Tag: integration

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

untitled-design-70The annual Event Tech Live show took place in London last week and it certainly was worth the visit. It is Europe’s only dedicated exhibition and conference for event professionals interested in event technology and attracts more than 1,000 attendees and 65 exhibitors from the event tech industry. The show had a great display of new technology innovations and solutions that address every aspect of the event management process.  But more importantly, the conference brought together a number of high profile speakers – from technology experts to event organizers – to discuss and debate the latest technology trends that are shaping our industry today.

From event data integration and personalized event apps to live streaming and audience engagement tools – have a look at our top takeaways from Europe’s largest event tech show:

shutterstock_223152028Integration, Integration, Integration – If there was one topic that kept coming up again and again across almost all the panel sessions, it was integration. At the event, Event Industry News and Eventsforce published their first research about data integration in the events industry which found that 60% of event planners are already integrating their event data with systems like CRM, marketing and finance solutions to save time and improve data sharing around their events. In fact, the report found that only 25% think integration is NOT a priority for them moving forwards, so we can expect a lot more of this over the coming few years.

Experts also talked about integration in terms of all the different event tech organizations are using around their events – from registration systems and check-in solutions to event apps, networking tools, audience engagement, social media and so on. Keynote speaker, Scott Wilcox, South by Southwest (SXSW) Chief Innovation Officer, was arguing that more often than not, the data from all these different systems sits in silos which makes it very difficult for event planners to convert it into actionable insight.  Having all these technologies as part of one integrated system not only addresses this issue but gives attendees a better event experience too. We’re all used to the Amazon experience, where we get everything in one place and get personalized recommendations based on our past activity and saved preferences. Having an integrated system with our event data can bring attendees this same level of user experience.

So, what should event planners do?  Whatever event technology you’re looking to invest in, make sure that it integrates well with other solutions – whether it’s integrating with back end business systems or some of the other applications you are using around your events. If you’re interested to find more about why integration is so important for your events, have a look at this free eBook which gives event planners a comprehensive easy-to-read guide on everything they need to know about the subject, including case studies from Schroders, Haymarket, The Royal Society of Statisticians and the Liberal Democrats.

Audience Engagement –  This was another topic that was broadly debated – especially with regards to what technology to use and how event planners can measure the quality of audience engagement.  One thing they all agreed on that whatever engagement tool you use around your events, the technology needs to be intuitive. If you have to teach your audience members how to use it, then it’s probably not good enough.  So, simplicity is key for adoption.

There were a few really good applications of engagement tools at the event itself which are worth mentioning.  The first was the use of noise-cancelling ‘Silent Noize Events’ headphones by audience members which provided a perfect pick-up from the otherwise buzzing open-plan platform. The other was the use of Glisser as part of the Event Tech Live app, which is a solution that promotes engagement and audience participation at events.  Attendees used the app to put questions across to panel speakers, rate other questions and see any presentation slides in real-time.  It was a really useful tool to get people to engage with both the speakers and the content of the presentations – especially for those people in the audience who would typically shy away from asking questions in a typical setting. In terms of ROI, the tool also allows presenters afterwards to break down the success or shortcomings of their presentations through the software’s extensive data and analytics platform.

What Exhibitor Technology is Working – The two technology trends that seem to be dominating the exhibition sector include networking tools and anything that accurately measures the ROI of participation for exhibitors (leads, content engagement etc.). There is growing focus on the importance of proximity solutions like NFC and RFID, which are great because they aren’t reliable on Wi-Fi connectivity, which is always an issue at big events. It can also help event planners and exhibitors better understand visitor footprints on the show floor – so you can quickly identify hot and cold spots and adjust your marketing and promotional activities accordingly.

There are also the technology solutions that allow visitors to collect show content from exhibitors and share their own contact details at the same time (also known as the ‘digital handshake’). At Event Tech Live, visitors were able to use Konduko’s smart event technology that basically turns visitor badges to virtual show bags.  Instead of carrying around paper brochures and flyers, attendees simply tapped their smart badges on readers installed at exhibitor stands to collect information which was emailed to them at the end of the show. The same technology was also available to download video recordings and presentations from all the panel sessions throughout the day.

shutterstock_180105386The Role of Live Streaming at Event – Live streaming has been one of the most interesting technology trends in our industry this year and its impact is set to grow, based on the investment we’re seeing pouring in – both from vendors and event planners. It is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to instantly reach out to your audiences, as well as build and engage with new ones too.  We’re seeing how attendees are also up for it too. Many of them now are using their phones to share their experiences and stream events live on their social media networks through apps like Periscope, Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat Live Stories.

But will live streaming stop some people from attending your events? Many of the panelists agreed that this isn’t really the case and that event planners shouldn’t shy away from it. For each event, you may have 50% of people who can make it and another 50% who are interested but can’t and live streaming does give you the ability to reach out to this other 50%.  The technology shouldn’t really affect overall numbers because people still prefer face-to-face meetings over virtual events. And don’t forget, the broader your offering, the more likely this other 50% will physically interact with your events when they’re ready to.

untitled-design-44The State of Virtual Reality – The technology is certainly making its mark in the industry but it would be fair to say that cost still poses as a barrier. There were some very interesting case studies of brands that have used it successfully around their events – some of which were nominated for best VR application at the Event Tech Live awards dinner that same evening.  The general advice was that VR should always support and engage the visitor experience – not distract from it.

The technology also seems to be creating new opportunities to provide better event experiences to people with disabilities (such as displaying lyrics to songs at music festivals) or to anyone who is unable to physically attend an event.

Personalized Apps – The keynote session from SWSX had a very interesting discussion exploring the emergence of the intelligent event app – a highly evolved platform that is continuously learning through the use of a recommendation engine which provides an advanced layer of personalization.  This new generation of event app gathers insight from attendee preferences, activities and location to create event experiences that meet the personalized needs of each and every attendee. For example, it will know that an attendee hasn’t booked anything for 10 o’clock on the day of the event, so the app will send a personalized message to the attendee: ‘Michael, free at 10pm?  We recommend this session. Add to schedule’, with a direct link that allows them to sign up for that session.

Pushing personalized content like this that changes user behavior and has a positive effect on the attendee’s event experience is what will determine the success of event apps in the near future.

 

How The Liberal Democrats Are Using Event Tech to Maintain Security at Annual Party Conferences

Lib Dem BlogThis month, we talked about how an increasing number of event planners are taking big steps in integrating their event data with some of their organisation’s critical business systems – from finance, travel and marketing to CRM and membership solutions.   In fact, we have seen a 40% increase in the number of customers working on data integration projects over the last year – we expect this trend to grow significantly in the next three years as event planners try to make better use of their delegate data.

One organisation that has successfully embraced this strategy is the Liberal Democrats.  The British political party has not only taken the initiative to integrate their event management solution with one of their own business systems (more on that later) but they have also done it with the national accreditation system of the UK’s own Police Force.

Changing Politics, Changing Priorities

Formed in 1988, the Liberal Democrats (also referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the UK with more than 60,000 party members. Unlike other parties in the country, Lib Dem members put forward and vote on all proposed policies at their annual party conferences.  The party hosts two conferences each year – with the main four-day conference in Autumn gathering over 5,000 attendees, which include party members, lobbyists, business people and media.

The party came into government in 2010 as part of a coalition group with the British Conservatives, which prompted a major change in the security requirements around its party conferences. Home Office regulations required all attendees to be fully vetted by the National Accreditation Team (NAT) before receiving clearance to attend the event.  This meant incorporating a new accreditation system as part of the online registration process and the only way of doing this effectively was to integrate its Eventsforce event management system with the UK Police NAT database.

Data Integration with UK Police Accreditation Database

marketing-manager-2The planning stage of this large-scale integration project was key.  The Lib Dem conference team had to work closely with the UK police accreditation team to agree on new workflows and the kind of delegate data they needed to collect to comply with the new accreditation requirements.  This included things like delegate photos (which had to meet strict guidelines), passport details and previous home addresses – all of which would help the NAT team verify the identity of delegates and approve their accreditation.

“The photo is a crucial part of the accreditation system.  If our delegates complete their registration without the correct photo, the NAT won’t be able to process their application and we’ll be unable to issue them a photo pass. So it was important for us to design a feature in the system that would allow us to permanently store uploaded photos within delegate profiles. This way, a returning user can save time by choosing the same photo the next time they register for a conference,” said Sian Waddington, Lib Dem’s head of conferences. “From a customer service point of view, we also wanted to give our delegates the option to send us their photos within seven days of submitting their registration forms.   In some cases, an attendee may register at a certain date to take advantage of an early bird discount but is unable to provide us with a suitable photo in time to meet the deadline.  The system guarantees their discounts even though their accreditation is not yet complete.”

Once a delegate submits their completed registration forms, the data is then automatically pushed to the NAT database where the team reviews and processes the accreditation.  The information is passed back to the event management system, which triggers an automatic email to the delegate informing them that their accreditation has been approved or if there is a query regarding their application.

The data flows in both directions across the two systems, allowing the Lib Dem conference team to see the status of each application within Eventsforce.  “If delegates ask us why they haven’t received their photo pass, we can see in real-time whether their application is currently being looked at, or if it has been approved or declined.  This facility also allows us to collate reports at the end of each day and see how many applications are currently in progress so that we’re better able to manage our own timelines,” continued Waddington.

Data Integration with Membership System

Untitled design (20)Following the integration of its event data with the NAT database, the Lib Dems decided to take on another important integration project – this time between their event management software and the party’s Salesforce membership database.  Party members attending the annual conferences are subject to discounted registration fees and special voting passes – so it was important for the conference team to verify the membership status of each attendee at the start of their online registration journey.

Once delegates select one of eight member categories in the registration form, membership data such as surnames and addresses are automatically checked against the membership system. If they correspond and the membership is valid, delegates can continue with their registration.  The system ensures that attendees are going through the right registration channels and non-members are not paying discounted member fees.  More importantly, the Lib Dem team can be sure that no voting passes are issued to non-members.

“Without integration, non-members could have registered as members as we had no ability of manually checking the thousands of party members that attend our conferences each year. Having membership validation as part of the registration process has also helped us address queries around memberships a lot more quickly.  For example, if a membership has lapsed, a notice shows up on the registration form advising the user to contact the membership services team.”

Overcoming Unexpected Challenges

There were a few noteworthy challenges that the Lib Dems had to overcome when first using the newly integrated systems – some mere oversights and some due to circumstances out of the Lib Dem’s control.  For example, the conference team soon realised that any small change to the registration details of a delegate (such as changing a photograph) would prompt another round of the accreditation process with the NAT, even if it had already been approved.  Accreditation rules also changed over time, while a new NAT firewall temporarily stopped the integration from working.

“Although we had planned everything in detail and were all ready to go, things kept coming up so you always need to be prepared.  Having said that, we had the right technical support from both sides of the integration at all times and this helped us address these issues and resolve them as quickly as possible,” concluded Waddington.

The Road Aheadregistrations right

The overall success of both projects has spurred the Lib Dem to do more around their integration efforts.   The events team plans to push more of its registration data to the Salesforce system, which will allow regional and local party officers a real-time view on how many of their supporters are attending an upcoming conference.  It will help them decide whether or not they need to encourage people to register or enable them to arrange meet-ups before or at the conference.  Extending the integration between the two systems will also allow for automatic updates in both systems whenever any changes are made to delegate profiles (eg. address changes).

Moving forwards, the Lib Dems also have plans to integrate their event data with the party’s finance system in an effort to reduce administration work around delegate payments. The integration will provide the events team with real-time updates on all outstanding payments without having the need to chase the finance team directly.

 

 

 

 

Top 6 Considerations When Integrating Your Event Data with Other Business Systems

Untitled design (20)Almost every blogger, analyst, journalist and vendor has identified data integration as one of the most important trends in the events industry this year. The concept isn’t something new with most organizations having taken on some form of an integration project through payment gateways, registration scanning tools or event apps. What is new, however, is the increasing number of event planners taking the plunge and integrating their event data with some of their organizations’ other business systems – from finance and CRM to marketing and membership systems.

The case for data integration is quite simple:  It makes business sense. It cuts costs and improves your team’s productivity. It reduces the endless hours event planners spend replicating data from one system to another and it also helps eliminate all the errors and inconsistencies commonly associated with data entry. More importantly, it makes better use of your data by putting it in the hands of the people who need it the most. Integration between your event management and membership systems, for example, can provide automatic delegate membership checks as part of your event registration process.  Integration with your finance system can provide your events team with real-time updates on delegate payments.  Integration with your CRM can help you create detailed invitation lists, whilst providing your sales team with new leads whenever you have new registrations.

If this is something you’re considering doing in the near future, then there are some key things to think about to make sure your data integration project works and brings real value around your events. Have a look below:

Make Sure You Know What You Want to Achieve

The most important consideration when implementing a data integration project is to figure out why you want to integrate your event data with another system. Is there a strong business need for it? Can it help solve a particular problem around your events, like chasing delegate payments from your finance team?  In the case of an event app, what data do you want to pass on from your event management system? Should the app be used by delegates to make changes to their agendas?  What will this entail and how is that information tracked?  Assess and document the benefits of integrating the two systems together, both in terms of cost and time savings, before making any decisions. If you’re finding it difficult to identify how the integration is going to answer important questions around your events, improve the service you provide to your delegates or create efficiencies within your events team, you’re probably wasting your time.

Ensure All Stakeholders Are Involved from the Beginning

shutterstock_61234468The more you know about exactly what you want to achieve, the more likely you are able to identify who needs to be involved in the project.  If you want to integrate your event data with your CRM, then it makes sense to have your CRM manager involved.  If it’s with your accounting system, then it should be your finance manager, and so on.  The next step is to approach your software providers, find out if the integration is technically possible and agree on the objectives.  It is in your interest to help the provider understand your business requirements correctly as this will help them accurately identify and integrate all the required data points.

A common pitfall at this point is for event planners to pass the project on to their developers or IT departments but you need to remember, data integration is a business initiative, not a technology one.  There should be someone throughout the whole process that understands the value of this data and will be able to lead discussions about the long-term goals of the project in order to make it consistent, successful and beneficial.

The other important factor is good communication with all team members throughout the duration of the project. This involves ensuring that there is ‘buy in’ for your project from everyone involved – from the executives in the different departments within your organization to the techies who will be carrying out the roll out of the project and the events team whose work will be affected by the integration. Everyone need to understand what it is you are trying to achieve and why – you’ll be in a better position to identify potential problems and won’t need to make as many last-minute changes to the development work.

Agree Detailed Specifications & Data Maps Before Starting

It is crucial to determine early on which systems need to talk to each other, which fields within your systems need to be updated and how often this needs to be done. Is the data going to flow one way or two ways between the systems? So if you’re integrating your registration software with a CRM solution, you should decide which questions from your registration page (names, address, telephone numbers) should be updated in the CRM and vice versa. This ‘data mapping’ process is important as it ensures that the right data goes into the right field of each system.

Often, your expectations of what you’re able to do must be realigned as the sheer quantity of data that needs to be dealt with is sometimes underestimated – especially with CRM integrations. Gathering the data can be harder than you think and the data you have might need more ‘cleaning up’ than you first thought.  Take delegate phone numbers, for example. They could be entered in all sorts of different formats: ‘020-888-4567’ or ‘(020) 888-4567’ or they may have no separators at all.  Slightly different formats, minor typos or extra spaces and characters in your CRM system can cause problems when your event management system is expecting things one way and gets another. Take these factors into account when mapping out your data flows. Consult with both software providers and make sure you have workarounds put in place as even the smallest discrepancies and inconsistencies can stop your integration from working as it should.

Be Realistic Over Time and Budget!Untitled design (4)

The good news is that integrating two pieces of software together is no longer the big financial commitment it once was, largely due to generic communications tools (such as Java, APIs and REST) that make it simple to consume and post data from one system to another. Dealing with good software companies also helps as they can provide all the relevant support and expertise you need – which means the whole process can take as little as a few days at a fraction of the cost. However, don’t underestimate the time and budget you need to allocate for such a project.

Think about things like data discrepancies we mentioned earlier on.  If your event management and membership systems, for example, record delegate birth dates in different formats, you will probably need to invest in a bit of development work that will allow the automatic conversation of data from one format to the other. This is a small example of a simple format issue and by itself, no big task.  But multiply this across thousands of data fields and records and dozens of types of formats, and the development work to do clean-up, workarounds and validation can be substantial. Remember that development time can be expensive so think about all these eventualities when mapping out your data flows at the beginning of the project.

Allocate Adequate Technical Resources

Avoid wasting valuable time by ensuring you have the adequate IT staff on hand to answer any technical queries that may come up during the development, implementation and testing stages of your data integration project. Developers from your event management solution provider, for example, may have specific inquiries about the set-up of your bespoke finance system or vice-versa. If you don’t have the necessary technical staff, consider hiring an independent consultant or specialist system integrator for the duration of the project. Once the development phase is over, your technical staff should also be responsible for the proper testing of the integration to ensure that data flow between the two systems is correct, complete and up-to-date.

Make Time for Thorough Testing and User Acceptanceintro_tech_to_assn_congress

Both the technical and business teams need to be involved in the testing stage to ensure that the results are as expected or if anything needs to be resolved.  So if it’s an integration with your finance package, set up a test on your event management system and put through enough transactions to make sure both sides are comfortable and have covered all delegate payment scenarios.  It is then the responsibility for each department head to train their relevant teams on how the system works.

Ensure your team are aware of how the integration impacts their daily tasks.  When creating new events in your event management system, for example, staff need to know that certain fields can no longer be changed as they are now also being used by the finance team to track delegate payments. Create an action list of do’s and don’ts or include it with your event management system template each time a user logs in as an administrator.

Conclusion

Thinking about all these points when planning your data integration projects will ensure that the whole process will be smoother and lot more flexible for any changes you want to make in the future. It is important to note though that regardless of size, an integration between two systems is a moving thing and technology can always change. Don’t forget about it once implementation and testing is over. Stay on top of it with continuous testing and regular meetings with your software providers to ensure everything is working as it should.

Written by Ian Webb, Business Development Manager, Eventsforce

 

Top 8 Security Questions to Ask Your Event Technology Provider

Data SecurityMany of you have read the scandalous stories we saw in the headlines last year regarding major security breaches at companies like Talk Talk and the Ashley Madison dating site.  Cyber hackers raised their game with millions of people having had their private data stolen and national governments scrambling to combat the growing threat of cyber attacks. Now imagine your organization’s systems got hacked and exposed the personal details of the hundreds (or thousands) of delegates attending your events each year.  Doesn’t really bear thinking about, does it?

Events deal with highly sensitive customer information, including names, emails, telephone numbers, employment information, disabilities and other confidential details. The wealth of information we collect from our delegates is a gold mine for hackers.  Safeguarding this data is critical and more and more organizations are starting to see the importance of this issue. Our new data security survey found that 80% of event planners marked data security as a top priority for 2016.  Surprisingly, however, only 40% of them felt they had the adequate security policies in place across their organizations.   In fact, according to MPI members at last month’s MPI European Meetings & Events Conference, event planners were said to be lacking awareness on the topic of cyber security despite the global terrorism threat1.

So how do we address this issue?

Most event planners these days deal with some form of event registration technology that helps them manage all their event and delegate data.  The software captures, manages and stores a lot of the sensitive data we mentioned earlier – so it makes sense to start there. Have a look at the data security policies of your event tech provider.  Are you confident they have the right processes in place to safeguard your data? Are they doing everything they can to minimise the risk of breach?

Here are the top 8 data security questions you should be asking your event tech provider today:

How is my event data protected?

Maximum protection of your event data should probably be your event technology provider’s top priority.   You want to ensure that your event data is fully secure and protected by a comprehensive recovery system.  The first step in achieving this is the use of strong industry-standard encryption, like HTTPS and AES, which helps protect your data from prying eyes and can provide you with assurance that it hasn’t been modified in any way. Find out how your data is encrypted both at rest (when stored in servers) and in transit (when accessing data from your event management system over an Internet network).

What data security and safeguarding policies do you have in place?

Find out where your database is stored, how it is stored and how often they back it up – the more often, the better so that no changes can be lost from your database if restoration is required. In the case of a breach to their own servers, find out what response plans they have in place to protect your data.  Find out what security policies they have in place within their organization – how do they protect their own data and how do they meet regulatory and legislative requirements?  Who has access to client data, how do they handle authorization and what happens when someone leaves? How do they share client information (email/phone) and where they do they store this information?

 How can I ensure secure access to my event management system?

All major event management systems manage access via username and password authentication.  However, you can also manage access using an external authentication service, which can restrict access for certain individuals to particular functions (e.g. abstract reviews) or particular events. Find out if your event tech provider can integrate your event management solution with a Single Sign-On (SSO) system. This will allow you to sign in using your company’s existing corporate authentication infrastructure – so passwords are never submitted to your event system and access can be controlled centrally by your organisation. If someone from your team leaves their job, then their access to all systems can be cut off from one place.

SSO improves security by giving you the choice to restrict event websites and registration to internal personnel or selected individuals or groups, effectively making them private. Only people chosen to view the event website or register for the event will be able to do so and invitations cannot be shared – useful if you have an internal awards event going on involving confidential company information.

Where is my event data stored?

As mentioned above, this is something that should be outlined in the security policy of your event technology provider. It is worth noting, however, that if your event management software provider is storing your data in US-based datacenters and you deal with delegates from the EU, then you need to ensure that they comply with the newly announced Privacy Shield agreement. This replaces the old Safe Harbor agreement, which allowed US companies to legally transfer European citizens’ data to America, provided the location it was being sent to had the security and privacy conditions that met EU standards. If you are using a web-based system, find out the physical location of their cloud servers and whether or not they adhere to EU Data Protection regulations. Find out who has access to these servers and what kind of security procedures they have in place.

Do you own my data?

This is an important question as some event management technology companies have a legal right to use your data for their own marketing purposes, which means it’s highly likely that they store this data somewhere other than your company’s database on their client servers.  This increases the chance of breach so again, you need to find out what data protection policies they have within their own organization, how they manage access to this data, what do they use it for and how long they keep it.

Are you PCI-DSS compliant?

Our survey revealed that almost 50% of event planners who took payment from their delegates didn’t know if they were PCI-DSS compliant and a further 73% were unaware of the fines for non-compliance (ranging anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000).  If your events are set up to accept payments from delegates via credit or debit cards, then your organization is obligated to achieving and maintaining compliance with the PCI Data Security Standard (more info here).  

One way of simplifying compliance is to outsource the process to one of the many PCI-DSS-certified payment gateways that meet the required standards, such as Stripe, PayPal, Sage Pay and Worldpay, among others. However, make sure you understand from your event tech provider how these payment gateways interface with your event management/registration system. If your event website integrates with these gateways via an API, then you are still liable for PCI compliance since your servers capture and transmit the credit/debit card data first. Equally, if your event management system uses its own payment gateway or processes payments on your behalf, make sure that their systems have the correct level of compliance and that they are not permanently storing your delegate payment card data on their servers.

What security precautions do I need to take if my event management system is integrated with other third party systems (CRM, event apps, finance packages)?

Your event management software provider may have issued you with an API key for any integrations you may have between your event system and other third party systems such as your event app.  Often used instead of usernames and passwords, the key allows your event app and other third party applications access to your event data, and vice-versa. Remember that anyone who has access to this key has access to your data – so you need to make sure it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.  You can minimise the risk of breach by asking your event tech provider to issue different API keys for different functions – for example, use one key to connect your system to the delegate section of your event app and another to connect it to the exhibitor section of your event app. Also, if you’re integrating with more than one system, ask for separate API keys for each integration (event app, CRM etc).  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 a data breach would lead to far more serious consequences for you and your organization.

How long do you keep my data for?

In our survey, 54% of event planners said they use their event management systems as a permanent storage space for all their event data.  If you’re happy with your event tech provider’s data security policies, then keeping your data in the system after your event is complete is a good idea – especially if you don’t have adequate procedures to safeguard this data within your own organization. Find out how long they keep this data on their servers, whether it is moved to other locations or servers and whether or not they delete it after a defined period of time.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as 100% security when it comes to safeguarding your data.  However, following best practices and taking the precautions outlined above can help you understand the risks involved and minimise the chances of a data breach.

Written by Steve Baxter, CTO of Eventsforce

1 C&IT: Event Planners Don’t Understand Real Threat of Cyber Hacking

 

How technology will help improve next year’s award ceremony

champagne-1-750x400If you’re running internal or external awards, conducting employee recognition programs, peer reviews or even awards evenings for clients, the chances are that this won’t be a one-off event, and is most likely repeated on an annual basis. View this repetition as an opportunity! It’s your chance to use your experiences to understand your previous events and programs better, and use what you learn to improve your future efforts. If this seems like a daunting task, then help is at hand. Technology can be your best friend in creating cutting-edge award programs, fuelling your desire for continuous improvement and allowing you to streamline your processes in the future. We’ve outlined a few ideas below as to how you could benefit.

The idea: Look at the readily available data The tech: Integrated systems

Registrations, entry forms submissions, the judging process, payments – each of these elements create a wealth of data, and so to be truly effective it’s important you take the time to really drill down into the information. This is potentially a lot of data to get your head around, so if it’s in silos and split across a number of different platforms you’re pretty quickly going to get cross eyed. The whole process will be made a lot simpler if you use a system that integrates each element, creating one centralised point from which you can run all the reports you need.

The idea: Source extra data The tech: Online questionnaires

When event professionals say they are trying to improve their awards ceremony, what this often boils down to is trying to improve the experience for those taking part, whatever their role. And what better way to do this than to actually ask them what they liked, and more importantly what they thought could be improved. An effective and cost-effective way of doing this is via an online survey. This will allow you to really understand what worked at your awards ceremony and what didn’t. For example, you’ll be able to find out if those attending found the registration process pain free, if judges found the judging process simple and easy-to-understand, and if people are likely to come back next year. If you don’t get the positive responses you expected, this is a great opportunity to improve. Forewarned is forearmed.

The idea: Listen! The tech: Social media

Effective awards ceremonies now make excellent use of social media, both before and during the big day. Where many awards organisers go wrong is that once the event is over, the social media focus, monitoring of hashtags and relevant communications also comes to an abrupt halt. This is not the right way forward. Keep checking your social media accounts as they could be valuable sources of feedback. Even if people haven’t tweeted to you directly, keep an eye on those that are using your event hashtag as you may pick up some interesting insights that could help you shape next year’s event. (You don’t have an event hashtag? Well you should! Check out our post on social media and award ceremonies to learn more.)

The ultimate idea: Learn and grow The tech: All of the above!

All of this seemingly tedious data analysis is done for a very good reason: you want to put on a ceremony that is even better next time round. This isn’t just about making sure delegates have a good time, it’s also commercially important. The feedback from stakeholders will be invaluable, so make sure you take on board what they tell you and make them aware that they have a number of ways to give you their feedback, and that their feedback is valued and will be acted upon.

To find out more about how Eventsforce Awards can help you meet and beat challenges like these please click here, or contact one of the team for a free demo.

Eventsforce #Techsperts: Event Data Security and Integration Top Technology Priorities

Steve - B&WEach month, we highlight a ‘Techspert’ from our team and take a closer look at their
background and experience in the events industry. This month we’re focusing on our CTO Steve Baxter…

What is your area of expertise at Eventsforce?

I’m the Chief Technical Officer for Eventsforce. My team and I look after the technical side of the business – product development, operations, technical support, training and client services. My background is software design and engineering, but I love getting involved across the business to ensure we deliver great products and services. I first started working with Eventsforce as a consultant in 2012 – when I was asked to join as a director in 2014 I jumped at the chance!

Tell us a little about your background in the events industry

Before Eventsforce my experience of events was mostly as an attendee – I spent 15 years building software for life science research, and went to a lot of scientific conferences. The last 3 years have been an amazing learning experience, the variety and complexity of the events industry is beyond anything I had imagined. It makes life very interesting as a software engineer in this business!

What recent tech development do you think has impacted the industry the most?

Mobile technology is having a huge impact – the ability to access event information (and even manage an event) while on the move has been a massive shift. Event apps have a valuable role to play (particularly for offline content or “active” features such as push messaging), but as connectivity becomes more and more ubiquitous at events I think responsive websites and web apps that work brilliantly across a range of screen sizes from smartphones to desktops will become the norm.

What are your predictions for the future of event technology?

It’s all about the data. Whether you are a membership organisation running events for members, an event agency running events for clients or a corporate running events for employees or customers, you need to measure your event ROI and show how your events are contributing to your business goals. High data quality, cross-event reporting and integration with other parts of the organisation are key to that.

I also think data security will continue to be a big issue. 2014 saw a record number of vulnerability disclosures – Heartbleed and POODLE were two that were covered extensively in the media, but there were many more. So far there have been no breaches involving the event industry (or at least none that have been publicly reported), but it’s likely to be only a matter of time. Security hardening (to prevent breaches) and data segregation (to limit the loss when a breach happens) will become more and more important.

Association #Techsperts: CRM-Based Technology Systems Critical for Membership Growth

Damian_Hutt2Damian has been in the events industry for 31 years, in hotels, an events and marketing agency, and with Informa plc providing global PCO services. In the last 8 years Damian has developed the Association Congress series, now in its 15th edition, and the Associations Network membership organisation. Damian has a keen interest in technology and its application to events and membership networks. He is responsible for the programme of 20 educational events per year, from congresses to smaller monthly forums.
In December, Associations Congress UK reached its 14th event in the series – what have been the top three changes you’ve noticed in the association market over the years the congress has been running?

Associations are becoming much more service-orientated and really have had to focus on member needs. Some associations still feel like a bit of an ‘old boys club’ but this is becoming rarer. They are realising that they are competing with other communities and educational suppliers and they can’t simply expect people to join them.

Associations have also become more tech-orientated, although generally behind the corporate world, sometimes by as much as ten years. I’ve also noticed that they are beginning to realise that they must keep up with developments taking place at other associations. Even learning from associations in un-related sectors.

You also organise the Technology for Associations Congress – how important is it for associations to keep pace with technological developments?

Associations must be deep users of technology as it’s the only way they can thrive. Associations typically have a disparate membership – spread out across the country, region or the world, depending on their type. They need to keep them all engaged – online events, eLearning, discussion groups and social media are the only ways of doing this effectively – and they are technology-dependent.  And of course publications are inextricably moving to mobile and tablet.  Most members can’t afford the time and costs to travel a long distance to be part of an event or course and technology overcomes this.

Technology use is trackable which enables a deeper understanding of members’ needs, helping drive efficiencies and ultimately engagement.  Members now expect the same level of professionalism from their association as they do from their business.

What tech developments do you think will impact associations the most over the next few years?

I think one of the most important technologies that associations need to pay attention to is CRM-based membership systems. They must be using systems that can be expanded and linked to other technology to synchronise data. Many of the more traditional membership systems are very slow in developing, with little integration and expansion possibilities, which just doesn’t work for associations anymore.

I mentioned this previously, but I can’t stress enough how important integration is. By this I mean APIs that can link systems. Eventsforce, for example, has a large number of APIs which can integrate with CRM systems, mobile apps etc. This is crucial, and it must be a two-way integration providing data to flow in both directions.

You mentioned that some associations are as much as 10 years behind corporates what it comes to technology. Why is this?

Most associations have a misguided historic and inherent culture with a belief that they should avoid expenditure wherever possible – and this excludes investing in the best tools & technological infrastructure to provide members the quality they demand and deserve, like customers of a company.  They also have to get their board to agree with a purchase, which can be prolonged and a huge effort, especially when the boards believes they are the executive, and not the CEO!

What is the key challenge facing associations in 2015?

I’d have to say membership engagement and providing value. Especially in a time when anyone can setup a community in a LinkedIn group that can compete with an association.

How do you think technology suppliers can help associations best?

By providing APIs and integrations from the start. As I’ve said already, this really is the key aspect. The pricing and functionality is largely affordable by associations, but a focus on integration would benefit associations and all their clients further.

Final words – as an event organiser, what new technology are you most excited about?

I think iBeacon technology could be interesting. We’re looking at this for our International and European Associations Congress, on 5-7 May. We’re working with an app that has the functionality built in to it and the venue has the Beacons installed. We will be using it to better understand where our delegates are moving, which sessions they attend and which Business Partners they visit.