According to Corbinball.com, 9 new technologies are very likely to take off in the
meetings industry for 2016. We will pay a particular attention to the wearables
because, in our opinion, they represent a real opportunity to transform a
meeting into a memorable customer experience.
The “wearables” objects are
one trendy innovation for namely event business industry. These are technologic
objects connecting humans with their devices (mobile, computer, tablets etc.).
We already know the smart watches or smart bracelets; they have little by
little entered our daily life or sport activities. But they are also very
useful for exhibitions and events, as well as wearable beacons - broadcasting
our GPS data and used for receiving directional information in a fair or
exhibition.
In
view of improving, making communication quicker and visitor journey easier,
these objects represent the future.
- For
attendees, with smart bracelets/watches, there is no need of having his phone
in hands, no problem of battery or distraction, no problem of downloading the
app of the specific event etc. These innovations represent a gain in time and convenience.
- For
event planners, it is very useful to measure the flow of visitors in real time,
to know what stands/conferences are the most popular, where a reinforcement of
staff is needed, what information the attendees looked for. Wearables make it
easier for event planners to transmit specific information to attendees during
the event and also to measure their satisfaction
In a word, according to
the article, these wearables help event participants to:
- receive
GPS directions
- receive directional indoor
way-finding through a convention facility/exhibition hall
- open
guestroom doors
- make e-wallet transactions that
are faster and more secure than credit cards
- receive
conference alerts
- exchange
contact/lead retrieval information
- use
as admission tickets
- make
audience polling responses
- enable automated check-in for
registration/meeting rooms
- record and track continuing
education unit (CEU) credits and much more.
Convincing example of the
ways wearables can disrupt the meetings industry are music festivals. In 2014,
the Tomorrowland festival sent to each of its participants a connected bracelet
which allowed them to exchange their Facebook profiles with people they met
during the celebration by a simple contact between the devices. See promotional
video of the festival below:
For the Lab Festival, a
French DJ contest, the organizers used wearables to register the audience
votes. According to them, it was simpler to use, reliable technology and
innovative. Thanks to these connected bracelets, participants can use them as
their entry tickets but also to pay drinks or auxiliary merchandises. This
simplifies the overall organization, reduces queuing lines and brings more
security for payments or against ticket falsification. In the end, the data
collected thanks to these wearables allow a better analysis of participants’
habits for future marketing expenses, advertisement possibilities or stock
management for example.
In
our opinion, this technology presents major opportunities to disrupt the event
industry and transform an event as an interactive customer experience. For big
events, this could guide the visitors through the stands and conferences that
interest them, saving them some precious time looking at a map or downloading
an app. This could also be a very practical tool to network without traditional
business cards; like at Tomorrowland, participants of a business event could
exchange their LinkedIn profiles or digital business cards by a simple touch. This
could be used to participate during conferences; to vote or ask questions to
the speaker for example like SLi.Do concept. The major advantage of this
technology remains its intuitive use even for “beginners” and the multiple
possibilities of use it can have. However, an obstacle to its mass development
for the moment remains its high cost compared to simply using beacon technology
in a mobile event app– up to US$10-15 or more per person for a rental.
Manon Gattegno
Camille Courtial-Spiroux
Sources:
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