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New Trade Show App Helps Track and Discover Exhibitors' Products

1Track is a photo-based app to help attendees and exhibitors connect on crowded trade show floors.

The app's 'Trending Now' stream shows a live feed of products other attendees are photographing, and the map displays information on specific exhibitors and their products.
The app's "Trending Now" stream shows a live feed of products other attendees are photographing, and the map displays information on specific exhibitors and their products.
Photos: Courtesy of 1Track

As mobile apps become commonplace at trade shows, planners can ditch printed guides and provide exhibitor directories, maps, schedules, and more to attendees right on their handheld devices. A new app that will debut at the furniture industry’s High Point Market in North Carolina October 19 to 24 has a more precise purpose: making it easier for buyers to buy and sellers to sell. 1Track aims to facilitate those connections by providing a system for photographing, sharing, and discovering products on the show floor.

“Many of today’s apps are mobile replacements for a directory book. We wanted to go beyond that,” said Praveen Seshadri, C.E.O. and founder of 1Track. "We take the benefit of what is being shared on social networks and bring it into the app."

The app has three main components. In “albums,” users store photos of products that interest them, along with notes, product SKUs, Web links, and other details. If an exhibitor has QR codes attached to its products, the app can scan the codes and import the product information into the album. Exhibitors can also create albums that serve as product brochures.

The app’s “trends” tab allows users to see a live stream of products being photographed by other attendees at the show, filtered to meet the user’s interests. If they click on a photo, the app will display the exhibitor's location on a show map along with other popular products from that booth.

1Track’s “map” section is integrated with Bluetooth-based location technology. To make use of it, organizers need to install Bluetooth Smart beacons, which cost about $30 each, around the show floor, approximately one every 100 feet. The app detects the beacons and can then pinpoint where users are on the map, which nearby products have been popular with other attendees, and where they should go next based on the products they have photographed. Exhibitors can create promotional material that would appear in the app as attendees walk by their booths.

As attendees use the app, the system is capturing data that can be used by organizers and exhibitors, such as which booths and specific products drew the most interest and what was shared. After a show, attendees can access the photos and information they collected on the 1Track Web site.

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