What’s hot for 2019?
James Morgan, founder of Event Tech Lab, highlights the
tech that might be making waves in the year ahead
W
ith the start of a new year, you may
want to consider refreshing your
technology stack.Here are four
technologies – all tried and tested – that can
enhance organiser work flows, and exhibitor
and visitor experiences.
Eventumbot
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications for our
industry have been around for several years
now. AI networking app Grip was the first on
the block. Bots powered by AI are the new
disruptors – the latest evolution in our industry.
Belgium-based Eventumbot is the first to
provide a scalable voice bot solution. This
creates a very ‘human’ experience. You hear
the voice and your mind imagines the rest.
They assist organisers with seamless visitor
interactions. Voice bots facilitate answers to
visitor questions on all sorts of topics. They
provide information on exhibitors and where
they are located, what’s on in content areas,
information on speakers and more.
Voice bots can be easily implemented at
events by both organisers and exhibitors on
their booths. You’ve seen Alexa – now it’s
happening in our industry. It won’t be long
before visitors have the expectation that this
kind of frictionless information provision is a
must.
Lineup Ninja
As event programmes scale, the complexity
of scheduling them grows exponentially. A one-
day event in one room might have ten sessions.
This is relatively simple to programme. Add
another room and suddenly there is a need to
avoid putting speakers in two places at once
or other problems related to more complex
content programmes.
Organisers have to check several things:
clashes, capacity, seating layout, AV, tech
facilities, tracks, speaker availability and
session order. That’s lots of data points
to consider when scheduling the content
programme. Most planners have been using
post-it notes or spreadsheets. This is tedious,
time-consuming, and error-prone. It’s easy to
miss a detail that can become a high-profile,
embarrassing problem.
Enter UK-based Lineup Ninja. The technology
allows organisers to arrange multiple rooms,
tracks, speakers and the logistics and resources
needed to run content sessions. The technology
provides and easy to use interface that is
intuitive and sets out content programmes in
a visual timetable. Lineup Ninja automates the
capture and tracking of all the data, highlights
scheduling errors, and can even automate
programme scheduling entirely. This saves
organisers hours, possibly days, so they can
concentrate on curating the visitor experience.
Ablioconference
One problem with large trade shows is
hosting visitors from around the globe. Many
can’t speak the local language very well.
Conferences and content sessions are playing a
key role during exhibitions with multi-language
audiences, but simultaneous translation is not
usually provided. This is often due to high costs
and the logistic complexities of current radio
infrared systems.
Italian-based Ablioconference is a new
start-up that offers a complete simultaneous
translation system. It operates on standard
computers, Wi-Fi networks and mobile devices.
It is designed to remove the need of renting
and installing hardware. Event organisers can
run simultaneous translation operations and
services from a PC. Interpreters can operate
on-site or remotely, while visitors listen to the
translation channels on their personal mobile
devices. The technology can work through the
internet or easily configured and managed via
venue Wi-Fi networks. Ablioconference can
provide translation services to any number of
visitors through unlimited language channels.
Balou
Visitors love swag! US-based Balou is an
innovative new mobile marketing tool to
help both exhibitors reach a wider audience
as well as boost engagement. It’s an easy-to-
use system, offering exhibitors access to an
administrative portal where they can manage
their giveaways and prizes tied to events that
they are exhibiting at. The technology provides
a tool for exhibitors to market their show
presence directly to visitors to increase footfall
and generate additional leads. It is an effective
solution for exhibitors wanting to get a greater
ROI on exhibiting costs. Balou integrates an
exhibitor portal and free-to-download attendee
mobile application. Attendees can easily
access an exhibitor’s listing, while allowing
them to find, track, and save the items they are
most interested in. The technology bridges
the awareness gap between attendees and
exhibitors by allowing them to showcase their
giveaways as well as offering a simple and
effective engagement tool for show organisers
to utilise and create more value for exhibitors.
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like free stuff!
THE NAME IN EVENT HIRE
0800 458 5701
Charles Wilson Engineers AD Final.indd 1
[email protected]
15/03/2018 11:13
exhibitionnews.co.uk | February 2019
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