Event Tech - objectives, resourcing, outcomes.... views after ETL19

 I was lucky enough to be part of Event Tech Live last week and attended in three separate capacities, firstly as a part of the fielddrive team as an exhibitor, secondly as a visitor to see all of the fantastic technologies and to watch a few of the sessions and finally to host a workshop "How to deliver a successful event - understand attendee journeys, map each segments’ path, collect and analyse the data and deliver success." My joint host for the workshop was Neil Mortimer from the brilliant digital intelligence agency for event “Future Live Today”.

I think my overriding feeling about the use of technology in events is that it is imperative that every piece of tech has to help ensure that your event meets it's objectives. Neil and I spoke, in a bit of detail, about this in the workshop. Each time a new piece of tech is taken on by a team it is for a clear reason. Something is either not working, an objective not being met or an experience not being enabled.

But, before ploughing in to look at what is out there, it is so important that you take a step back and look at exactly what outcomes are required. Then when looking at the solutions, understand the journey your attendees will have to take to reach to those outcomes. We all know that user adoption is the most critical element. With this in mind organisers must look at how easy it is to integrate each piece of new tech they introduce. Of course the holy grail is to provide a fully integrated service whereby the attendee only has to sign up and then each element of their digital journey comes to life without them having to do anything.

In reality this seamless journey is not quite a reality just yet, as the attendees will have to download an app, upload a photo, search for the exhibitors and sessions of their choice. So for every action that is required; a smart, incentivised marketing initiative is needed. Incentives don’t always have to be monetary, they can be experience led.

The one thing that Future Live Today are really evangelising about is aligning all of data created by the tech, analysing it all and using it to power your attendees, sponsors and, most importantly, your business’ event objectives. The industry is some way off achieving this, but Future Live Today has been launched to specifically address this issue and to lead the way into a new digital era.

Our industry is moving at such a pace and so many great tech companies are active in our marketplace. It is sometimes difficult to hear above the noise but the essential things to fully understand are the entire user journey and also the internal resources that are required to maximise the potential of any solutions you take on. Most technologies are tools and if you don’t use them properly then you won’t get the results. So, make sure that you fully explore all avenues with any supplier.

Overall, I was really impressed by everything I saw at Event Tech Live and we are lucky to have such a fantastic community based event run by event tech junkies!!

Thanks to Adam, Kizzy and Paul. We all look forward to seeing you again next year!