Tuesday 20 January 2015

Augmented Reality, a flourishing technology



Augmented Reality has recently been promoted by the disruptive innovation called Google glass. The success of smartphone is also closely linked to the emergence of this technology. But how does it work? The main idea is to duplicate the world's environment in your Smartphone or your computer. Today this technology is still on a development and experimental phase, augmented reality haven’t yet been adopted by the general audience market . However, its potential of development is boundless. Tourism industry has clearly picked up this opportunity and have started to develop apps using AR technology. This revolution could be extremely useful in the travel industry.



 Malaysia Airlines who had experienced a rough year in 2014 was one of the pioneer and first airlines to integrate AR for their customer. They have developed a function for Smartphone Apps that provides several information when pointing the screen towards the sky. It shows deals offered by the airline when the customer points their handset in the direction of a destination, a new idea and interactive way of communication. This is just the beginning and we can imagine that on a near future, airline and tourism actors can mix augmented reality and Geomarketing functions in order to customize the apps according to one's booking and consuming habits. For instance a user could be able to use AR function in an airport to find where the different facilities are located using an intelligent environment (Check-in desk, Baggage claim, Gates of boarding…)

Virgin airlines however use AR for internal and training purpose. Indeed, they created a virtual aircraft that helps the crew for training perspectives. It allows them to have a global view of the aircraft before they even work on it. Each member of the crew have access to this virtual plane so they can check their future aircraft and get access to information about the cabin space where everything will be located on board and how they have to interact with passengers. The Marketing department of Virgin will soon integrate this application for their customer's need. When choosing his seat, the user will have a 3D and virtual view of his flight, which will enhance his experience.

With those two examples we can easily understand the huge potential of AR for the industry; not only for marketing but for many different purposes. The technology is ready, from now it just needs to be adopted by users.



AR is directly applicable to the tourism industry when it comes to discovering a new city. For example, Yelp has set up its app with some AR component, allowing the user to access interactive information about the referenced places of interest around him. AR can also be used to get live information about transports. It can show directions to the closest metro or bus station, as well as the waiting time expected. Recently, the AR got directly applied to tourism, anticipating the language barrier and difficulties that travellers can encounter. Indeed, some AR apps can provide immediate translation of written texts or signs.

The goal of the Augmented Reality in the tourism industry is to help the user finding his way through unfamiliar environments. 

Camille Micault & Vincent Droesbeke

Technology Trend in Events - Drone

                                                                                   Image source

Imagine a little mobile photographer flying over events, taking pictures and making videos, even live-streaming events. As technology advanced, we have a new choice in choosing photographers in events - Drone.


Drone, as a battery-operated and GPS-equipped “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle” (UAVs), is getting more and more popular nowadays. They are aerial vehicles which come in wide varieties of sizes, shapes and functions, which are controlled either by remote or control systems from the ground and able to fly stably as high as 3000m above sea level within a wide range of temperature.

                                                                                               Image source


There are plenty of great UAV applications areas for drones:
Videography/Photography
Real Estate (Commercial and Residential)
Marketing
Disaster Response
City/Government
Education
Environment & Climate
Insurance
Aviation
Meteorology
Tourism
Engineering
Inspections
Utilities
Mining/Oil&Gas
Mapping
Construction/Pre-construction
Maritime
Miscellaneous


                                                                                                           Video source

As the video above shows, the applications in videography/photography and marketing are of significant importance for the event industry. For outdoor event as sports, they're using drones to give a stunning aerial footage at a much lower price than it would normally cost by using a helicopter. For indoor events, drones can give a unique perspective to the viewers. Event planners can use drones to get a bird’s-eye view. Event venues and planners can also use drones to make high-quality photos and videos for attracting their target clients. Besides, drones provide the possibility to live-stream events with panorama and without blind spots. Furthermore, surprisingly, drones can also be the waiters/waitress for events. The OppiKoppi music festival in South Africa offered the guests to order cold beers via a smartphone app, and the drones would identify guests’ GPS coordinates and make the delivery by dropping off a parachute with the orders.  


The trend of using hi-tech devices in events is inevitable. But in U.S, there are safety concerns about using drone. More and more often, large commercial airliners are using drones flying through the sky, sometimes undetected by the human eye, and often invisible from the cockpit of a large airplane. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working to educate people about the dangers of flying drones that high, since enforcement of the small unmanned aerial vehicles can be difficult. In 2012, the FAA set a September 2015 deadline to lay out a concrete list of rules and regulations for flying commercial drones.

Qinghua LU & Mei-Chen CHEN


Sources:

The Benefits and Concerns of Internet of Things (IOT) in Events


Source: http://www.corbinball.com/articles_future/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=9219
IOT refers to the idea of connecting objects and people automatically. The use of the thoughts in developing technology brings lots of convenience to humans both at home and at work. Small wearable devices like smart watches, NFC rings, smart belts, smart clothing and activity monitors all make use of this. At home, once people have set up their preference, sensors can recognize them when they arrive home and turn on lights or start playing entertainment devices automatically.
NFC rings. http://nfcring.com/
 

smart belt.
http://www.emiota.com/
 
activity monitors. http://www.fitbit.com/fr  
Since that such sensors are so convenient and smart, they will be widely used in event industry (opinions from Corbin Ball Associates). However, not all these awesome intelligent functions can improve our work efficiency without dispute.
Most functions can indeed save cost or improve the work environment. Smart lighting, for example, which can adjust lights accordingly, is energy saving. “On a broader basis, hotels and other meeting venues will become more efficient as sensors help to manage lighting, signage, AC, parking, elevators, loss control, security, and crowd control.” (opinions from Corbin Ball Associates) 

For attendees in participating an event, most functions are really convenient, time-saving, riskless and practical, like  receiving GPS directions, receiving directional indoor way-finding through a convention facility/exhibition hall, receiving conference alerts, exchanging contact/lead retrieval information, using as admission tickets, opening guestrooms doors, faster and more secure e-wallet transactions, making audience polling responses, enabling automated check-in for registration/meeting rooms and recording and tracking continuing education unit (CEU) credits and much more.

However, some functions may be designed with limited advantages. "Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors including iBeacons can track attendee movements throughout a meeting facility and local area to provide a wide range of assistance such as location-aware information and directions."(Videos of an example to show how does it work can be seen from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep_xWJyKHVc) Information becomes too transparency may make some attendees feel uncomfortable.

One concern with IOT is controlling the risk. If people rely too much on these awesome technologies, they may feel uncomfortable when appliance suddenly goes on strike. What if sensors fail to work? If we can get information so easily, will we be bothered by too much information surrounded? Moreover, will people feel uncomfortable with so much transparent personal information?



Qiuyu Long & Dongqian Zhao.











Hybrid events as a trend

Hybrid event is one of the most popular trends in event industry for recent years. What is hybrid event? A hybrid event is a conference, meeting, trade show, seminar or workshop, which combines both live event and virtual event via Internet. It provides the methods for attendees, who are not able to be physically present, to participate in the event. The huge convenience and benefits help hybrid event gain popularity in the industry.

Source: http://www.internationalmeetingsreview.com
PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) held this year’s Convening Leaders conference, an international conference focusing on future trends in meeting design, strategy and event tech, during January 11th to 14th, 2015 in Chicago. Hybrid sessions are scheduled for 3 days, including general sessions with Andrew Zolli, Diana Nyad, and Dan Pallotta; Thought Leadership sessions with Scott Stratten, Helen Marriage, Simone Ahuja and Erin Meyer; and some main speeches such as "Boom! 5 Education Disruptors and their Implications for Conference Learning Design". Hybrid attendees can watch the lectures and download the materials, as well as participating in the sessions by live chatting and live poll. And hybrid attendees can also build networking through "virtual happy hour" at the end of each day.

The technology of hybrid meeting keeps contributing to the success of Convening Leaders conference. "Every year, we have seen an increase in both our remote and face-to-face audiences since first streaming in 2010," said Jennifer Kingen Kush, director of experience marketing for PCMA. Last year, she added, the conference saw nearly 1,000 remote attendees. This year's event has already seen hybrid registration from 17 countries.

Hybrid meeting is an effective way for event organizers to recruit and organize remote attendees. Due to time schedule or limited budget, some attendees are not able to attend meetings which take place in long distance. And in some occasions, event organizers cannot provide venue with enough capacity. Hybrid meetings provide the solution for these problems. Through technology, remote attendees can get access to live audio/video of the conference, presentations, slides and other materials.
Source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Hybrid meetings provide and promote the communication between attendees. Remote attendees can ask questions to the live speakers through online forum. And they can interactive with any attendees and exchange opinions through online chat rooms, live blogs, social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. It is an online community for both live and virtual attendees to create and share values during the event. And long-lasting communication can still be held after the event.

As a cost-effective event solution for both event organizers and attendees, hybrid event is adopted more and more frequently throughout the whole world. The interactive experience provided by this type of event meets the trend of meeting industry development. With the development of tailored event apps, the demands of remote attendees can be satisfied more easily. What’s more, hybrid event eliminates large quantity of long distance travels. By reducing carbon footprint, it favors the sustainability of the environment. And also it is an ideal back-up plan for large-scale events and conferences. With all the benefits and added values, it can be predicted that we will welcome a high-speed development of hybrid events in the coming years.

In the meantime, what leaves event organizers to think more about is how to create authenticity for hybrid event attendees, comparing to face-to-face meetings.


Authors:
Hongyin ZHANG & Bao WANG

Source:
http://www.internationalmeetingsreview.com/meetings-events/pcma-promotes-hybrid-sessions-convening-leaders-100813