TECHNOLOGY Rene Looper of TuMinds
Social Media: “It’s about finding little wow moments throughout the process”
DELEGATES JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
JOINING THE DOTS…
Events technology platforms are converging Te events industry, like almost all others, is undergoing a technological transformation. From bookings and registration systems, to delegate acquisi- tion, networking and conference engagement – increasingly in the form of interactive games and apps – planners now have at their fingertips an array of tools that can enhance the experi- ence of events for attendees and organisers alike. Te industry has also recog-
nised that the many different parts of the ‘journey’, from the initial hunt for an attendee, to the stage where they book, and actually go to the event, involves many processes that have previ- ously not been that well joined together, if at all. Rene Looper, founder of
Inverness-based TuMinds Social Media and organiser of the city’s first ‘Tweetup’, says: “I think it’s about finding little wow mo- ments throughout the process, from the start to the finish of the event. It’s the sum of those little wows that make an event special; the obvious ones are feedback and voting through an app, but overall I think it’s mapping the customer journey to find out how can we make this process stand out. Before IT and social media, it was more focused on a great lunch with great food – and that’s still important – but there’s
a lot more you can do to make your event stand out, especially engaging through technology.” Looper encourages sponsors to see technology as an opportunity to engage more with delegates – something they may sometimes shy away from – through apps and by joining in with the social media conversation. Networking is also key. Many
delegates attend conferences for the opportunity to meet the right people, as much as for the con- tent. Some may even be (secretly) hoping for a new relationship. And the good news is, ‘there’s an app for that’. Software can now enable delegates to create net- works before they even attend, which is helpful to both delegate and organiser as it offers ‘proof of concept’ for the event, especially if lots of connections are being made. “It’s so easy now to make sure you’re going to an event that it’s going to be worthwhile because you’ve already made the connection,” says Looper. “Also the introduction is a lot
easier because a lot of people have difficulty making the first step, the first move. It’s always the fear of a lot of people when they go to an event that they will end up standing alone in the corner with a coffee, not talking to anyone. Now, with Twitter or an app you can find people near- by who maybe have the same interests; it makes finding people so much easier.”
Technology is ideally suited to team-building and corporate away days A specialist events company has signed a deal with Gleneagles hotel to offer business confer- ence delegates the chance of a non-golfing way to explore the grounds – using a ‘treasure hunt’ app. Team Challenge Company is
working with the Perthshire hotel and international course to deliver the app as a way of engag- ing attendees during their stay. Te Go Team app is powered
by simple GPS technology which displays your team’s location on a tablet computer and directs you to various ‘treasure’ points on the map; when you arrive you have to perform a task, take funny pictures of each other or answer a piece of trivia to win points and beat the rival team. Te system even allows for live
feedback from the organiser – who can be as rude as they like when assessing your attempts to rack up points. “We anticipate that there are
two applications for the technol- ogy,” says Jonathan Hazley, the Dunfermline-based company’s sales director. “One is what we have been
focusing on in terms of corporate team building but now we feel we are taking it to a new level with conference engagement, us- ing it as a network- ing tool, using it as an opportunity to give customer feedback, question and answer ses- sions, publishing agendas, ordering food, and checking into hotels.”
The Go Team app asks you to perform tasks
Nicola Hillhouse: helping you identify interesting people
BIG IN DATA
Edinburgh-based software developer offers dating-style conference app Te major technology play- ers in the events market are predominantly London-based or international. But there are stories emerging of local pioneers and big data specialist Confbuzz is one such case study. Based at software developers’ hangout Codebase in Edinburgh, the company is at the forefront of new technology platforms that are adding a level of sophistica- tion not previously seen in the conferencing market. Working in collaboration with Edinburgh University’s maths department, and a professor of ‘machine learning’, the company has developed a system which can analyse the interests of delegates before they attend an event, and then creates a social network of delegates, matching up to those with similar preferences. It works by crunching data from the delegates’ LinkedIn or Twit- ter social media profiles. “It helps you identify who the interesting people might be that you want to speak to,” says Nicola Hill- house, founder of the company. “It also tells you who the most researched delegates were, which allows organisers to invite them to the next event. And if you’re a startup it can show you what investors have invested in your sector.” Confbuzz featured at both the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup business events last year and is preparing to work on a 60,000 delegate week-long event in England.
58 | EVENTSBASE | NOVEMBER 2015
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