Interactive technology puts the user in control and in doing so, delivers a far better event visitor experience. H&E North investigates the digital world for our latest suppliers’ feature
We all now live in a digital world, with touchscreen order points and digital displays in retail and restaurants, and, of course, the ubiquitous smartphone in our pocket. Today’s tech savvy customer has higher expectations than ever before, demanding instant access to information and the ability to make choices for themselves. The old days of ‘death by PowerPoint’ and slapping a video on a TV screen have now been superseded with interactive technology which puts the user in control and, in doing so, delivers a far better visitor experience – a key business driver in today’s competitive world of events.
With almost every company today having a suite of digital assets provided by their sales and marketing teams, interactive digital displays allow for the ideal presentation of personalised branding to wow your clients. One perfect example was the deployment of interactive displays as a presentation tool for the sales teams in Volkswagen car showrooms. The sales teams are now able to access and present all the apps and other digital content that had already been created for the smartphone and which could now be repurposed for presentation in their own showrooms to wow their customers and improve sales.
It is always better to leave a lasting and memorable impression on delegates, supported by statistics like 82% of B2B event personnel believe that attendee engagement is an important KPI for event success (Bizzabo). If you can deliver better experiences by marketing your key messages, branding or presentation using event tech, you’ve bridged a gap between your event visitor and your marketing. This personal touch is why 90% of event marketers believe that technology can have a major positive impact on the success of their events (Bizzabo) and why 54% of event planners are spending more of their time and attention on the attendee experience rather than logistics (AMEX).
Of course, digital is a far more sustainable alternative to printed materials. With 80% of respondents saying their organisation takes sustainability into account when planning meetings and events and over three quarters (76%) of them having a defined sustainable programme strategy in place already (MICEBOOK), its looking like the old show guides and literature will be left behind.
For live events, digital gives you the ability to update content live so when things change, as they do, digital tech can facilitate live feed updates and provide content which is accessible and relevant all the time. Increasing ROI, bettering visitor engagement using renewable energy and less waste, interactive event tech is the way forward.
63% of event respondents believe tools to engage event attendees will play a key role in their future event strategies (Bizzabo). And if there is one thing the events sector does very well is acting on feedback. Digital event tech is therefore no longer a preference, it is now a necessity.