The world
of trade shows is massive and in a constant growth. The French market gathers 2.5
million visitors in 2013 and about 1.4 billion contracts have been signed in
2015.
The
companies participating in the exhibitions but also visitors, have precise
commercial objectives before coming in and the main one is to prospect and
recruit new clients (it represents 86% of the reason they exhibit or come as
visitors).
Once this
goal has been established, it is time to think of a solution to optimize the
meetings during the event. Most of the time participants exchange their business
cards. Based on the companies that realize a turnover during a trade show, 81%
of this turnover is realized after the event. That is essential to facilitate,
centralize and optimize this exchange of contact information. Improving and
rethinking networking.
GOOMEO : CONNECTED MOBILE
EVENT APPS
Goomeo is a
publisher of mobile applications and connected solutions for events (trade
shows and general public, congresses or corporate events) with the aim of
connecting the participants and attracting their membership.
The
attractive side of the start-up is that it is customizable, "made in
Goomeo" applications offer information as well as services for linking and
customizing the experience that adapt to all profiles of participants
(visitors, exhibitors, speakers , VIP, press). These native applications are
available for free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone for participants of
different events.
Among the
many features offered, such as a meeting platform that aims to make appointment
directly from the app or the interactive plan that offers a precise itinerary,
there is the badge reader. This
feature allows the participants to get the contacts details of whoever they
meet and whoever they want to interact with afterward. Users scan their
interlocutor’s QR code and automatically get the contact details.
In this
way, only a scan move gives you the opportunity to gather much more contacts.
Customer experience becomes more fluid and efficient.
Social
media and events have a common core goal of gathering people. This is what
makes their collaboration very effective according to Corbin Ball, meetings technology expert. More and more event organizers
use social media for the professional purposes and in the same time, social
media is becoming more events oriented.
Facebook, leader of social network with 1,87 million active users per
month (according to the Statistics Portal Statista of January 2017), without
any doubts a great opportunity to make an event known and to attract more
attendees. Facebook provides a clear guideline in order to create an event and
proposes all needed tools to satisfy event organizers and its customers.
Facebook offers to add keywords for an easy search for event, its API- Application
Program Interface allows users to register for the event from Facebook. In
addition, Facebook analyses users’ profiles and highlights events that could
interest them. Moreover, Facebook has a possibility to make videos in live,
what makes it even bigger competitor for Periscope, which also allows users to
share an event experience though the live videos. Periscope is owned by
Twitter, that helps to find a lot of information concerning an event through
hashtags. Another successful social media for events is Snapchat, who was
translating live stories of Olympic Games in Rio.
What is interesting to see is how social medias competing and
collaborating between themselves. For example, Instagram, owned by Facebook, expands
its options, firstly, by allowing putting longer videos, and then by creating
“Stories” for those who want to make instant photos and live video what is very
similar to Snapchat. Instagram also uses hashtags creating competition to
Twitter. Periscope
videos can be sent to Facebook page or YouTube to make it last longer than
24hours.
Nowadays,
social media is used during the all three stages of events: before, during and
after. It allows meeting planners to diffuse information to a huge number of
people, it allow participants virtually attend an event and live the
experience, and what is more, event planner can get feedbacks in order to
improve it in the future.
Certainly,
social medias wouldn’t have such a big value for events without all the number
of people who actively use social media. Thus, the role of network externality
is vital. Organizing events through social media is successful mainly thanks to
the millennials, for whom “online” status is a part of the life. We never know
what could happen in the next decades, will the role of social media grow or
decline? But we know that being flexible and being able to adapt is necessary
not only for the event industry but for the whole world!
The event management industry has
undeniably drastically changed with the onset of the technological revolution.
Seems like every month we have a new software or tool that we can leverage to
make our client’s experiences even more memorable. Sounds great, right?! Unfortunately,
the reality of technology in the event management industry is translating to
more work, more unstructured data, more expenditures and less sleep!
We have witnessed the same
revolution within other industries, such as banking and capital markets. As new
corporate technology solutions were released financial institutions would
purchase them in hopes of helping their bottom line, from Goverance, Risk
Management, and Compliance (GRC) systems to cloud storage. However, after a few
years organizations realized that their data was siloed within each respective
system because of software incompatibility or lack of integration solutions.
Today the event management industry
is going through the same cycle. Event Managers are having to manage client,
registration and event data across various systems, many times leading to higher
operational costs, incorrect client data, or delayed customer service[1].
So what is the solution to this madness? – Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs)!
An API is software in the form of
an application that helps access information from one system and transfer it
into another[2].
These integration components have been around for years, but were not as
readily adopted because of their high costs1.However, today API costs are significantly
lower with the increased use of open source coding. So how exactly can APIs
help event managers? Here are a few key areas and examples:
1.Managing
registration details in real-time on any device3.
a.Eventgrid
is an up and coming event registration and ticketing platform offering an API
solution to clients. This enables the event management company to have access
to their sales and client information at any point in the process. Allowing for
same-day registration without the stress of making sure the door manager has
the most up-to-date print out of names.
2.Access
local event data to better plan event dates or to also conduct competitive
analysis4
a. Ever
wish you could have a visual representation of the pricing of other local
events or what dates have the least competing events? Well that is all possible with
numerous APIs that search open source data and present it to you in a visually
applying manner4.
2.It is a
common saying in event management that you always need a Plan A, B, C and even
D because nothing is set in stone when it comes to events. Well what if you
could seamlessly project all your various plan’s financial statistics.
a.Adaptive
Insights, helps you run more sophisticated “what-if” scenarios, aside from
excel, by accessing your historical data and helping you adapt forecasting
budgets, revenue gains and workforce management5.
So where to go from here? As the event management industry
further integrates corporate managing systems, organizations will become more
aware of their need for information sharing which will lead to an increased use
of APIs. So the question to ask is how can you become an early adopter of this
technology – where can your organization benefit from faster information
sharing?
Imagine yourself, as a sales representative for one of the biggest luxury hotel chains, taking part on the world’s leading travel trade show. How do you exactly intend to convince a potential customer to come into your hotel (knowing that he has already spent half-an-hour speaking with your main rival)? Challenging, isn’t it? Your sales arguments might actually be word-for-word the ones of your rival. You weren’t born yesterday! You are well aware that there is a real weakening of marketing initiatives and strategies. It looks like all the paths have already been taken.
However, in the last year, the virtual reality (VR) has proved to be a real marketing tool in the hospitality industry to the extent that VR will represent a $150-billion industry by 2020. Virtual reality was primarily used in the medical and video games industry and has made its debut very recently in tourism. The reason why it has been defying all the odds, is that VR is actually fixing the Achilles heel of the tourism and hospitality industry: the “inseparability” characteristic. In fact, well before VR, the product (an hotel room or an holiday experience) could hardly be experienced before purchase. Thus, by using VR to sell your product, an hotel is able to better communicate on what the potential customer will experience: from the beauty of the location, the large choice of amenities, the magnificence and improvements of the bedroom, to the small details of the porcelain in the bathroom. Basically, VR helps any marketing seller to put words on the specificity of its product, piquing curiosity and attracting customers into their hotel. As an example, hotels are reaching a new target, coming from the middle east. These customer are really demanding in terms of privacy in the rooms but also in the entire hotel. By using VR, sales representation can show specific rooms and spaces for this specific target. Communication is easier and the customer become aware that the hotel can meet its criterion. Virtual reality allows hotels to communicate and promote their property in a new and specific way. The emotion felt by potential customer can lead to the immediate purchase of the room and a different relationship with the sales person.
According to Paulo Trump, CEO and Creative Director at VRMADA, the VR has already reached a higher level of performance. Soon, holiday videos of customers will be in VR-format, allowing them to share and relive special moments with their relatives. People will be able to share, for the very first time, their hotel experiences through their “real” point of view, and as a result, attract even more customers. This could be a brand new alternative to the so-called “word-of-mouth”, or perhaps we should say “word-of-eye”.
If you are still curious about this brand new technology, check this wonderful video of a immersion at the Shangri-La hotel in Tokyo. Do you imagine yourself there ? Of course you do!
Now you are probably wondering, how does it work ? First, the easy part : you need a specialized photographer, and a 3D camera and the best spaces of your hotel. Then, the hard work begins : The goal is to photograph every part and corner of the room, by turning the camera at 360 degrees. This stage needs to be done a couple of time in order to be sure that the pictures of the room are not blurred and that you covered the entire room. Finally, the photographer, helped by his software program, gathers all the picture and create a 3D plan, that customer will see directly in the VR device. For hotels, virtual reality remains a challenge in term of organization and availability of the spaces.
Is virtual reality the future the hospitality sector ? A clear answer is not possible at this stage, not many case studies have been made. This expensive technology is only available for the largest hotel chains and the best hotel brands that have a huge marketing budget. There is no doubt, however, that virtual reality device has become a complementary tool for marketing and booking. In one hand, for some specialist, it represents a new way of sale and a total immersion for customers. On the other hand, virtual reality is considered as being the “new” google glass. But, as technology promise to fail, some hotel brands have not yet dared taking the plunge.
AGADONI, L. (2015, February 25). Is virtual reality the future of the hospitality sector ? retrieved from http://www.jllrealviews.com/industries/virtual-reality-future-hospitality-industry/
TROMP, P. (2017, February 1). How virtual reality will revolutionize the hospitality industry | by Paulo Tromp. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/global/154000320/4080737.html
A new technology that is currently trending is called "mixed reality." This new phenomenon is a combination of the best aspects that augmented reality and virtual reality have to offer. According to an article written by Eric Johnson, mixed reality "lets the user see the real world (like AR) while also seeing believable, virtual objects (like VR)." From here, the person participating in the mixed reality will be treated as if they are in the world they are seeing and experiencing. When reading about this technology, I was reminded of a show called "Black Mirror," which takes different technologies and sees how they would effect society if taken to the next extreme. The specific episode that I was reminded of was called "Playtest." Below, you can find a scene from this episode to get a better idea of what experiencing mixed reality would be like.
Mixed reality is already being used at many different events around the world. An example of an event would be the Sundance Film Festival, which held in the United States annually. The Synesthesia Suit, designed by a Japanese media lab team and Tetsuya Mizuguchi, will be featured at the event with the game "Rez Infinite." When the player is interacting with the game, they will be able to not only see the setting of cyberspace all around them, but also feel vibrations through the suit of things going on around you. Josh Constine wrote an article that has a quote from Dr. Benjamin Outran where we states that, "What's beyond virtual reality are these embodied experiences, not just for your eyes or ears but your whole body."
I believe that mixed reality will take the world by storm. Not only will it bring about new possibilities for consumers, but it will enhance events like none other. With this technology, consumers who are looking for more than just the ability to live stream in order to attend an event will be able to do so. An example of such an event would be a concert, where being your actual attendance is mandatory in order to get the full experience. I believe that this technology will take the world by storm within the next couple of years. Eventually, instead of live streaming an event, using mixed reality will be an option for all consumers.
As a result of shifting mentalities, new trends of tourism have emerged during these last years. Indeed, social values are changing. More and more people are becoming aware that happiness does not rely on material goods, but rather in living unforgettable moments. In that sense, a greater amount of people is seeking to be involved in authentic experiences or looking for personal challenges.
In this article, we have decided to talk to you about Workaway : an Internet Platform, that gathers data from people and organizations all over the world. It is dedicated to Travel and Adventures’ lovers. Created in 2002 by David Milward, this website enables a community exchange between global travellers. The process is easy : you can either register in the website as an “Host” or as a “workaway traveler”.
Whatever your status, you have to be an open minded person, keen on cultural exchange and living new experiences.
The hosts, generally put a publication when they are looking for someone to help them with their daily work. It can be a huge range of different tasks. For example : create a TV station in Kenya, Take care of elephant in Thailand or Helping on a farm in the Himalayas. Workaways persons will generally help around 5 hours per day, 5 days a week. In exchange, they are provided with free accommodation, food and a welcoming living environment.
Those you register as Workawayers, can choose between 1000 hosts in over 135 countries. Some conditions have to be fulfilled to take part in this adventure. Anyone must be more than 18 year old to create an account, and membership fees are applied. Workawayers must pay 29 euros for one single person, or 38 euros if they register as a couple.
As the United Nations have announced it, 2017 is the international year of sustainable tourism for development, and Workaway is a very good example of the rise of this new type of tourism Indeed, sustainable tourism respects, protects and highlights natural, cultural and social resources of a country. Workaway also enables environmental awareness: for example, in farms, hosts can teach travelers agricultural techniques which are good for the planet.
Moreover, travellers consume local products and take part on local activities, helping the economy. Eventually, by exchanging with hosts, travellers discover new cultures, traditions, know-how and learn more about the country heritage. It is all about sharing and living authentic experiences.
ow exactly can APIs
help event managers? Here are a few key areas and examples:
