We are delighted to welcome Nicola Sykes, Marketing Manager for Banks Sadler, as a guest blogger on the Symphony website. Nicola has kindly offered to share her knowledge regarding the impact of mobile technology on the live event industry.
The Impact of Mobile Technology on the Live Event Industry
by Nicola Sykes
Mobile technology is affecting all walks of life and the corporate events management sector is no exception. Increasingly the general meetings management functions such as delegate registrations, travel management; scheduling and events web sites are embracing mobile technology and the associated applications.
Event organisers have dedicated applications to allow them to project manage events from anywhere and keep them updated with real time information of the progress of the event they are running. Event specific apps also provide a great way to engage with delegates and gain feedback via surveys on their opinion of the event.
The overriding benefits for event organisers adopting mobile technology include giving 24/7 accessibility from anywhere in the world, on multiple platforms which limits the amount of IT support is needed, so lowering the total cost of ownership.
Conference apps bring together a wealth of information that historically has been distributed as exhibition guides and costs organisers thousands of pounds in design and print. The apps allow you to organise schedules for delegates wishing to see certain speakers at certain times of the day, access any relevant information, leave messages and provide details on the best way to travel to the venue. The conference application also gives sponsors a great chance to communicate and market directly to delegates.
To ensure that the full benefits of the applications are gained, the systems must be backed up with relevant Wi-Fi hotspots at the venues as error messages “No Connection” will not help your delegates. However historically, conference venues have capitalised on this knowledge that delegates require Wi-Fi access for their various gadgets, so they have generally charged people to connect to their networks. But in a move to stop conference venue monopolising this service the ABPCO are running a campaign, the Conference Cloud, which is campaigning for free Wi-Fi for delegates. If they succeed this will be quite a big change as this is a high profit area for venues, and they will have to ultimately look for other ways to yield such a return.
Online meetings products have been around for a while, hosting thousands of events, enabling companies to save time and money and reduce their impact on the environment through travel. Again with advances in mobile technology has enable such companies to offer more to business wishing to organise and plan meetings and events remotely. Mobile applications have increased massively in recent years and we are seeing more and more event specific apps for conferences which showcase event highlights as well as provide the rudimentary functionality of bringing people together.
Associated services to conferences and events, such as travel management and accommodation, are adopting mobile technology to make planning and booking available at the touch of the button. Eurostar are taking full advantage of the speed and ease of apps by recently launching an app that allows passengers to book tickets on the go and receive tickets direct to their phones.
The more and more we adopt mobile technologies in to our everyday lives will lead to further enhancements in the capabilities of events and conferences to enrich their end-user experience and engagement.