Google and The Future of Event Tech

Julius Solaris — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:55:54 +0000

Ever wondered how tech giants use event technology at their events? Here is what Google did at I/O and how it can impact the event industry.

Google is releasing quite disruptive technology lately.

During I/O, the annual developer conference, Google made several announcements that are set to have an impact on how we use technology at events.

On top of that, the conference was the playground for some interesting event tech applications that will surely catch the attention of those working with large events.

But let’s have a look at the future of event tech, Google’s way.

Google Glass

Google Glass is the gadget of the moment.

There are already plenty of applications popping up all over the place for this incredible pair of glasses.

We are borderline fad here and you know how I hate talking about the latest thing of the moment. At the same time I am amazed by the the numerous applications of Google Glass at events.

Above all, I can think of two main applications: ticketing and livestreaming.

Event staff could immediately scan event tickets by wearing Glass or attendees could scan an intelligent code to get clearance. The technology is so event friendly that I anticipate lots of cool apps in this space.

Secondly livestreaming is, as Sam Sheffer of The Verge explains, the most logic use of Glass thanks to hangout integration. See it in action:

There are a number of issues with the use of Glass at events. I really like how Thundertix summed them up at their blog.

More Livestream on YouTube

As an aficionado reader, you know there are plenty of ways to live stream on Youtube.

Youtube Live is only available to selected YouTube partners.

This was until I/O, when Google announced that YouTube Live will be available to all Partners in good standing.

This is quite massive. If you’ve been a regular YouTube user and gained the Partner status you will be able to stream events live.

Data Mining Attendees Movements

The Internet of Things is a technology trend of last year that has had little impact so far on events.

Google is at the forefront of IOT innovation and they displayed a practical application of it during I/O.

RWW confirms the use of Arduino powered environmental sensors during the conference.

Mark Hachman explains that:

Google planted 525 powered sensors around the halls of San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, and began collecting data from them on Wednesday, according to Michael Manoochehri, a developer programs engineer at Google.

The company began measuring temperature, humidity, light, pressure (including nearby footfalls), motion, air quality and both RF and ambient noise. All of the data is sent back at intervals of 20 seconds or so, collected by Google’s App Engine, with analysis performed by its BigQuery Big Data analysis tool. You can see the results at the Lab’s dedicated Web site.

Crowd management and control is one of the most delicate issues in the industry. It looks like this technology could provide real time data to understand how the crowd is moving during the event.

There is yet again substantial controversy on how this could impact privacy.

In Conclusion

It is surely interesting to look at the big news that Google introduced at their latest developer conference.

While some of the discussed tech probably won’t make an event near you anytime soon, some other announcements will have an immediate impact on how you execute your event.

Surely ignoring Google’s moves may be a bit of a risky strategy, so let’s keep an eye on them.

© Julius Solaris for Event Manager Blog, 2013. | Follow Event Manager Blog on Twitter | Circle Event Manager Blog on Google+ | Like Event Manager Blog on Facebook | Follow Event Manager Blog's Boards on Pinterest

The post Google and The Future of Event Tech appeared first on .

Event Tech Circus Winner and Wrap Up

Julius Solaris — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:48:24 +0000

Last week Event Tech Circus took place in Amsterdam. The conference was a great success and one bold startup won the 1st prize!

The Startups attending Event Tech Circus

Upon starting my presentation at Event Tech Circus I asked how many people in the room knew Event Manager Blog. 98% of the audience raised their hand. I immediately knew this was going to be a super cool event.

The audience that gathered in Amsterdam was by far the most tech educated I’ve seen in Europe. The level of engagement at Event Tech Circus was just incredible.

The event was a mix of pure startup energy and event professionalism.

Such great rooms are very tough to find in general conferences. Yes, attendance was not in the hundreds, but I saw no disappointment in any of the attendees.

Event Startups Are on Fire

The most promising sign that Event Tech Circus gave to the industry was the calibre of the startups attending.

They all engaged in a 1 minute pitch (I also pitched for our themes – which was quite an experience). You can see them all here, thanks to the great summary of EventBranche.nl:

All the organizers in the room voted for the best startup behind closed doors.

Conferize won the 1st prize – you can see their product in action here.

Preseria, a simple slide solution, and Event Manager Shop obtained a honorable mention.

Besides the prizes, I could spend hours talking about the value of the startups attending.

I could talk about how Meetology is making waves in the meeting industry or how EliteMeetings seriously helps making a better venue decision. I could mention how Meethub is a top solution for event networking or how showmappr introduced attendee mapping via a super smart check-in and floor mapping solution. I would be then forced to talk about my Speakerscore and how by just swiping my badge I sent this picture to Twitter via RealLifeConnect.

Without even mentioning how easy to use Peecho was to print out event materials (or The Event App Bible) or how I easily shared my data via my cool looking Poken .

All of the above I could have not experienced without the constant aid of twoppy, giving me updates about upcoming sessions and attendees.

In Conclusion

I must give my kudos to William Thomson for making the wise decision of using for the event only the technology of the startups attending. This choice was a winner. His experience and tech friendliness helped making the event a success.

Will there be another Event Tech Circus? Who knows. Probably in the U.S.? Maybe.

In the meantime, I am very excited about where event technology is heading. Good times ahead.

The post Event Tech Circus Winner and Wrap Up appeared first on .

The 10 Commandments of The Event App Bible

Julius Solaris — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:43:17 +0000

On Tuesday we launched The Event App Bible. Here are a feature presentation and infographic with highlights from the book.

The Event App Bible has been downloaded more than 2000 times since Tuesday.

It has been a terrific success. We are extremely proud of it.

The 10 Commandments

We created a presentation to highlight the 10 strongest takeaways from the book. Check it out here:

The 10 Commandments of The Event App Bible from Event Manager Blog

Features Infographic

No doubts, the juiciest bit of the report is the mega-table with all the providers compared according to features.

We created a handy infographic for you to print, share or embed on your website.

Here it is (click to enlarge):

And here is the code for you to grab:

<br>Full image and description here-> <a href=http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/10-commandments-event-app-bible title=”Mobile Apps for Events Infographic” style=”color:#0000FF;text-align:left”> The Event App Bible</a><br>Courtesy of <a href=http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/ title=”Event Manager Blog” style=”color:#0000FF;text-align:left”> Event Manager Blog</a>

If you haven’t downloaded the free ebook yet, you can find out more about it here. No email required!

The post The 10 Commandments of The Event App Bible appeared first on .

The Event App Bible: A Free Ebook for Event Professionals

Julius Solaris — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:59:17 +0000

The Event App Bible is a free downloadable report with the most comprehensive research on the mobile apps for events ecosystem. Grab your copy now.

I am very pleased to announce a project in the making for over 4 months, The Event App Bible.

The Event App Bible is a comprehensive research of dozens of mobile apps. The aim is to give you an easy-to-use tool to make sense of an incredibly fragmented market. The ebook is free to download, no email submission is required.

We’ve reviewed hundreds of apps, shortlisted 50+ and organized the most essential features in easy-to-read comparison tables.

This report does not tell you which app is best. It is an unbiased snapshot of what app providers offer. We fully understand that every event has its own requirements therefore suggesting a one size fits all approach could only generate more confusion.

We also noticed that most of the reviews out there have been created by app providers themselves. While some of these may be valuable, there is an inevitable bias in them.

How The Research Was Born

Last year I spent quite some time travelling to exhibitions and conferences for event professionals. I had the chance to talk to several app providers and event planners about mobile apps for events.

All these conversations made me realize that the shared sentiment about this disruptive event technology was mostly one: confusion.

I started to think that a report could help clearing doubts. Event Manager Blog is meant to help event professionals solving problems, hence why I decided to go ahead with the project.

The Research

A few months ago I called for all event app providers to submit their app for review. The aim was to give you as precise data as possible.

Unfortunately not all the apps eventually reviewed did submit a completed form. We actively looked on app websites trying to give you the most accurate reflection of the market.

We started with 300 apps and due mostly to lack of information we reduced the list to 50+ providers.

The report is structured as follows:

- A write up on the most pressing issues affecting event mobile strategies. This section includes chapters (among others) such as:

Event Apps: Hype or Substance? – How to Decide If You Need an App – Purchasing Factors – Price and Cost – App Provider Location – Web-Based vs. Native – Looking at Features – To RFP or Not to RFP – Checking App Provider Credentials

- Comparison Charts. This section includes four charts: Feature Analysis, Price Analysis, Web vs Native, Geolocation of the app provider.

The Team

This report has been quite a terrific team effort. Therefore allow me to thank for making the project happen Carmen Boscolo, for designing the report Beatrice Tagliaferri, for helping with the research Anne Thornley-Brown, for validating the report Rennette Grace and for overall UX support Fabio Cannillo.

It has been quite a large project for our small team to manage. Event Manager Blog is a family-run business and we do make sure that every piece of content we release is accurate and to the highest standards.

That’s why I like to think that those who sponsored the report, Bizzabo, Cvent, DoubleDutch, Eventmobi and twoppy, have been on this occasion members of our team. True supporters of good content. Without them it would have been impossible to deliver a quality end product. I sincerely thank them.

In Conclusion

We decided to make The Event App Bible ebook a free download with no email required. This is because our aim is to help event professionals, not to collect their data.

I would be very thankful on behalf of our team if you could let your colleagues and peers know about it. I am sure they will appreciate it. The link to share is the following http://eventmb.com/evmobapp

The post The Event App Bible: A Free Ebook for Event Professionals appeared first on .

The Biggest Event Marketing Mistake I’ve Ever Made

Julius Solaris — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:18:39 +0000

More than 10 years ago I worked as marketing manger for a conference. One small mistake cost us a lot of attendees. Want to know what was it?

I remember it was quite a while ago. I got hired as marketing person for a conference. I was specifically looking after the website.

At the time online was something really new for the industry. Websites were mostly brochureware. In fact most meetings, conferences and events just converted their brochure into a (dis)functional website.

I was quite excited to be working with an international conference. Don’t get me wrong, I had some experience already running informal and entertainment events, but this was my first shot at the meeting industry.

A Tale of A Website

I spent several days thinking about the conference website. At the time Flash was really hip and cool and there was no question about having an intro to your website.

These days I was sketching down the structure or site map that would eventually become the site.

Creating a mind map of all the sections and content that you will lay out in the website is usually a good practice. It helps to organize your ideas and to communicate better with web designers or developers.

While laying out the backbone of the site, I forgot about one of the sections that prospective attendees read the most…

Why Attend?

OK I admit, I completely forgot. I forgot to add one of the most crucial yet often times ignored event marketing communication pieces.

To be 100% honest I did not forget about it. I was really lazy and thought that my branding effort and beautiful Flash intro, together with some early bird discount would have convinced the masses to spend hundreds of dollars.

Guess what? It wasn’t the case.

A Common Question

This is possibly the most obvious question your prospective attendee will ask when evaluating a ticket purchase.

As consumers we need reasons to justify our purchases. Sometimes those reasons may be silly, some other times they are extremely reasonable. But this is not what we are discussing.

Savvy event marketers know that giving reasons to attend is instrumental to boost ticket sales. This is the case for both new or established events.

A Common Mistake

Research showed that:

[...] poor product information accounts for around 8% of usability problems and even 10% of user failure (i.e. the user gives up and leaves the website).

By not having enough information about our products we are effectively inviting users to leave. 10% sounds like a lot of profit/ticket percentage to me.

While we think we are delivering significant information about our event in the schedule/programme section of our marketing communications, still we are not defining what our service is about.

While in fact most tangible products do not need such definition (a computer is a computer, we can touch it, we know what it is), events crave for tangibility.

The ‘Why Attend’ section delivers touchable value to your event. It defines the experience, it frames the event in the mind of your audience, it gives a reason to click on ‘Buy Ticket’

Yet, this is an often times forgotten section.

Are You Prepared to Lose 10% of Your Ticket Sales?

Thinking that our audience will ‘get’ what we are talking about is flawed.

Thinking that a Flash intro or a nice design alone will do the trick is dangerous.

Thinking that our event sells itself is unrealistic.

I learned at my expense (we calculated that we lost 15% percent of website traffic due to this mistake) that we need to spend quite some time to write compelling ‘About’ and ‘Why Attend’ sections. They are the skin of our event the true motivator behind strong attendance.

If you convinced yourself this is a good practice I invite you to have a look at these two articles to understand why we attend events and give good reasons to do so.

The post The Biggest Event Marketing Mistake I’ve Ever Made appeared first on .