Digitalization in the event industry
Welcome to the 21st century
With the increasing technological innovations year after year and the introduction of new gadgets, our everyday habits are slowly changing as we dive into a digitalized world. When smartphones were first introduced to the market, only a few adapters were ready to get into the trend, but nowadays if you don’t own a mobile device, you might be deemed an outsider to society. Grasping these new gadgets has become important and certainly if you are working in a business environment where the cliche term: “time is money” is a reality for you.
With the growing usage of data on mobile phones, payments can be easily be processed. Checking-in and checking-out have never been easier when we have a digitalized wallet all in one place. Not only is our spending habits changing, the way we communicate is inevitably different from 27 years ago when the Internet did not exist. Everything was handwritten and sent by mail, making waiting: a test of patience. Now, it only takes a few seconds and an email can be received in one’s electronic inbox. Additionally, with the option to hold live chats or video calls, the very unsettling limits to long distance is slowly disappearing, making communication much less complicated.
With the rise of new social media apps, messaging a stranger that lives halfway across the world is now possible. With Event Manager Blogs newest survey release on the event industry in 2018 by Julius, we can be quick to notice how these technological trends influence and shift the way event planners survive in the event industry. The main focus of the article will be on how technology can be useful for event planners. Let us explore these trends and results together.
It is without a doubt that event planners must nowadays all carry a mobile phone in order to keep in touch with all the bookings, plans or clients. Not only are they using their phones to take or make calls, with new and downloadable apps at their disposition, the way to contact and attract consumers has changed. Event planners must understand the shifts and find ways to target their customers in unique ways. One way to get to the customers is to get to know them through engagement on social media. According to the survey conducted by EventMB, 73% of respondents believe that social media is the most effective tool for event marketing.
Survey results can be found at https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/event-marketing (EventMB)
Social media, compared to other types of tools, is much more personal and customizable. Feelings, thoughts, ideas are all shared on these platforms. A person’s whole social life is an open book where pictures of their daily life can be found. The way a person interacts and the social activities they engage in on a day to day basis become important. With all this information available, marketers and event planners can try to use search engines efficiently and invest in target ads to find their potential customers. Speaking of social media, among the different platforms available, Facebook according to Eventprofsis deemed to be the most effective social media channel when promoting events, managing complaints and building a community. (Event Manager MB’s Survey). Definitely, promoting and running ad campaigns on Facebook can be a good idea if you haven’t done so yet. If you are lagging a little more behind, it would perhaps be a great push to create a page for your business, so you can start growing your awareness and recognition.
Survey results can be found at https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/social-media-events (EventMB)
Apart from the great influence social media plays, the majority of respondents of the EventMB survey believe that there would be an increase in the event technology usage. From 2017 to 2018, a few smart and growing trends mentioned were the use of virtual reality, automation of emails, robots, drones and using new wearable gadgets. Which one of these trends have you encountered? Don’t know much about tech? You can read two of our previous written articles:
Even with those readings, still feeling unsure of what to invest on specifically? Well, I can tell you that using an event management software whether it is for selling tickets, registering participants or creating schedules, can help erase human errors as well as facilitate completion of tasks when planning an event. Although, it seems that according to EventMB ‘s survey, 73.7% of eventprofs use different providers rather than an all-in-one solution. Here is an article that may be of use for those of you who are unsure of which type of event management software to invest in.
Read: How to choose an EMS – Stand-alone or Integrated?
Again, with event technology tools used, sharing information has become easier and more accessible. You want to invest in them; not only to follow the trends but to ensure that quick and clear messages are well communicated, that users can connect with one another to build more networks and that it most definitely saves you time and perhaps money in the longer run.
Lastly, to finish off with this post about technology, here is a list of suggestions that can potentially boost up your event’s quality and attendee’s experience. Don’t be too slow to adapt, it can be a lifesaver to take a step forward.
- Having wifi available
Let users get engage on their social media, they can share and talk about your event in real-time. Giving them access to wifi gives them a voice to gather more people and generate word of mouth and awareness of your event.
- Event apps
Having such app can help better organize your event and ensure that participants know what is going on and where. Investing in an event application can lessen the chance of information being miscommunicated.
- Live stream
Maybe not all participants can attend the event because of time or place constraints, but having the possibility to still get the feel of the event using live stream can be beneficial. Participants can still be aware of how the event is going and perhaps next year want to be part of the real event the upcoming year.
Do you think that event technology can create a revolutionary change in the event industry?
Comment in the box below to give us your thoughts.
Hope you enjoy this read, Stina
Sources: Event Manager Blog Articles
- https://eventmanagerblog.com/event-technology
- https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/social-media-events
