Technology has impacted every aspect of the event industry, from how planners create events to how attendees experience them. Here's our roundup of the most useful tools that came on the scene in 2013.
Map-based image boards from Pinterest allow planners to help attendees find restaurants, entertainment, and more. The Place Pins tool debuted in October and allows users to pin destinations on a map, with each pin including an image, address, phone number, and Web link. The boards make it easy to share destination information with people gathering for a meeting or conference. They can be embedded on the event’s Web site or shared via email and can also be accessed using Pinterest’s Android and iOS apps.
Twitter’s video-sharing app, Vine, has been adopted by both event planners and guests. Last spring, the New York International Auto Show invited the public to request videos of specific vehicles being unveiled during the show's press days. A team from Situation Interactive, the event’s digital marketing agency, created 73 Vine videos and shared them through the show’s Twitter and Facebook accounts, reaching 1.8 million people on Twitter alone. Brands are also using Vine to build buzz before trade shows and other events, and planners use it to show off their work and create inspiration for new clients.
To help trade show and conference organizers keep attendees engaged year-round, ExpoBee has created Industry Tracker, which creates a personalized news feed based on a subscriber’s interests. The event organizer determines the sources of the site’s content—typically exhibitors, sponsors, and industry organizations. Industry Tracker then uses a proprietary algorithm to pull content from those Web sites, social media accounts, blogs, and other outlets, and then organizes that content into categories of “Top News” and “Recent News.” Users can create a more customized option, labeled “My News Feed,” by logging in with their Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn account and selecting specific topics and companies to track. ExpoBee provides tips and support to exhibitors on how to maximize their exposure. Users also have access to an online dashboard to see how many people are tracking, commenting on, and sharing their news. There's no charge to exhibitors to participate, but they can upgrade to a paid account to access contact information for site users. A portion of the revenue is shared with the event host.
QuickMobile, a maker of mobile apps for meetings, conferences, and trade shows, created a product intended to help planners get their work done more efficiently. MobilePlanner debuted in mid-October and allows planners to manage documents, schedules, vendor contracts, exhibitors, attendees, speakers, and sponsors in one system that can be accessed on any device. Planners can manage multiple events simultaneously within the app and can allocate full or partial access to other team members. MobilePlanner can track progress and communication among everyone working on an event, and the organizers can also send push notifications for quick updates. At an event, the app indicates who has checked in and tracks details such has flight information, transportation, accommodations, and dietary needs.
1Track is an app focused on facilitating buying and selling at trade shows. In the app’s “albums,” users store photos, notes, and Web links for products that interest them. The “trends” tab allows users to see a live stream of products being photographed by other attendees, with each photo linking to the exhibitor’s location on a show map. 1Track’s “map” section is integrated with Bluetooth Smart beacons to detect a user’s location on the show floor and suggest nearby exhibitors that offer products similar to what the user has already saved. As attendees use the app, the system captures data 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. The app debuted at the furniture industry’s High Point Market in October.
In November, Pathable updated its system to operate as a mobile Web app for offline usage, which allows attendees to access their agendas, appointments, messages, speaker handouts, and interactive floor plans even without Internet access. The system focuses on facilitating engagement and networking, so attendee profiles include searchable keyword tags that help people identify others to meet at the event. Exhibitors get a landing page with instructions on how to customize it with their logo, company information, videos, and more. For an additional charge, they can also see traffic volume on their profile pages and receive lead retrieval data.
A former event marketing professional for German software company SAP is the creator of Goombal, an online system to add efficiency to corporate event planning. The system is set up with a dashboard organized with drop-down tabs where users input information related to speakers, venues, sponsors, exhibitors, entertainment, food and beverage, audiovisual needs, and other categories. Activity cards within each tab hold details related to each topic. Goombal automatically updates the event budget as expenses and revenue are added, and yellow and red triangles flag tasks that are incomplete or behind schedule. Every member of the event team can have system access (full or limited), and Goombal can also be used for communication with those outside the team, for example to contact speakers to request a bio or photo.
Electric Slide launched in February and allows speakers to share PowerPoint and Keynote slides, documents, and videos using an iPhone or iPad. The files can be displayed on any Web-enabled device, TV, or projector. The app creates a unique URL from which the speaker accesses a presentation; attendees anywhere in the world can follow along by visiting the same URL. The free version includes 50 megabytes of storage and allows as many as five simultaneous live viewers and videos up to 60 seconds; paid accounts offer additional options.
Events GPS is a system for managing invitations, registration, seating, check-in, and more that launched in August from the maker of Fashion GPS, a similar product targeted to the fashion industry. Events GPS has a Web-based platform and a mobile app. Check-in is managed with QR codes or R.F.I.D. chips embedded in physical invitations. Hosts can use the system to store contacts, including photos, and track which events people attended in the past, where they were seated, and other details. After the event, Events GPS can generate reports on attendee engagement.
