to access EU citizen data and individuals had no means of getting any compensation for any misused data.  Since then, the US and EU have had to renegotiate a new data sharing agreement that allows data flows across the Atlantic to continue without breaking the law.

How is New Deal Different?

Under the terms of the new deal – which are still being negotiated – the US will give an annual written commitment that it won’t indulge in mass surveillance of EU citizens, and this will be audited by both sides once a year. US companies wishing to import EU citizens’ data must also give robust obligations on how personal data is processed, and comply to the same standards as European data protection laws. But there are already fears that the deal may be too broad for some to swallow. Ashley Winton, UK Head of data protection and privacy at lawyers, Paul Hasting LLP said: “The results of months’ worth of negotiation appears weak, and if adopted we are likely to see further legal challenge in the European courts” [2].

Why Is This Data-Sharing Deal So Important for Your Events?

If you are hosting events in Europe, find out where your delegate data is being stored – if you don’t already know. If it’s within the EU, then you shouldn’t have any concerns.  If it is in a US data centre, you need to make sure that you have the correct mechanisms and methods in place to legally transfer data to the US from Europe.   This not only applies to the data you store within your organisation but more importantly, the third-party IT systems that also have access to your event and delegate data. This includes vendors that supply you with registration systems and event apps to business systems like CRM and finance packages that may be integrated with your event management software.

Find out exactly how these organisations are safeguarding your delegate data and keeping it private. Find out where they are storing your data – especially from those US-based companies who are heavily reliant on the cloud.  There are many cloud providers which operate solely within the bounds of the European Union, but there are many out there who operate through their large data centres in the US – which would mean the new ‘Privacy Shield’ deal applies to them. Find out the physical location of their cloud servers. Find out if they contract their support services outside the EU.  Find out who has access to your delegate data, and what kind of security policies they have in place. Find out if your data is encrypted and whether or not they adhere to EU Data Protection regulations.  Solutions could involve drafting new contractual agreements with delegates, encrypting US servers and building EU-based servers and support centres.

The Road Ahead

The uncertainty around the new deal may still mean that the movement of data from the EU to the US can become a legal matter if EU delegates have grounds to believe their consent for data storage and usage has not been agreed. Companies may be able to transfer data if they have free and informed consent of users and this gives event planners another thing to think about before moving their data outside the EU.

Click to get in touchAs the terms of the new, safer ‘Safe Harbor’ get ratified by EU members, the current legal limbo may close up soon enough. Last month, the US passed the Judicial Redress Act – a necessary step to achieving the new deal – which provides a path for EU citizens to sue over privacy complaints in the US.  However, it also passed a last minute Republican amendment that provides for an exception on national security grounds – which undermines the entire point of the whole measure. So as it stands, there are still no guaranteed assurances for businesses wanting to export data from Europe to the US right now.  What we can be sure of is that the ending of Safe Harbor and the announcement of Privacy Shield should pave the way for a new era in transparency from companies on how they use customer information and how we define data ownership.

Written by Steve Baxter, CTO, Eventsforce

[1]The Register: Safe Harbor ripped and replaced with Privacy Shield in last-minute US-Europe deal (includes comments from former Gartner Vice President, French Caldwell)

[2]The Register: Safe Harbor ripped and replaced with Privacy Shield in last-minute US-Europe deal

Source: CNBC ‘US and EU in data privacy clash: what you need to know’

60-Seconds with Wellcome Trust

Posted on by Eventsforce

Susan Bassam Wellcome TrustBased in London, Susan Bassam is the conference and events organiser at renowned global charitable foundation, Wellcome Trust.  Along with her team, she manages around 60 events each year – from conferences, workshops, dinners and receptions – which attract anywhere between 30-200 attendees.

EventTech Talk had a quick chat with her to find out a little about her best event experiences, favourite venues and her biggest event nightmare.

What has been your best event experience?

Organising a celebration event for the Wellcome Trust’s 75 Anniversary. It was a special occasion and involved transforming the ground floor of our headquarters in London into a glamourous event space for an evening dinner. We invited 180 people to a drinks reception, followed by dinner cooked by Albert Roux.

What is your favourite venue?

For conferences, I would definitely say One Great George Street in Westminster, London.

What is your favourite restaurant?

Le Pont de la Tour by Tower Bridge, London – French cuisine at its best!

What would you say is your biggest challenge when planning an event?

Time or lack of!  Short lead time to organise an event is our biggest challenge.

What has been your biggest event nightmare? 

The day before I was due to fly to Uganda for a conference for 70 people, we heard that there were demonstrations and national unrest in the city, and the only road from the airport to the city was blocked by protestors! After many discussions, the even had to be cancelled.

Mobile app you couldn’t live without?

Whatsapp – it is essential while travelling aboard for keeping in touch with family and friends.

Best event app experience?  

Yet to happen; but currently working on our own event app with Insight Mobile to integrate with Eventsforce.

Click to get in touchNew technology you’re looking forward to using one day (drones, holograms, AR/VR)?

Aside from our own event app, would l like to see a hologram speaking at one of our conferences!

And lastly, if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

To click my heals and instantly be transported home.

 

If you’d like to take part in our ‘60-Seconds’ series of Q&As with event managers, please get in touch at eventtechtalk@eventsforce.com – we’d love to hear from you!

 

Infographic: The ROI of Event Personalisation

Posted on by Eventsforce

Personalisation 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 event apps are helping events collect valuable information on attendees to create more powerful and customised event experiences.

But is personalisation worth the time and effort? Are we doing anything useful with all the data we’re gathering from attendees or are we collecting too much?  Are there any data collection tools that are more effective than others? And what impact will Europe’s new data protection regulation have on event personalisation from May 2018?

A new Eventsforce research study –  titled ‘The ROI of Event Personalisation’- has revealed that despite it being a growing priority for 73% of event planners, more than 50% are struggling to see how effective their personalisation efforts are in engaging attendees and building brand loyalty.  Of the 150 senior event planners surveyed, 56% don’t end up using all the data they collect for the purpose of personalisation and another 44% find it difficult to determine how much personalisation they should actually do.

Some other highlights from ‘The ROI of Event Personalisation’ study include:

  • More than 9 in 10 event planners are using personalisation around events
  • Event invites, delegate communications and personalised registration forms are the most popular methods of using personalisation
  • Top 3 most effective data collection tools include registration systems, CRM/marketing solutions, surveys and apps
  • 31% struggle to measure ROI of personalisation efforts
  • Other challenges include deciding what data to collect from attendees, getting the balance right between providing value and protecting attendee privacy and dealing with inaccurate data
  • 36% of event planners feel the upcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will limit personalisation efforts in the industry

For a more comprehensive look at these results and some of the other findings from the Eventsforce ‘The ROI of Event Personalisation’ study, download the infographic below:

Eventsforce will be debating the topic of personalisation, privacy and GDPR with senior event planners from Haymarket Publishing and the British Council at the annual Event Tech Live show in London on 9th November 2017.  The session titled, ‘Event Personalisation – Finding the Balance Between Value & Privacy’ will discuss the findings of the study and provide an opportunity for the speakers to share their experiences around personalisation and finding that balance.

Those interested in attending can register for the event at https://www.eventtechlive.com or visit Eventsforce at stand 216 in the exhibition hall.

 

6 Simple Technology Tools for Greener Events

Posted on by Eventsforce

shutterstock_12539635As sustainability starts to creep back up the corporate agenda, event planners are again looking to create more environmentally friendly events that reinforce and further promote their client’s green credentials.

From wearable tech and event apps to end-to-end management software, the latest technology is playing an important role in helping event organisers reduce their client’s environmental impact.

Everything helps, from ditching paper delegate badges; switching to fully online registration processes; video conferencing for international speakers, and mobile event apps to cut out printed maps, brochures, event guides and leaflets.

Below are just some of the platforms that can help event planners enhance their client’s environmental credentials.

Twitter 

You may have heard of it already but the power of Twitter is only now being fully realised in corporate events. The increasing adoption of social media throughout an event’s lifecycle is helping not only attract more delegates but is removing a lot of wasted paper.

Event-specific hashtags allow you to provide information in a much more dynamic way and of course it is a lot cheaper than sending out email bulletins or printed materials. Paper presentations, questionnaires, flyers, guides and other promotional materials can all be put online and shared much more widely.

Not only has Twitter made events more engaging, it has made them greener too. In an interview last year with Kerrin MacPhie, ICCA UK & Ireland Chapter Chair and Director of Sales at ACC Liverpool, said the expectations of delegates are changing in line with growing demand for the integration of social media. She said: “A key challenge is reversing old-school habits; many associations have been around for many years and are very successful, why reinvent the wheel? However, people are changing, the new millennial generation live their lives through digitisation and social media, emails are even seen as passé to this group. Immediate interaction is paramount so for the younger generations attending conferences, Twitter should be a staple ingredient. Not only at conferences but also social media platforms as a norm should be adopted in day to day comms for associations looking to grow.”

Smart badges

 NFC-enabled smart badges are changing the face of exhibitions and corporate events. For many people, attending large conferences can be stressful. Wearable tech such as Loopd means delegates can focus on enjoying the event while the chip collects the data they will need, later pushed to an app for them to access. It takes smart badges to the next level, collecting data and offering attendees a huge number of benefits. As the delegate moves around the event, the chipped lanyard collects key data from ‘beacons’ positioned around the event.

Strea.ma

 Strea.ma is an exciting cloud-based platform that allows you to easily create your own Twitter wall by combining and displaying social media updates from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It allows you to promote your hashtag in real time during the event and encourage interaction on the day, to share the discussion, run polls and encourage further engagement.

GoToMeeting

Using video conferencing software rather than flying in keynote guests is a far greener approach to hosting international speakers. GoToMeeting, from Citrix Systems, is an online desktop-sharing platform that allows users to ‘meet up’ in real time. Although not billed particularly as events software, for conferencing in particularly, it would allow for high-definition video conferencing support for up to six users.

Insight Mobile

Insight Mobile is an award winning Brighton based native iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Windows, Android and Web app development company that specialises in developing world class apps for a range of business sectors. Their solution allows delegates to easily access personalised apps for an event with all the relevant data they need. It goes beyond providing Wi-Fi log in instructions, venue maps and speaker programmes. They can save thousands of sheets of paper, cutting out the need for a lot of the associated paperwork that goes with an event. It can include real-time schedules, gathered contacts from networking, social media updates and more.

SlideShare

Click to get in touchSlide deck presentations are re-energising the humble PowerPoint into shareable content. The popularity of slide hosting apps such as SlideShare mean you ditch cumbersome paper handouts and move to more succinct online versions that are engaging and insightful. Conferences have been publishing online for a long time but apps such as SlideShare take it to the next level, allowing contacts who were not at the event an opportunity to engage (and book for next year). SlideShare condenses information into visual bites that can be easily shared after an event.

Sustainability in the events industry is fast becoming big news again and will be increasingly important for event planners and organisers as it moves up the client’s agenda. Don’t be the one to miss out!

Event Technology Integration is a Top Priority for Associations

Posted on by Eventsforce

Dan_image_for_webTalking tech today is… Daniel Slavin, Business Development Manager at Eventsforce

Daniel is well known and respected for being able to shape association events and conferences through the intelligent and accountable use of event technology. With valuable experience helping associations meet their organisational goals, Daniel demonstrates to associations how event technology can maximise the value of their conferences and how associations can effectively measure their conference ROI using the reporting data that matters.

You recently attended Technology for Associations Congress – is it fair to say all of the associations in attendance were keen to learn about how technology could help them?

Yes, and this is an understatement! The very nature of the event brought technology to the forefront. There was a clear understanding amongst the attendees that technology is essential to helping a progressive Association succeed, whether this is by expanding their membership, understanding existing members better, or putting on even better conferences. The reason behind all of this is to enable them to deliver the best possible service to their members who form the backbone of any Association.

As someone who has worked with Associations, helping them use technology in an intelligent and cost-effective way, their enthusiasm for the technology available wasn’t a surprise to me at all and it was great to see so many Associations showing keen interest in the solutions that we are able to offer here at Eventsforce.

Some people believe that Associations are technology averse – what would you say to these people?

I’d say that in the past these sort of views may be true. In some Associations any sort of investment is seen as a ‘cost’ but this cost is often viewed without the corresponding ‘benefit’. Technology is placed in the same bracket. Yes there is a cost to technology, in terms of both time and resource, but this doesn’t exceed the benefits offered such as the time-saving elimination of admin and repetitive tasks, making processes faster and more accurate, enhanced reporting for real conference understanding. There is also the peace of mind in knowing that all of your systems are comprehensively and securely integrated. But things are changing, and this change has been driven by the Associations themselves.

As I mentioned previously, it’s all about the members.  In all areas of their lives they want ‘more’, ‘better’ and ‘faster’ They rightly ask, ‘Why shouldn’t our Associations give us these as well?’ The Associations I work with have embraced technology as a solution to meet these challenges head on, and the more technologically averse are being dragged forward whether they like it or not simply because they can’t afford not to.

Were there any particular topics that the Associations were keen to focus on?

The interest in technology was wide, but I noticed three topics emerging that seemed to be of key importance to Associations in general:

Understanding conferences better to demonstrate ROI and deliver better service: 

Associations wanted to understand their conferences better, moving beyond the basic metrics such as how many people attended or what their anecdotal feedback was. The reason for this, and I make no qualms about stressing this point again, is because they want to deliver the best experience to their members. If they don’t understand what worked at a conference and what didn’t then it makes it much harder to learn and improve, or show that the conference delivered real ROI. Remember, Associations aren’t exempt from having to justify their expenditure and prove ROI! The key to this understanding is effective reporting. Associations need to be able to create and manage reports on a wide range of conference data, and they need to be able to do this quickly and easily. Saving, sharing and scheduling reports are also a ‘must-have’ as is security and restricted access.

Integrating new technologies with existing systems

Just because an Association is interested in procuring new technology doesn’t mean it isn’t currently already using technology or intends to discard existing technology. A new solution needs to integrate with existing systems such as CRM, Finance and Marketing systems, or mobile apps, and it needs to do this with a minimum of hassle and disruption. APIs, which allow one application to query and manipulate the data within another application, are key to this and must be ‘two-way’ to allow the flow of data in both directions. An effective API makes integrating new technologies with existing systems a relatively simple task, and can never be overlooked when choosing a new technology to make use of.

Improving their abstracts management process 

Continuing the theme of integration, I heard from many Associations that they were keen to not only improve their abstract management process but also integrate this with their conference registration systems. They needed a way of integrating papers and registrations whilst at the same time managing submissions, reviewing and distributing, with the end goal being saving time, reducing errors and improving organisation. This was great to hear for me as I was able to talk to them about Eventsforce Abstracts, which is the ideal tool for these requirements.

Click to get in touchWhich technological challenges do you feel Associations will face in the future and how will these be resolved?

In the future, the question won’t be if Associations are using technology – they will be. The question will have moved on to how they are using it and if it is meeting their expectations. Associations will place greater emphasis on finding the right technology supplier, one that will be there for the long-term, adopting a partnership approach. Usability will also be high on the agenda forcing technology to become easier to use and easier to integrate.

To learn more about associations or any other event-related matter, contact Daniel using the details listed here.