In the 21st century technology impacts on every aspect of our lives; events are no exception.
Long gone are the days of queuing in a line to register, collecting name badges and sitting passively through hours of talks and presentations with just a short Q&A at the end if time permits. A venue alone is not enough. Increasing interaction, personalisation, customisation and an element of personal control are now expected by delegates. From the time of booking to the post event evaluations, technology continues to ease and enrich the event experience. Here are our top suggestions for what technology will bring to events in 2017.
Virtual Reality
From showcasing venues to providing part of the event experience, virtual reality has been around for a while. With increasing refinement and decreasing costs, virtual and augmented reality is being used to improve on event planning by giving clients ‘as if you were there’ venue showrounds and immersive experiences of proposed ideas and concepts. The same technology will enhance experiential events for participants, giving them a total and a very personal immersion in the event experience.
Gesture Control
Waving at a screen may not seem very technological, but gesture control is already being used for phones to make commands easier. Encouraging waves or gestures at exhibition or sales stands, or during presentations, results in a higher level of engagement and interaction, so helping to meet delegate expectations.
Wearables
We already have existing devices, such as phones, smart watches and other wearables, which gather data on our movements and preferences. For example, it’s great to be able to log in at an event, don your hat or glasses and instantly find the location of the people you want to meet. As these devices get more sophisticated and become increasingly connected via the internet of things, so the artificial intelligence within will be able to react and make suggestions based on our previous choices and experiences of events. If you’re not sure which sessions to sign up to, who you should be speaking to or where you should go for lunch, your smart device will make recommendations based on your previous choices.
Robots
Already taking the place of concierges in hotels and barstaff on cruise ships, robots can prove extremely useful at large scale events with significant numbers of people requiring direction, information and increasingly sophisticated services, powered by increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence.
Real time intelligence
We all expect and hope that technology will make life easier for us; it’s very frustrating when that proves not to be the case. When setting up accommodation for a conference, for example, the ability for delegates to book their own accommodation in real time with real pricing is something that our BVine system can offer. This can be pre set with a selection of hotels and special rates, approved by you, so making life just that little bit easier for all concerned.
For details of how our online accommodation booking portal BVine can assist with your next business trip please click here, contact a member of the team on 01625 877776 or email us at sales@bvevents.co.uk