1) Event technology needs to evolve to meet changing attendee expectations and the demand for new ways to interact both online and offline. 2) While the events industry is large, many feel not enough is being done to innovate and disrupt the traditional models, with startups often collaborating with legacy players instead of disrupting them. 3) For technology to enhance experiences, it needs to be seamless, convenient, and unobtrusive while still engaging attendees through personalized and relevant content that facilitates interaction both with other attendees and wider social networks. Data collection and insights are also important to understand audiences and events more fully.

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2. The way we interact with
the world has changed
“It’s an omni-channel world.”
Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide
“73% of the UK population owns a
smartphone [and] 50% of users will
go to tablet or smartphone first for
online activities by 2018.”
Mitesh Patel, Microsoft

3. Which means the
expectations of
attendees have evolved
“The world went from being totally
offline, to then being online.
Everyone’s formed all these brand
new online relationships, which has
resulted now in a demand for new
ways to meet offline.”
Kate Jackson, CEO, TableCrowd

4. The events industry
is big enough to meet
these expectations…
“One of the big misconceptions about event
tech is that the event industry isn’t actually
big enough. Obviously that isn’t true.“
Marja Verbon, Associate, Piton Capital
“The estimated global value of the events
industry is $375 billion. The estimated value
of the UK events industry is over $40 billion.”
James Morgan, Event Tech Lab

5. But many don’t feel enough
is being done to innovate
“The events industry needs a dose of
what FinTech is getting; the legacy
banks are being disrupted by disruptive
startups. I think the problem you have
with events is that too many of the
startups are playing ball with the legacy
players, rather than disrupting them.”
Paul Dowling, CEO, Dreamstake

6. Why? Aside from anything else,
it’s hard to break new ground
without pushing attendees out
of their comfort zones…
“There’s a massive opportunity for the development
of technology in the events industry, we’re quite a
long way behind the curve. I think the challenge to a
lot of technology out there is the length of adoption
– a big chunk of events are focused on middle-aged
people, so we need to make it simple.”
Richard Waddington, Event Marketing Association

7. To add to the experience,
tech has to be convenient
and unobtrusive
“Seamless integration, seamless
experiences is what people want.
Make it easier for them.”
Richard Hingley, Creative Director, DRP Group
“App marketing 101 - make them
need it, make them want it.”
Stewart Price, Guidebook

8. Which is easier said
than done…
“Getting someone to commit
to a download is becoming
increasingly difficult.”
Richie Stote, WI-5

9. …especially in a noisy
market place
“There are probably about 10 event
apps you're being asked to engage
with at this event. It's no wonder people
are finding it hard to pay attention.”
Iain Wallace, Lumi
“82% of people don’t fully
engage with content.”
James Wood, Event Wallet

10. That’s why it’s key to ensure
attendees are engaged well
ahead of time
“If you have an app the uptake is around
32%. On average 49% of people that are
registered for an event turn up to an event.
If you can get people to engage with your
content online ahead of the event, it's
likely attendance will increase to 72%.”
Robert Dunsmore, GES

11. And all the way through
the event
“Organisers [and their tech] should:
1) Encourage engagement from the
inception of their experience
2) Facilitate network/sharing
opportunities
3) Provide a full user journey for a full
analytics picture to measure end-to-end
success”
Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide

12. But what does it mean to be
engaging? It’s not as simple
as removing inconvenience
(though that helps)
“The average registration form takes over
three minutes to complete. That’s too long.”
Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide

13. ...or incentivizing
the use of tech
“Offering someone a free coffee if they
download your app does not amount
to engagement.”
Paul Frost, Jack Morton Worldwide

14. If you really want to
engage, get personal
“Everyone talks about engagement.
Let’s talk about relevance. Relevance
drives engagement.”
Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase
“You’re looking at increasingly personalised
experiences outside of the event scene.
When people experience that, they want
it when they’re exhibiting.”
Jim Curry, Exhibitor Smarts

15. “There is no intelligent content in event
marketing. We aren’t putting out content
that’s based on who people are. Just that
alone will have an enormous effect on
event registrations.”
Leonora Valvo, InsightXM
“What’s going to be big? Things like
iBeacon technology, proximity
technology. Anything you can use to
make event attendees feel like they’ve
had an experience exclusively designed
for them.”
Gareth Dimelow, George P Johnson

16. But while people want an
experience tailored to them,
they also want the ability to
reach out to others
“Attendee-to-attendee interaction is
the holy grail of event apps.”
Siddharth Jhunjhunwala, Web Spiders
“With in-app communication you can
foster communities within communities.”
Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase

17. But providing tools to help
attendees communicate is
great, channels that reach a
wider world are still important.
Especially as joining social
media conversations creates
future attendees…
“70% of people are more likely to attend
an event after participating in the
experience online.”
Reuben Van Den Heuvel, Ticketscript

18. And widens the scope
of the conversation
“Back in 2012 social media was a land
grab. It was about getting as many fans
as possible. Now it should be about
using the customer voice to amplify
your brand’s message.”
James Prebble, Palladium Digital

19. Of course, the same technology
that facilitates personalisation
and interaction can be used
to help organisers better
understand their events
“Organisers should be using tech to:
• Follow crowd streams
• Gain staffing insights
• Gauge popularity of artists/speakers
• Collect visitor and device data”
Reuben Van Den Heuvel, Ticketscript

20. Because this information is,
to put it mildly, pretty valuable
“Knowing what your audiences are
doing is half of the game.”
Kevin Williams, KWP

21. “The future of enterprise mobility starts
with smart, connected devices that
enable productivity from anywhere
and run cloud powered mobile apps
that deliver real-time customer insights.
All from secured, well managed devices
that users love.”
Satya Nadella, Microsoft

22. Indeed, for many in the
events world, these
insights are the endgame
“The nirvana of the events industry is
the 360 information you get around and
outside of the event. That’s where data
capture is so important.”
Joey Hemingbrough, AAG Systems Ltd
“For many event organisers, the event
is actually a means to data. So you
need to be really careful that you have
a data strategy in the front end.”
Leonora Valvo, InsightXM

23. Because without it,
you’re in the dark
“66% of executives admit that their next
big decisions will all be made without
data insights, and I can pretty much
guarantee that in the event world
almost all decisions are made with
very little in terms of data insights.”
Leonora Valvo, InsightXM

24. “We need to find better and less intrusive ways
of being able to measure the effectiveness of
events, being able to measure how engaged
people are, how they’re interacting with your
content and knowing how that content is being
shared further.”
Charlotte Bunyan, Senior Creative Strategist,
Jack Morton Worldwide

25. And you’ll lose out as
a result
“If you don’t apply data science to your
event data, you might continue to go
along as normal, but you’ll be up against
companies who are.”
Leonora Valvo, InsightXM

26. But to capitalise, you have
to be able to make something
more of that data
“Most event organisers employ anything
from 3-10 different data technologies for their
event. But what does the organiser typically
do at the end of the event? They get a few
siloed data visualisations, then they put the
rest of the data in a folder on their laptop, say
“bye” and go and work on their next event.”
Leonora Valvo, InsightXM

27. And that means thinking
long term…
“A lot of event organisers just focus purely
on the build up. We’ve got to get out of that
12-month cycle.”
Jim Curry, Exhibitor Smart

28. Even as you use technology
to move faster
“Using iBeacons we can capture incremental
leads simply based on where someone’s
been standing.”
Jamie Vaughan, Eventbase
“The window of opportunity for follow up
after an event is very small. If you can use an
application to get that lead you can covert
and follow up that lead much quicker.”
Mitesh Patel, Microsoft

29. So, if engagement and smarter
use of data are the goals, what
are the tools of the future?
“[I predict] Hands-free AR will actually
produce a seismic shift in how we interact
with our computers.”
Howard Ogden, Kudan
“2016 will be the year of VR with new releases
from Oculus, Sony and HTC.”
Steve Dann, Amplified Robot

30. And are they within reach?
“A common misconception is that AR is
really expensive. But it can be incredibly
cheap. As an example, we recently designed,
built and deployed an experience for less
than £10k within a 48 hour turnaround.”
Ru Barksfield, Gruve

31. Of course, it’s not really about
tools. It’s about their impact
“Ultimately everyone wants to leave a show feeling
enriched...it’s our role as an organiser to understand
how event technology can help that.”
Caspar Thykier, Zappar
“Where people have incorporated augmented reality
or virtual reality into their stand, you know it will
always be the busiest stand. People walk away from
it with a ‘wow, what a magical experience’.”
Howard Ogden , Kudan

32. Yes, there will always be
some hesitance to adopt…
“Once people are using AR they do enjoy it,
it surprises and delights them. The first hurdle
is, how do you get them in?”
Caspar Thykier, Zappar

33. But never assume your audience
aren’t willing to embrace new
experiences
“Anyone who’s ever seen C-level executives
going down a helter-skelter will know that
you can’t ever really pre-judge what people
will and won’t do. If you create something
engaging, people will find a way to
participate in it.”
Gareth Dimelow, George P Johnson

34. It seems the real paradigm
shift has to be one of attitude
towards the people who
make events possible in
the first place
“We believe that if you make attendees active
participants, you’ll get better engagement at
your events.”
Iain Wallace, Lumi

35. So, whatever tech you use,
make sure it’s making your
audience feel like they’re
part of something special
“We should be bringing in technology
that creates an emotional connection.”
Charlotte Bunyan, Jack Morton Worldwide

36. Introducing Event Wallet
Event Wallet gives event attendees an easy and
convenient way to discover, collect and share
content from exhibitors – all they need is
a smartphone.
Request a demo today
james.wood@event-wallet.com

37. www.event-wallet.com | @event_wallet | james.wood@event-wallet.com | 07786223669
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