As conference planners look for ways to “green” their events, one of the hot trends is to go paperless. QR codes and mobile-optimized Web sites are taking the place of bags filled with printed schedules and exhibitor information. This shift is not only environmentally friendly, it’s also cheaper (eliminating printing and shipping costs for materials) and facilitates post-event engagement by allowing attendees to save everything on their smartphones (as opposed to printed conference materials that often get thrown away).
Juniper Networks, a California-based computer network company, launched a new conference in January for partners who sell its products around the world. Juniper’s vice president of global partner marketing, Luanne Tierney, said they decided to do the Global Partner Conference as a paperless event to demonstrate how QR codes and Web sites can be used for business communication. “One of my jobs is to teach our partners the latest trends in marketing,” she said. "We’re teaching our partners how to be innovative, so we wanted to walk the walk."
The conference generated 1,921 QR code scans and 7,325 page views on the mobile-optimized event Web site. “People really appreciated it,” said Tierney. "The aptitude is there, the appetite is there. People loved not carrying crap around. We live and die by our phones now."
Here are Tierney’s tips for hosting a paperless conference:
1. Tell attendees in advance what to expect: Starting with the first email communication, the Juniper marketing team let guests know that they would be using QR codes and a microsite in lieu of printed materials. They explained how guests would be able to scan codes at the conference to access materials, and they also recommended QR code-scanning apps that could be downloaded for free.
2. Create a mobile-optimized event Web site: In addition to a welcome video from a senior executive, the site included materials that would normally be handed out on paper, such as schedules and speaker bios. Tierney said the strategy was to give attendees useful content to access on their handheld devices to keep them engaged in the conference rather than using their devices to check email or social media platforms.
3. Provide assistance on-site: Event staff at the arrivals area and throughout the conference were available to assist attendees in downloading QR code-scanning apps and understanding how to use them. The helpers were easy to spot: they wore T-shirts printed with a big QR code that linked to the conference agenda.
4. Prominently display QR codes throughout the event: Juniper’s conference used QR codes at the welcome desk that linked to the microsite, to the conference agenda, and to the venue map. Exhibit booths provided QR codes that pointed to product information, and education sessions each had QR codes that provided more details about the presentation. To facilitate networking, each attendee received a QR-coded name badge that linked to their contact information. As a backup, in case people had issues with their smartphones or just weren’t comfortable scanning the codes, organizers did print the conference schedule on the back of the name badges.
5. Use electronic evaluation forms: At each session, organizers instructed attendees to scan a QR code to access the evaluation form, which they could fill out and submit online. Organizers said the response rate was equal to the response rate from prior events that used paper evaluation forms.
Tierney said feedback indicated that attendees really appreciated the paperless experience, and she and her team are now making plans to do it again at next year’s conference. “When you try different stuff, don’t be afraid. If you are thoughtful about it, it can work. When you talk about trends and how to embrace them and then you force people to use it at an event, it creates this new energy,” she said.
