The task of planning and managing a live event can sound daunting, unless you have an onsite technology checklist handy — and we suggest you should.
Onsite technology solutions are what make an often overwhelming endeavor suddenly feel not only doable, but even enjoyable.
Desmond Tutu is credited with saying, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.”
Really, he was paraphrasing Francis of Assisi: “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Here, we offer some critical strategies — boxes you check — before, during, and after your show to ensure a successful event for all involved.
Creating a successful event requires that you take certain steps — do what’s necessary.
By integrating event technology, you can streamline the process, minimize your efforts, and save money — do what’s possible.
The next thing you know, you’re wrapping up your most impressive event to date to the appreciative applause of happier stakeholders from attendees to exhibitors to sponsors, and even your staff.
Congratulations, you just did the impossible.
Now, here’s how…
Introducing and incorporating onsite technology integrations
Perhaps the most exciting thing about onsite technology solutions is that they are applicable at every stage of the event planning process.
In other words, you never need to decide when to use them or at which stage you should prioritize technology integrations. These solutions prove equally valuable before, during, and after your event.
That’s why we’re introducing each one, accordingly, as its own critical checkbox in your comprehensive onsite technology checklist, which you can access here:
Download Your In-Person Event Planning Checklist
By downloading this checklist, you will access event planning expertise that we have carefully organized into a checklist beginning from twelve months out and carrying through right up until the doors open at your event.
With this guide, you’ll feel confident when you:
- Set your goals: 12 months before the event
- Set up onsite services: 4 months before your event
- Manage onsite setup: day of the event
- Conduct a follow-up: after the event
For now, check the boxes we’ve mapped out when it comes to optimizing onsite technology at your next event in order to reshape your attendee experience.
Pre-event onsite technology checkbox: box #1
Before your event officially welcomes guests on-site, you stand the chance of making a fantastic first impression with online event registration.
Think about it. From an attendee’s perspective, your event begins with registration.
Historically, registration has not always been a seamless process. All the more reason to shake up the status quo and streamline your event registration process with tools like Expo Logic’s EventReg.
Basically, tools like EventReg allow you to collect and manage event registrations while simultaneously supporting a user-friendly registration platform that attendees will actually want to use.
By providing a personalized online registration experience, which you can build according to attendee demographics and interests, you make an instant connection with your attendees, and all while keeping top of mind courtesy of your own branded registration page.
This isn’t just a nice-to-have feature. In fact, a seamless registration process can actually boost revenue and decrease rates of registration abandonment. In other words, there’s ROI already built into this technology feature.
“Expo Logic has revolutionized our process and made the entire registration process better. The ripple effects of a nice registration process can be felt throughout the meeting. People start off with a positive experience and are happier and more satisfied with the meeting overall. Plus, our staff is happy. There is no need to work weekends anymore and we’ve saved weeks of staff time and expense.”
— Erik Brown, Database and Registration Manager for the Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
Opening day onsite technology checkbox #2
Picture this: your attendees arrive on the first day of your event, eager to get started, maybe apprehensive about attending their first live event, post-pandemic, and possibly even travel-weary.
Already pleased with the surprisingly seamless registration process, they are even further delighted by your implementation of onsite event check-in software that automatically saves them serious time.
(Side note: this also saves your staff time, too, and actually reduces the amount of staffing required to manage the check-in process).
A seamless on-site check-in process allows your attendees to skip long lines by giving them the opportunity to print their own badges via standard or contactless check-in, using a tool like Expo Logic’s Badge[On]Demand.
We all know contactless has been trending for quite some time now, so your attendees will likely welcome the chance to walk up, scan, and go, courtesy of ExpressPass.
This is both a convenience factor and a consideration of public health wrapped up in a single onsite technology feature. We’re fans! (Your attendees will be, too).
“There were never any lines [at check-in]! Participants found the kiosks easy to use. Our staff was freed up at the registration desk to help with questions and greet attendees. The badge printing software made it easy to create tickets for events that required pre-registration, and it integrated so well with our association management system.”
Laura Nelson, Senior, Education Manager for the Association of Pediatric Nurses
In-process event onsite technology checkbox #3
Fortunately, honest feedback about your event is now more accessible and easier to collect than ever before. Gone are the days of pen-and-paper old-school surveys, which attendees might not have even bothered to complete in the first place.
With attendee tracking software, you can improve the attendee experience by gaining invaluable insight into how those attendees interact with your event and its content.
This allows you to assess in real-time which sessions are smash hits versus those that fall flat and review the content that really resonates with your various attendee types.
You can also award CEUs with improved accuracy and speed (which proves to be yet another attendee perk).
Evergreen onsite technology checkbox #4
We refer to this tool as evergreen because it’s useful before, during, and after your event.
When it comes to innovative lead retrieval technology, your exhibitors will likely leverage this tool at multiple stages of your event, especially when they realize its potential to maximize their ROI.
Lead retrieval solutions aim to assist exhibitors and sponsors in making better, more relevant connections by connecting them with more — and more qualified — leads.
Ultimately, the ability to collect leads quickly and easily gives time back to your sponsors so that they can invest in relevant conversations without worrying about time-consuming tasks like saving new leads’ contact details. All it takes is a quick scan of an actionable lead and then a meaningful follow-up on their time.
Instant onsite connections are made possible through expo management features like Expo Logic’s LeadPod Pro and LeadKey, both of which provide exhibitors with invaluable metrics that will mark your event as an invaluable investment in their minds.
In other words, these features should inspire repeat performances from your sponsors and exhibitors.
Additionally, event planners can leverage better exhibitor management by accessing an interactive floorplan, keeping in touch with attendees and exhibitors, making meaningful connections and scheduling appointments, as well as selling upgrades and sponsorships.
