Introduction

Your primary goal at any event is to maximise the engagement of your attendees and find potential partners and customers.

64% of marketers cite sourcing new prospects and business opportunities as their primary objective at a trade conference.

Mobile technology can improve your ability to do this in several ways.

Events are your opportunity to show your business is adapting to technology to be ready for the future. Leveraging mobile technology to improve your events makes your business stand out with a modern, technology-driven approach.

Here are 10 ideas to take advantage of mobile technology at your next exhibition to get you started:

Replace printed schedules with apps and SMS reminders

Printing out thousands of schedules and programmes for your convention is expensive, and often by the time the event happens your schedule is out of date because of last minute changes.

For attendees, needing to carry a possibly incorrect schedule all day is not ideal either.

An app for the show can be updated in real time, and visitors need not worry about grabbing a programme.

46% of B2C businesses and 42% of B2B companies are not using event software at conferences, so there is clear potential to stand out by implementing this technology.

Automatic texts can alert both attendees and staff to last minute updates and keep the event running smoothly.

Use a bulk text messaging service to set up push notifications and SMS reminders for presentations and seminars to further help attendees keep track of the schedule.

Switching to a digital schedule for your event is cheaper and more convenient for everyone involved.

Improve Navigation

Just like schedules, printed maps create several problems.

They won’t reflect last minute alterations, and can quickly fill the passageways of your venue with people fumbling with their maps.

Incorporating an event layout into your app is more compact, and you can combine geo fencing with wearable beacons to help navigate the venue.

Use live polling

Audience polls conducted via SMS or your event app allows for a higher level of audience engagement, as speakers can conduct complex votes as part of their presentation that would be difficult with a simple ‘show of hands.’

The results of polls can then be displayed visually as part of the presentation.

Audience polling using mobile technology creates audience participation that would be time-consuming to do any other way.

Incorporate Instant Messaging

Including an instant messaging system into your event makes it as easy as possible for attendees to get in touch, exchange details and find each other in a packed venue.

This is especially useful at very busy events where it can be difficult to find individuals.

74% of event attendees feel more positively about a business after interacting with event exhibitors, so increasing opportunities for attendees to easily communicate with you is vital.

Use QR codes

QR codes are a quick and easy way to provide your contact details or website link to large numbers of people.

Use QR codes at your booth, during presentations and on business cards to ensure event visitors always have a way to seamlessly collect your information onto their device.

Always make your QR codes as large and well-lit as possible, particularly during presentations, to ensure attendees can easily capture them from a distance.

Gamification

Introducing light rewards and competition elements to your event can improve engagement and the effectiveness of team-building and networking exercises.

A simple example of this would use geo fencing or QR codes to track how many booths and presentations attendees have visited and rewarding high levels of participation.

Games have the power to immediately engage our brains, and mobile games are ubiquitous: 61% of CEOs play games on their phone during the work day.

Done right, gamification can be a strong psychological incentive to engage more with your event motivated by positive reinforcement in the form of rewards.

Geo-targeting

Geo fencing has a huge number of uses at conferences and trade shows.

Targeting the entire venue and nearby hotels can be an effective way to reach the large potential customers and partners attending.

A more precise approach might be more useful if you are looking to reach a specific audience, so you could also target specific times and places at the venue where particular booths or presentations are.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Innovative technologies are a great way to draw a crowd at events and break up the day with a memorable experience.

Using virtual reality headsets is now possible with a range of smartphones and tablets, and is a fun way to deliver an immersive video presentation such as a virtual tour of your business.

Irish company VRAI recently developed an augmented reality app for Samsung to demonstrate their catalogue of devices in virtual reality.

An augmented reality app using attendees’ devices allows for engaging and interactive team-building exercises such as scavenger hunts.

Exit Surveys

Surveys and exit questions via your event app or messaging make it easy to provide feedback during or after the show.

Speakers can ask for feedback at the end of their presentations and get immediate responses.

You can use the same tactic to generate testimonials, and help speakers improve their presentations and get inspiration.

Conclusion

Mobile technology can be used not just improve convenience and keep your event running smoothly, but also to create an innovative and memorable experience for your attendees.

Think outside the box about how you could use mobile technologies to enhance your events and stand out from the competition.

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking