Tech
were gathering data for was
Wireless in 2014,” continues
Cobb. “The idea was to
provide organisers with
some real-time insight in the
form of dashboards and heat
maps that told them where
people were, and where they
were moving, where the
queues were building up,
etc. and to pair that with a
way of targeting messages at
very tightly defined groups
of visitors so that they could
then try to influence them
and help them and improve
their experience.”
Visitors who have
downloaded the event
app are tracked, with
their permission and
non-intrusively, using
their mobile phones.
Organisers can see where
issues are arising and send
personalised messages to
visitors.
“The work Crowd
Connected had done
at festivals was really
interesting and something
new that we wanted to try to
see how it could benefit the
event,” says Brook. “During a
show you’ve got eyes on the
floor and you can see what’s
going on, but you don’t have
any data evidence.
“Tracking through the
app gave us real-time
information and access to
data, having a sense of what
was going on across the show
floor really helped.”
If a certain registration
desk at the show was busy,
the Bett team could send
those affected a message
telling them where a
quieter desk was. If they
attended a particular
session on day one, they
could receive personalised
recommendations for day
two.
Of course, for Crowd
Connected to be effective
there needs to be an existing
event app with decent
uptake.
Luckily the Bett app is
fairly established and has
an impressive almost 50 per
cent uptake from visitors.
Footfall information from
Crowd Connected gives the
organisers what they want
the most: data about their
community.
“The data can show you
how visitors move around
the show, and how they
navigate, but it’s not just
about volume, it’s also
about quality and getting
the right kind of people
for exhibitors,” continues
Harper. “The more data we
have, the better equipped
“We want to ensure that we keep
innovating and giving our visitors and
exhibitors an improved experience, so for
us an app is really important”
– Eve Harper
we are to react onsite and
deliver better experiences for
everyone onsite.
“Next year we’re
reconfiguring our floorplan
in quite a big way and
thinking about how visitors
will be navigating the new
show set-up and how we
might start to think about
evolving that in future years,
so that data will become
even more relevant and
valuable for us.” EN
May — 43