Technology & Events – Current Trends

Conferences provide a great environment to learn about new trends, meet new people and to listen to inspiring key speakers.
With advances in technology conference organsiers are now able to offer their attendees more experiential events.

Social Media

Social media is being used more and more at events. Most events will have a hashtag to use allowing delegates to connect with one another online. Its also a great way for delegates to share real-time feedback on the event. 

Live tweeting, event polls and digital Q&A’s are also increasing in popularity. Apps such as Glisser can improve the delegate experience at events. It can also provide organisers with post-event analytics giving an indication on return on investment.

Tip: get people involved in live tweeting by offering a prize for the most re-tweets over the course of the event.

Apps

Having a mobile app for your event is a great way to keep attendees engaged. On the run up to your event you can send push notifications with fun facts about the venues, speakers, exhibitors and share other bits of interesting news.

Apps can also provide delegates with a forum to share their experiences throughout the day and arrange meet ups with other attendees and presenters.

They can also help you gather contact details for attendees so you can build you mailing list for the next event.

Interaction

With all this amazing technology to utilise it can sometimes be easy to forget that conferences provide a great place to meet people face to face.

Help delegates relax in to networking with some simple ice-breakers such as online people hunts. A bit like a treasure hunt this encourages delegates to ‘seek and find’ key speakers and introduce themselves.

Catch box mics are also a great way of injecting a bit of fun in to the Q&A section of an event. Simply throw the squidgy mic in to the crowd and delegates can throw to each other creating a fun environment to share thoughts.

What to expect in the future?

In the future I think we can expect to see more use of virtual reality at conferences. It can give exhibitors the opportunity to ‘virtually’ experience their products and services right there and then.  

We may also see holograms making their way in to speaker slots. With virtual reality, keynote speakers can attend your conference and engage with your delegates from anywhere in the world without it feeling like a skype call.     

At Wyboston Lakes technology is a point of pride, and something we do exceptionally well. Our IT infrastructure sets new standards for versatility and most importantly, for reliability. Whilst our leading edge technology ensures that trainers and conference presenters can easily communicate their messages. 

With advances in technology happening all the time its an exciting time to be in events. Its interesting to see the different ways our clients are embracing technology to make their conferences engaging for their delegates.