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Introduction to Event Technology

If a question that’s on your mind is “How can event technology enhance an event’s experience?”, then the answer is – The possibilities are endless!

Event apps, registration microsites, check-in solutions, social walls, surveys, audience polls, live Q&A, gamification, augmented reality, virtual reality, iBeacons — the list goes on. Often brands, event organizers and event owners are unaware of the impact event technology can have on the event, the audience, and the event ROI. The great news is that we can now measure this impact in real time and adapt to the ever-changing requirements of an event – from concept to post-event.

Let’s take a quick look at how we can achieve #BetterEventTech.

Before the event

Even before the event starts, you should keep the event on top of everyone’s minds. This is where event technology starts coming into play. You should connect with your attendees, speakers, sponsors and other stakeholders at a whole new level!

• Registration: Provide a quick and easy way to register for your event with a responsive website. We recommend QR Codes for confirmation since they are cost-effective.
• Event app: Launching an event app is the next crucial step. Ensure there is initial event information on it. Once you get the event app, you need to generate some buzz. It’s a great way to engage with participants several days ahead of the event.
• Private Social Wall – Within the Event app, generate hype for the event. Share videos of speakers and post-invitation messages. Encourage users to post pictures and videos, and engage with the content by liking and commenting on it.
• Polls – Conduct polls to know your audience – seek opinions on the content of the event, ask for feedback on pre-event activities, gather preferences and more.
• Alerts – Pique curiosity by sending notifications about sessions, keynote speakers, in-app contests, and agenda updates. An admin’s app will allow you to create all these while on the go!
• Agenda – The itinerary, schedules and scientific programs are extremely critical for your attendees. Each attendee should be able to personalize their own schedule and plan how they’re going to get the best out of the event.

During the event

Event day is always tense! The day of the event can be nerve-racking! It should be fun and memorable for everyone — including you! Let technology be your workhorse – from check-in to engagement, to interactions, to collecting on-ground data. You should get to focus on the show.

• Check In – The first impression is the best impression. No one likes long queues. A good event check-in solution should identify and scan an attendee within seconds. Nothing is as pleasant as a hassle-free, quick check-in. You can even take it one step further – send a personalized welcome message to each attendee!
• Live Q&A – Imagine a session or a panel discussion where the audience gets to chime in too! Increase engagement during the event between the speakers and the audience. The audience can post questions through the mobile event app, and these can be projected post-moderation.
• Audience Polls – Hold the attention of the audience throughout the event by interacting with them directly. Have the audience choose winners, let speakers seek opinions during their sessions, and much more.
• Lead Generation – Continue using the attendees’ QR codes to capture their interest in booths and to track when they have checked in at sessions.They can also use them for lunch and dinner coupons.
• Feedback – Make it easy. Make it offline. No paper.

After the event

The biggest benefit of using event technology is the ability to engage with attendees even after the event. All of the data is gathered on your platform from before the event to D-day. This can range from how many people attended, what parts of the event they found most interesting, their feedback, and more. You can continue engaging with attendees about upcoming events, latest news, pictures from the event etc.,

Event technology is a powerful tool that provides a quicker and cheaper alternative to traditional methods to achieve your goals.

Want to see proof of how technology can really help you set a trend for your event? View the full case study to see how Tesco became part of the #BetterEventTech family.

Supercharge your way to #BetterEventTech.
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Introducing our QR Code Check-In Solution!

Quoting Wikipedia – “A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera.” QR codes have become popular as a mechanism to direct people to a website a lot quicker than manually entering a URL.

Whether you are an event professional or an attendee, long lines at the registration desk are always an eyesore. For an event organizer, the day of the event is already rough with all the running around. On top of it, the chaos and unhappiness caused by long lines can be nerve-racking. 

How can I leverage the convenience of QR codes to ease my pain on event days, you ask? Well, when an attendee registers for your event, a unique QR code is shared with them. On the day of the event, all you have to do is equip your ground staff with QR code scanners. When the delegate arrives at the venue, they are asked to display their unique QR code to your ground staff at the entrance. Once it is successfully scanned, the QR code becomes an authorized digital entry pass for the delegate.

Still not blown away by this nifty check-in solution? Let us tell you how they are the next-big-thing to revolutionize your events.

Main Benefits

Easy Setup and Dismantling  – Time and manpower spent in the construction of registration counters and dismantling them afterwards are immense. With QR code check-ins, you can cut that out by at least a tenth.

Smaller and Faster Moving Lines  – The QR code check-in solution takes less time per attendee check-in. In addition, there are no badges or lunch passes to be handed out separately. The code acts as a single pass for all possible entry points at the venue. That’s one QR code to rule them all!

Fewer Security Concerns – If you are organizing large events, you know handling massive crowds is not only cumbersome, but also raises security concerns. No matter how many times you check and re-check, the same guests end up getting listed more than once. Eliminate duplication of guest profiles and free your mind for other important aspects of the event that needs your attention.

Fewer Devices, Staff and Stationery – QR code check-ins not only take less time but fewer ground staff too. QR code scanners are super easy to handle and operate. Stop worrying about procuring and setting up laptops and stationery for your staff at the registration desk. 

No Power or Internet Connection Required – A most painful and dubious part of setting up is the task of ensuring that the power supply and internet connection for laptops at the registration desks work. Well, not anymore! These QR code scanners can be charged beforehand and they work offline too.

Simple Training and Briefing  – QR code scanners are very easy to operate. Your ground staff will need no training to start using them. All you have to do is test the scanners ahead of the event. When you huddle with your team before the start of the event to raise their spirits for the big day, you can cut out the whole activity of briefing them about making registrations work.

Other Benefits

Go Green -A single QR code can be used as an entry pass, a lunch coupon or as a form of authorized access to various parts of the event. You will be reducing the printing costs for the entry passes/badges/lunch passes. That means less litter at the end of the event as well!

Less waste – The number of guests who have checked in is data that you can pass to the kitchen straight away. You’ll be helping your chef plan better and avoid wastage or shortage of food. 

Actionable Analytics – With obsolete registration counters, there’s no comprehensive way to know when a guest arrived and when they left. Metrics like that can be very useful to track and analyze. During the span of the event, when did the maximum number of check-outs happen? Was it during a particular session or time? If yes, what can you do to ensure that it does not happen at your forthcoming event? Once you are back to the office after a great event, we will empower you with analytics and reports to make sure your next event is even better!

Cut Costs, Save Money – Now that you know all of the above, the monetary benefits to you are a no-brainer.

Lo and behold, check-ins are no longer a pain – not for you nor for your attendees. You have invested your heart, body and soul for each of your events. Don’t let the long and chaotic registration lines reduce the shine at all. Unlock the power of QR code check-ins for your next event!

About Us

AidaIO’s platform focusses on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com/event-app to know more or write to us at [email protected]

Follow us @teamaidaio

A question we get asked often by Event Organizers is –

“How would an Event App benefit my festival ?”

Here is a handful of ways event apps can be an amazing convenience tool and add value to both festivals and fairs. Ensure you are using the Event app to reap ALL these benefits to maximize the ROI of it.

Hassle-free Ticketing – Booking tickets for the festival has never been so easy and effortless. Festival-goers can view and book deals & packages on the move.

Boost Sponsorship – Over 100 Festival Apps (powered by AIDAIO) have helped festivals reduce their on-site staff and going paperless. For this reason, it has helped to reduce costs by 30%. Additionally, it creates a platform to generate revenue from sponsors by selling in-app banners, splash screens, notifications and more.

Inspired Audience – Help your audience have the time of their lives by informing them about the festival’s calendar. Let them know when their favorites are playing! Introduce the newer ones by sharing youtube videos and much more.

Event Content goes mobile – Make your app the go-to place for all your content instantly. Get announcements and directions to important locations and don’t forget to include emergency information in the App!

The bottom line is that mobile possibilities are endless. Don’t use it to only replace paper or brand visibility. Or even worse a replica of your website!

Also, check out these blogs if you Have a conference or Tradeshow?

Contact us:

Do you want to know more about how we can help you in delivering a digital and seamless event experience? Visit us at www.aidaio.com. Another way you can reach out to us is to write to us at [email protected].

A question we get asked often by Tradeshows and Expo managers is-

“How an Event App would benefit my Tradeshows?”

There are a handful of ways event apps can be an amazing convenience tool and add value to both exhibitors and visitors. Ensure you are using the Event app to reap all these benefits to maximize the ROI of it.

Happy Exhibitors – Empower your exhibitors to get discovered, increase booth visits, target notifications to visitors through exhibitor listings linked to an interactive floor plan.

Buyer-Seller Connect – Utilize the APP to provide exhibitor content with product brochures, videos & pre-show brand information to your visitors. This, in turn, facilitates better connections, booking meetings and did we say an additional revenue for you?

Instant Lead Generation – A simple APP survey recently run on an APP (powered by AIDAIO) generated over 5000 leads. So don’t just list the exhibitors. Make it interactive with sponsored polls, giveaways, contests besides an in-app contact exchange and much more.

Save Money, Earn Money – Over 100 Event Apps (powered by AIDAIO), have helped tradeshows and expos by going paperless and reduced their on-site staff. This, in turn, has reduced their costs by 30%. Additionally, it creates a digital advertising platform for all exhibitors to promote their brand.

Also, if you have a conference then check out this link.

The bottom line is that mobile possibilities are endless. Don’t use it to replace paper or improve your brand visibility, or worse a replica of your website! To know more about mobile apps, click here!

About Us

Aidaio’s platform focuses on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more about how we can help your tradeshows and expos. You can also write to us at [email protected]

A question we get asked often about event-apps in conferences and meetings is –

“What can I expect from an Event App for my conferences and meetings?”

We would like to share a handful of ways event apps can benefit you and everyone else at your next conference or meeting. Ensure you are using the Event app to reap ALL these benefits to maximize the ROI of it. Four ways event apps will benefit conferences & meetings are:

Happy Participants  – Worried about long registration queues? last-minute changes? sessions that run over time? are speakers being late? sponsors wanting visibility? Your App will open up new lines of communication amongst attendees, sponsors, speakers & planners like yourself.

Event Content goes mobile – Make your App the hub for all content. Provide instant updates right in the palm of your audience. Measure the pulse on the ground with instant polls and feedback. In any case, Don’t forget to Include emergency information in the App!

Save Money, Earn Money – Over 100 Event Apps powered by AIDAIO have helped events by going paperless & reducing on-site staff. As a result, this has reduced their costs by 30%. Additionally, the App creates a digital platform for your Partners & Exhibitors to increase visibility and promote their brand.

Facilitate Networking & Participation – Create a digital community around your event. Use the App to connect attendees using our intelligent matchmaking based on their interests. Let them share their thoughts in a public event feed, through private messages or in social media.

All things considered, mobile possibilities are endless. Don’t use it to replace paper, brand power or even worse a replica of your website!

About Us

The AidaIo platform is focussed on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a wide range of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more about how we can help better your conferences and meetings. You can also write to us at [email protected].

Gamification – the millennial buzz word that has garnered a lot of attention of late. Google it up and Wikipedia will be the first to add it. “Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts.” Is there a better way to state it!

To put it in other words, gamification makes mundane tasks interesting, by awarding the users points or badges, taking them a level up and nudging their competitive bones.

Problem

Any platform where a lot people from different backgrounds are involved, constant and overall engagement is always an issue. It becomes all the more incommodious when the stakeholders involved are from different cultures and languages. It becomes quite challenging to draw users from their shells and to make them a buzzing part of the community.

Gamification Solution

However, as humans, constant and most importantly, instant gratification reassures each one of us. Like any conventional gaming platform, bring that to apps, and reward points to users based on their activities and interactions.

Points – User actions on a mobile app include adding posts on the timeline, sharing their responses through Polls, Quizzes and much more. Use this to your advantage by awarding points on the basis of the complexity of the activity performed.

Levels – Based on the points secured by the user, they can be taken a level up or down. As they participate and engage more, they move ahead and cross levels and so does their sense of achievement and competitive drive.

Badges – On the basis of these levels, users can be awarded badges. Initially, they could be tagged as Beginners and as they accumulate more points, badges such as Advanced, Expert, Guru can be awarded. Badges can be displayed on the user’s profile where their achievement are tagged and displayed.

Leaderboard – Users can then be ranked on the Leaderboard according to their points. This makes them wary of others achievements and motivates them to participate more. If the users are teamed up, then the leaderboard drives home a sense of community and team spirit.

Conclusion

All things considered, gamification if used right, can build a sense of community among the users and encourage them to be active contributors. If the tasks are annoying, then no matter how many ever points are awarded, the app will fail to indulge its audience. Instead of a single massive end goal, award points at regular intervals so that they do not lose interest or sense of achievement and move on. And always make sure that users are not just participating for the sake of flaunting their points.

Conveyed right, these user actions can also provide feedback for your business. Gamification can be the next big thing for your business by increasing efficiency and interactivity. Make sure you capitalize on it!

About Us:

45% of event planners say that event sponsorship is their biggest challenge when planning an event. Source

If you are one of these event planners, worrying about the budget for your next event, then fret not, you are at the right place.

Problem

Every sponsor does their ground work before agreeing to associate their brand with an event. Once that hurdle is crossed, they have to make it a successful sales campaign in terms of brand visibility and customer reach. Standees and banners at venues have become a thing of the past. There are so many of these, all around the venue, that the brand gets lost in the sea of billboards.

To stand out from competitors and grab more eyeballs, why not go digital? Smartphones have become a part and parcel of our lives, and we spend more time with these than with a family member or friend.

Most event planners today, consider event apps as an indispensable and integral part of their events. But have you thought about how you can make it a win-win for you and your event sponsors? Here are some features of the event app that enable you to do just that.

Splash Screen

This is the entry point for the users to the app and thus offers a great opportunity it to make an unforgettable first impression. And the feather on the cap is that the coverage is maximum  – because it is full screen. Moreover, every time users open the app, the splash screen with brand collaterals are displayed to them.

Banner Images

Once the user logs in, she gets to the landing screen where general information about the event is shared, also termed as the home screen. These rotating images are displayed on the top section of the mobile screen. A banner of the brand is displayed for around 5 seconds.

Partner Listing

If the motive is to share details of your brand through website and contact details like telephone number email address etc., then highlighted partner listing is the best option. The sponsors can be classified into categories – for instance, Platinum, Gold or Silver Partners, and listed accordingly.

Ad Banner

If you don’t want to share your space with anybody and want to be featured all across the app, then ad banners are your best bet. The brand is displayed at the bottom of the mobile screen and stays in the user’s view all throughout.

If brands are exhibiting their products in stalls at the venue, then the opportunities are much more.

Sponsored Notifications

Imagine a situation where an individual venture to a stall and she gets a custom notification about the brand and its products. Such services are striking as they grab the individual’s attention and drive home the point by exploiting the advantage of proximity. The notifications based on proximity require hardware to trigger the notifications, called Beacons. But if you wish to remove the overhead of hardware, then sponsored notifications can be configured to be sent at regular intervals.

Floor Maps

Most events today share the floor map of the venue to make it easy for themselves and the delegates. Exhibitors can use it to their advantage by getting their stall highlighted in the venue map.

Conclusion

We have got you covered for the budget for your next event – one of the many things that you as an event planner worry about and definitely of the topmost priority. It’s up to you now to interest your sponsors by creating the best digital event sponsorship packages.

About Us

The AidaIo platform is focussed on driving engagement and getting you up close and personal with your audience. We have built a suite of features to create interaction and engagement. Visit our website www.aidaio.com to know more about how we can help with event sponsorship. You can also write to us at [email protected]

Follow us @teamaidaio

73% of event planners say social media is a MUST-HAVE for their event – Survey

How our clients used Digital Walls ?

• • A Popular Singer took stage only after a certain number of tweets were posted by the audience LIVE. The Digital wall was used as a countdown while audience saw their own tweets projected.
  • Run photo contests with physical objects that are branded. For example. Instead of handing out free goodies, exhibitors asked visitors to Instagram a selfie with their brand
  • The Bangalore International airport used Digital Walls to get audience to engage which lead to the hashtag trending.

Reach out to us for more use-cases and a trial.