GenieConnect, a mobile events app company, recently came out with their top 10 tech predictions for the New Year. Many of them validate what I have been writing about for the last 18 months. Here are the four I believe you should pay attention to, in order of urgency, as you look at your meeting plans for the coming year.
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Fit-for-Purpose Wi-Fi will become the norm.
What is fit-for-purpose Wi-Fi? It is providing the right amount of bandwidth needed at your event at the right time. This will require planning and analysis on your part to understand the Wi-Fi needs at every element of your meeting.
"The intensity of an auditorium or trade show floor requires something robust and fit-to-purpose. On the trade show floor, the only place where Wi-Fi works is where a network is put in place for specific exhibitors and they are policed so they don't bring their personal hotspots (MiFi)," said Michael Douglas, Business Development Director at GenieConnect.
Douglas also sees that event connectivity will become a competitive feature among meeting venues. "Many will begin to see that really being able to offer fit-for-purpose Wi-Fi will attract and bring in business," he stated.
SmartSource Rentals is strategically positioned to offer the right Wi-Fi solution that can boost your event's bandwidth in a fast, secure and robust manner. The enterprise Wi-Fi rental unit is perfect for a large meeting or trade show floor.
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Big Data will be used on a real-time basis.
Utilizing indoor positioning systems, which is a fancy term for personal GPS, will allow event organizers to track and locate attendees on a real-time basis and push personalized email or social messages to them during the conference.
For example, if someone stops at a particular booth and is there for a specified period of time (say 10 minutes), the data can track that and assume the person is interested in the exhibitor's products or services. The attendee can receive a specific message from the exhibitor automatically based on what navigation panels they viewed on the touch screen monitor.
In addition, rent iPads and use social channels to monitor attendee comments and feedback. This will allow you to respond and change your conference based on trending data.
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Sponsorship opportunities will be more tech driven.
If you implement a full gamut of event technology into your meetings, you will have endless opportunities to increase sponsorship dollars. Here are just a few examples:
By renting a charging station, you will be able to post sponsorship information on the plasma display that display videos, photos and presentations.
If you have iPad rentals, you can have sponsorship information on the splash page sign-in, integrate it into a gaming app or promote their info over your social channels.
Sponsor data can be displayed on a video wall rental and sponsors can be offered a few panels or the whole unit.
With touch panel kiosks, sponsors can tell their story and even allow attendees to enter a contest.
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Organizers will seek integrated solutions.
Rather than providing an attendee with a program binder, inundating them with exhibitor marketing collateral and providing an endless stream of paper surveys, combine all your conference needs in one technology platform such as a digital document library. Keeping life simple for your attendees will be the key to your success.
SmartSource Rentals is your total technology solution provider with 20 locations to serve you. They look forward to working with you this year and for many years to come!