There are has been tremendous growth in the tech industry in the past three decades and it has changed every walks of life you can imagine. Event management industry is also not an exception. There are so much new things cooking in the sector, that will change the way a lot of us do business altogether.
The boundary line between virtual and physical is starting to blur at an increasingly fast pace and as event planners, it is our duty to stay on stop otherwise we will be out of business soon enough.
Now let’s look at some of the latest technology trends that event marketers should care about to stay relevant in their fields.
1. Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality
There are has been so much activity in the virtual reality and the augmented reality sector in the past year. It all gained popular traction with the launch of apps like pokemon go. Now with Apple investing heavily on AR Kit and more, the future is really bright for virtual reality and augmented reality.
With the example of pokemon go, huge number of events were organized all around the world, based on the game. The game’s inherent nature paved way for numerous possibilities when it came to organising events, like splitting people into teams, organising pokemon marathons, trails etc.
VR/AR can boost engagement in an event to a large extent and will definitely be a part of any event in the future. The potential of virtual and augmented reality for events is undeniable. These technologies can be used to engage with event attendees like never before by helping them experience new worlds they have never seen before.
2. Crowd Streaming
Live streaming has gained huge momentum over the past year or so. From an event manager’s point of view, it has lots of potential. Based on the enormous successes of event-hosted live streaming, the arrival of live streaming services, based out of social media has given rise to a new type of streaming termed as “crowd streaming.”
Gone are the times when event delegates required expensive software and hardware to stream their encounters at events. The app ecosystem has made way for almost every event attendee to share what they see in real time with the help of their smartphone. Apps like Periscope from twitter and Facebook Live has put the tremendous power of live streaming into tiny, but powerful smartphones in the hands of event attendees worldwide, connecting them with an even larger audience worldwide.
The most intriguing factor about crowd streaming is that it’s instantaneous and this instant factor adds a layer of authenticity to your streams that is not achievable through your own branded live stream content. The new age internet user likes the authenticity that comes with these personal live streams, which is not a polished eye candy version, but just raw content with rough edges as well. This organic feeling that comes with personal live streams creates a lot more engagement with the viewers.
Next time you are hosting or managing an event, make use of the potential of crowd streaming and encourage it among your attendees.
3. Facial Recognition
Facial recognition technology can be used to do wonders. Facial recognition isn’t designed just for law enforcement agencies, but has varied mainstream applications. This is especially highly useful for event planners who are considering about measuring the moods, demographics, and potential problems in the event delegates who attend their events.
It might sound very futuristic, but there is technology readily available to quantify a lot of metrics that were once hard to measure and were considered intangible, like subjective experiences and moods. Though some might argue that surveys gave a little bit of insight about what goes in the mind of an event attendee, we can never be sure if they were accurate.
As the tech for facial recognition improves over time, the need for crowd surveys would decrease with it, as it is a much more concrete metric and is not affected by biases.
What other tech trends in the event space are you looking out for this year?
It is very difficult for anyone to accurately predict where technology trends will take us next. The only way to stay on top of everything with respect to the event management space is by keeping yourself updated on the latest trends in this space.
I hope this article helped you in understanding the few latest trends in the space, do let us know if you have any comments or suggestions and we will be happy to engage with you through the comments section.
