IMEX’s tech pavilion grows every year, but this year, the sense of excitement and exploration was more palpable than ever. If anyone had doubts about how event technology could serve an onsite purpose, this year’s exhibitors put them to rest.
For those feeling a sense of FOMO, we’re here to report on some of the most interesting booths on the floor. To offer more in-depth coverage of the in-person experience, Lori Cioffi conducted interviews with the respective brand representatives, who explained the thinking behind each of their innovative booth designs and activations.
The Hopin Booth Test Drives RFID Wristbands and Hybrid Tech
The Hopin booth stood out by creating hands-on activations for the visitor, while also putting its own hybrid technologies to use.
Hopin hosted an offsite happy hour after the end of the first day of the show. This popular event was also used to showcase its RFID wristband technology. The brand handed the devices out to anyone who had an appointment at their booth — and this swag functioned as a de facto invitation to Hopin’s happy hour event.
“We are excited about our check-in station as an opportunity to showcase our Hopin Onsite solution. When people come here for an appointment, they meet the team and yesterday we gave them the opportunity to get an RFID wristband for our happy hour last night. We coded it here at our booth so that when they checked in at the party later, it was super seamless, and they could walk right in.”
Brianna Haag, Director of Demand Generation, Hopin
Visitors were treated to a special event while also testing out a seamless check-in experience.
Building on the theme of interactive brand experiences, Hopin also had an onsite screen-printing station where attendees could design their own tote bags.
“[At our screen-printing station] attendees can create a bespoke bag using our Be There From Anywhere mural. One side of the bag has a Hopin logo and the other side is designed by the attendee. It’s then screen printed onsite. It’s been great seeing the creativity that people have brought to the table.”
Brianna Haag, Director of Demand Generation, Hopin
And while booth talks are nothing new, Hopin took them a step further by live streaming them to a remote audience.
“All of it has been live-streamed to our LinkedIn and YouTube channels through our Hopin Studio powered by StreamYard. Our production team is also here managing the whole hybrid experience to make sure people who aren’t here onsite with us in Las Vegas can still feel connected to the Hopin experience here at IMEX. We have eight screens where our team has been doing full walk-throughs of our products including Hopin Onsite, our Virtual Venue, and Hopin Studio powered by StreamYard.”
Brianna Haag, Director of Demand Generation, Hopin
Notified Takes Center Stage as IMEX’s Production Partner
While some AV teams might take a behind-the-scenes approach, Notified seized the opportunity to showcase its technical team in action after securing a deal as IMEX’s official production partner.
Like a restaurant that offers a window view of the kitchen staff, the Notified booth was literally designed to highlight their production setup:
“We are IMEX’s production partner, so right across from our booth is our broadcast studio where we hosted the streams of their interviews and thought leadership summit. We designed our booth as a complement to that to showcase our end-to-end event technology to support in-person, virtual and hybrid experiences by having a real-life showcase of what that looks like on the ground. That’s our booth experience.”
Razan Zaghmout, Senior Marketing Manager, Notified
Raime Merriman, vice president of product marketing for Notified, explained that it was also an opportunity to experiment with new approaches. “This has been a great opportunity for us to also test a few things out,” she said. “So what is it like to have a live broadcast? How does that work? How does that make the event more hybrid?”
Notified also designed interactive activities designed to work both in person and virtually. “We had an audience profiling workshop here in our booth and at the same time, we did that workshop virtually on our platform. People could tune in here, or tune in there,” explained Merriman.
Aventri Showcases New Health Screening Integration and Touchless Tech
While in-person events are clearly making a comeback, health and safety concerns still remain. And Aventri is positioning itself as a leader in providing health-screening and touchless check-in solutions.
In the lead up to IMEX, Aventri announced a new partnership with CLEAR’s Health Pass app, which allows users to upload personal health information to a secure platform. Through its integration with Health Pass, event organizers are able to quickly verify that attendees meet all the health requirements set for their event — without gaining any sensitive information about the specifics of their health data.
We are excited to be back at the industry’s largest in-person event. That’s exciting for so many different reasons, not only to connect with people again, but to share some innovative products we have launched as a result of the pandemic. Covid presented people with so many different situations they’ve had to work through, and while they have been doing that, we at Aventri have been looking at how we drive innovation to bring technology to, number one, enable safer events. For instance, we just announced a partnership with CLEAR two days ago.
Brad Langley, Vice President of Channel and Enterprise Sales, Aventri
Aventri is also leading the charge for touchless solutions:
We also have a digital pass which enables touchless check-in, lead retrieval, and session access. So, all of those, along with the other components of our mobile technology enable a really safe return to the live event.
Brad Langley, Vice President of Channel and Enterprise Sales, Aventri
The Aventri booth also stood out for its use of a large red balloon that floated above the wall display. “Our booth here enables people to connect in a more intimate, but free-flowing and open environment,” said Langley. “We want it to reflect our technology, which allows people to connect better through events.”
IN CONCLUSION
While the pandemic may have brought in-person events to a standstill, it also prompted a surge in innovation that is now making in-person events better than ever. And IMEX America 2021 has set a new standard for in-person events, both with its own event activations and through the technologies displayed at its exhibitor booths.
