As the event planning industry continues to evolve post-pandemic, there are many new considerations and questions facing event planners. One such question: Is investing in event technology a smart planning strategy?
We’re all short on time, so we’ll save you a long story and skip right to its moral:
Yes, investing in event technology will empower your event planning efforts, while saving you time and money. Also, it will provide you with a simpler, seamless process that also benefits your attendees and exhibitors.
Now, if you want to learn more about the details driving this conclusion, read on. You will take note of some finer points about online event technology and why it’s the solution today’s event planners need to keep competitive.
Why you should include event technology in your annual budget
There’s a time and place for everything. Manual event planning efforts had their place as line items on an event planner’s budget for a long time.
Time has marched on, as it does, and the current moment has been complicated by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, Cvent published The Power of Onsite Meetings at Your Event, citing that 85% of event professionals cite in-person events as critical to increasing leads and generating revenue, as The Event Technology Engagement Study reported.
Now, with an increased emphasis on safety, a continued hesitation on the part of some to attend in-person events, and an increasingly fraught economic landscape across the world stage, event planning has become even more complex, and budgets are the top priority.
These realities have left event planners faced with a dilemma: Deliver more, ideally, with less.
That’s why adopting onsite event technology is proving to be such a powerful solution for both event planners and attendees throughout the event experience — before, during, and after.
By embracing onsite event technology effectively, event planners can realize key benefits like increased efficiency and attendee engagement, data-driven success, and more and better sponsorship opportunities.
How does onsite event technology empower event planners?
When faced with new challenges, the value of innovative solutions cannot be overstated.
In this case, by leveraging onsite event technology, event planners can overcome challenges, such as costs and time. In addition, planners can also overcome logistics and attendee expectations, to embrace better control over planning and executing an unforgettable (for all the right reasons) event.
Really, it comes down to what user experience expert Sean Gerety said: “The technology you use impresses no one. The experience you create with it is everything.”
Swap out “event” for “experience,” and the power of onsite event technology is clear, given that events remain critical to the reach and ROI of a business.
In fact, research published by a UK-based firm, event insurance, finds that 85% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product following an event, and 90% have more positive associations about a business post-event.
Let’s take it in stages and consider the specific benefits that investing in onsite event technology affords event planners:
Pre-event benefits offered by onsite event technology
Given the amount of time and effort required to plan an event, registering for it should be easy and accessible.
By providing online event registration, you elevate your event for your attendees by simplifying the first step of the experience for them while strengthening your revenue streams.
A powerful online event registration solution should help you:
- Manage simple and complex registration processes
- Create a unified and unique experience for your attendees
- Integrate e-commerce and payments
- Distribute multiple custom ticket types
- Support individual sessions and group registration
- Provide promotions, email notifications, and scheduled pricing tiers
- Allow for discounting
- Access registration data and actionable metrics like promotion performance and referral source tracking
- Keep in contact with registrants via automated email, notifications, and reminders
- Process credit cards quickly and securely
The leading online event registration solutions are also mobile responsive. More than 50% of web browsing now takes place on personal mobile devices.
On-the-ground perks of onsite event technology
Event check-in and badge printing is the equivalent of skipping to the head of the line — in fact, there might not even be a line!
In light of recent social distancing and sanitizing requirements, offering your attendees the ability to print their badges and check in at self-service kiosks is a big benefit to all involved.
Not only will your attendees appreciate not standing in line, but you’ll also save money on the staffing traditionally required for event check-in and badge retrieval.
Contactless technology is king right now. This is why onsite event check-in solutions, like ExpressPass, makes it possible for attendees to scan and go without the need to ever touch a surface.
Once checked in, onsite event technology enables event planners to track event attendance to deliver an enhanced attendee experience.
Attendee tracking software makes it simple to scan badges as attendees check in for various sessions. This provides event planners with insights about attendee activity and overall engagement.
This data can be critical to planning future events and allows you to evaluate the value of various sessions and event content based on the type of attendees at your event.
If a particular session didn’t attract your anticipated numbers, keep it off next year’s agenda. On the other hand, you’ll be able to see the content that really performed well. This will allow you to ensure that you offer more of the same at your next event.
Onsite event technology enhances the experience for your exhibitors by providing event planners with exhibitor management solutions, like GoExpo, which helps:
- Access the exhibitor portal
- Create an interactive floor plan
- Communicate with attendees and exhibitors
- Facilitate matchmaking and appointments
- Sell sponsorships and upgrades
Ultimately, these perks benefit exhibitors as well, along with innovative lead retrieval solutions that maximize ROI, like LeadPodPro and LeadKey, which allow exhibitors to:
- Access leads online
- Add notes to scanned leads
- Create custom surveys
- Follow up with leads immediately
- Gather real-time registration data
- Offer multiple lead retrieval options
