Since its inception, the events industry has changed immensely and is continuing to improve – and it is mainly due to the introduction of technology, as well as other factors. In addition, technology is now driving the improvement of numerous sectors because of its ability to help get things done faster and more efficiently.
The events industry has many aspects that have become modified, a key example being the ticketing system. Various trends in technological advances are also shaping the way things are now conducted, and that has led to an increasing evolution of the business. It is not only happening in the U.S. or the U.K. alone either – but also throughout the entire world. For instance, the Meeting Professional International estimated that events are now contributing $115 billion to the United States GDP alone, while other countries affected mainly include Japan and India.
Thanks to that growth, there is also an increasing requirement for tech that fulfills the needs and expectations of consumers, making the production of events easier and creating new solutions. Here are some of the most significant changes.
Mobile tickets
If you thought mobile was only affecting the financial and internet access sectors, think again. The introduction of the mobile phone has actually made significant impacts in every industry you can think of – including the events industry. That initial wave occurred through selling of tickets in new ways, so that means we no longer rely on physical tickets, per say.
For concerts and other events, ticket sales are now becoming a method to establish and deepen the touch points with the fans, since they are increasing in availability regardless of the fan’s location. The new ticketing system also allows mobile vendors to do much more. In fact, as long as you have a smartphone, you can convert it into a ticketing point of sale.
During the event itself, a customer will want to have a complete integration of mobile experiences. Some studies have revealed that mobile apps experience significant boosts during certain events, going as high as 94 percent. The best part is the quick adoption of mobile tech by consumers, such as in the case of searching for beginners’ guides to VPNs to access certain websites on their phone, or even improving the engagement of all attendees during the event itself.
Revenue generation increase and reduction of costs
A recent study that was done by Enterprise Event Marketing revealed that the continual use of technology in event planning reduced the costs by up to thirty percent, while increasing the revenue generation by twenty percent due to increasing attendance. For instance, instead of printing physical tickets and incurring the cost, you instead decide to sell mobile tickets and eliminate that cost entirely. The only drawback would be delayed incorporation of such tech in events due to costs.
However, the solution to this problem might lie in co-operation between event vendors and companies themselves, as they will have to work harder and operate together to withstand the competition – particularly considering the industry is very cost-sensitive. That may mean that service providers may need to add value to their products or become no-cost; instead of relying on the principle of being low cost solutions.
Improve the access to attendee data
Most industries will consider big data to be king, but the events industry is less likely to do so – yet it is among the greatest potential beneficiaries.
Using data from events, whether they are presentations or live events like concerts, and then using that to understand social media profiles is a nice approach to help in planning for events in the future. Using recently implemented tech such as QR codes that the attendee scans when they are buying a ticket online, can assist any event professional to collect data easily from attendees.
There is also the increase of location tracking systems used by companies such as Google, as well as NFC (Near Field Communication), and these can be useful ways to know more insights resulting from live events. For instance, Google will tend to track information regarding times of high traffic centered around specific entertainment locations, and then they can quickly specify the data on the kind of searches a live event is encouraging.
In a similar way, phones that are NFC-enabled can assist an event organizer to keep track of users, particularly those that are buying merchandise or frequently purchased items. This will provide more information regarding split testing live marketing strategies and projection of future sales.
Noting emerging trends and those rising in popularity
Even though not all the data is for mainstream use, it is highly important to know and keep track of the trends that might have an impact on the industry, even in later years. A good example would be the rise of mobile payments and mobile transactions, such as Apple Pay, as well as some social payment platforms such as Venmo.
These are all making cash transactions a thing that happened in the past, and are now increasing overall security of transactions. They are also playing a major role in reducing venue related costs that occur due to cash management.
The other impact might occur because of the usage of VR technological advances. Through the introduction of VR, many people who might not be able to go to a concert can have the chance of attending one, and they can do so without spending so much money on tickets. In addition, they can also have the best views of the proceedings from the best sections, without necessarily ruining the seating positions in the area.
Personalization
This is increasingly also becoming the norm, even more than simply adding the name of the attendee when you are sending an email to them. New approaches might include analyzing their preferences and using their activity history for personalization reasons.
Final thoughts
The events sector is increasingly investing in newer technology, although certain factors hold them back such as the costs and other concerns. However, mobile seeks to break that barrier and create an easier mode of operation and data collection, which is helping the industry to thrive.
