Randle Stonier, chief executive of AddingValue, finds himself dependent on numerous technology tools. He suggests five of the best tech bits you shouldn’t ignore.
Augmented reality (AR) is a place where the real and digital world meet. Imagine looking through the viewfinder of your smartphone’s camera or through a pair of Google Glasses, at a view of a physical, real-world environment whose objects are overlaid by contextually relevant information on the move. For an example, check out Blippar, an image-recognition app in your app store that brings interactive experiences and content into a user’s smartphone.
NFC – Near Field Communications, think of it as a digital key between two NFC capable devices already used for mobile ticketing and payments. NFC chipped smart wristbands and delegate badges enable entry management and audience interaction. Most smartphones are NFC enabled and likely to be adopted as the preferred medium. As an event organiser we just match the data identifying the smartphone owner with our event registration database. Delegates swap business cards tapping devices; passive NFC ‘tags’ on posters will contain a web address, a discount voucher, or ‘gamification’ points that the consumer or delegate can touch their phone to receive – or to instantly pay for absolutely anything.
Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics designed to engage audiences, educate and solve problems. It rewards event audiences who also accomplish your desired goals such as early bird registration, participating in discussions, contributing solutions to a problem, visiting specific exhibitors, networking with other attendees, downloading information, submitting surveys, learning about new products and visiting specific event destinations, even sharing vital lead information with sponsors. Types of rewards include points, achievement badges, levels, or material awards, like goody bags and room upgrades.
Simplified communication apps on smartphones and tablets are very cost-effective and a useful way to communicate and inexpensively keep in touch with event teams on site and global suppliers. We’re great users of Skype, Facetime (iOS), BBM and WhatsApp. But other tools worth checking out are Yammer, Chatter, WeChat, Viber, SnapChat, Kik, and Google Plus.
Apps – there are more every day. Here are a few worth checking out:-
iAnnotate – provides a variety of tools to add notes to images, PDF files, Word documents, and PowerPoint slide shows.
Social Tables is a web-based event planning software platform that allows event planners to create mockups of their space, add guests at different tables, and then organise via an iPad in real-time.
Eventstagram creates a real-time slideshow of photos taken at an event and shared on Instagram and can be displayed on monitors or large screens.
Twoppy is a fully self-service platform that lets event organisers create an interactive mobile event guide, worldwide and free within minutes.
Nice Meeting – This browser-based service allows users to view presentation slides on their smartphones and tablets in sync with the presenter.