Monday, 16 April 2018

The future of wearable technologies in events


Technology has made some good progress since Casio’s “smartwatch” in the 1980s. But it’s still not quite there yet.

Sure, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are more and more prominent, but they are still just at the beginning. Which is very exciting, because it calls for many more new developments and surprises, especially for the future of the event industry. So, what could technology possibly have in store in terms of attendee experience and data collection?

© http://techsytalk.com/techsytalks-epic-guide-to-event-tech-trends-in-2015-wearable-tech/

First, we can expect that soon, both VR and AR will find new uses during events, and no longer merely be baits to attract attendees on exhibitors’ stands. For now, they require a lot of heavy equipment (be it the computers required to make it work or the headsets), but more research and development in portability would eventually lead to innovative ways for attendees to experience conferences and exhibitions. Wearables could lead to more gamification and new ways to deliver content, or even to facilitate networking. For example, smart glasses could match you with other attendees sharing the same competences, interests or prospects, either through the sharing of information or, even bolder, facial recognition.

Not only does this technology represent the future of attendee experience, they will be a new tool for event planners to collect data on attendee behaviour, both during and post-event. Obviously, any data collected will allow the planners to improve future events, going even further than today and offering insights on how long attendees were looking at something or how their body reacted at a certain moment during the event. But wearables could, on top of that, give event planners access to the data immediately, thus giving them the chance to act upon whatever information they receive, for instance if attendees are feeling tired or hungry.

Opportunities to improve the attendee’s journey through technology are endless. Those are merely today's expectations for tomorrow; the more technology will evolve, the more responsive planners and the events themselves will be.

Written by: Marie Cyrot & Rodolphe Hermann

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