Virtual, in-person or hybrid? How often have we heard that question being deliberated this year? In a post-pandemic world, many are still finding their footing with new event formats. Understandable, yet with increasing competition for audience attention and the recent news that a significant recession is likely, organisers need to focus not just on the mode of delivery but the means of optimising their entire audience journey to drive ROI.
Smart events blend data and technology across every touchpoint in this journey, whether in-person, digital or virtual. They encourage us to think about events not only as ‘live’ moments in time, but a series of tech-enabled interactions on the path towards a goal.
When it comes to in-person events this might initially look like more engagement through an app or virtual environment. A good technology platform puts a host of tools at an event planner’s disposal both pre-, during and post-event, including algorithmic matchmaking, gamification, QR codes, content and interest tags, digital polling, room scanning and, most recently, on-demand content.
All this data allows us to do several powerful things;
- we can measure engagement, leads and content popularity in granular detail
- we can make adjustments to the live event as it is happening to optimise engagement
- we can create new online communities that bridge the gaps between live events and nurture leads all year round
- we can personalise audience journeys
Using data to identify groups of people with shared problems and interests in a particular topic, opens up the possibility of continuing discussions in online communities. Community environments give members access to a series of highly focused spin-off events, roundtables and webinars, enriched with targeted articles, videos and thought leadership.
By taking a step back to map out our audience journeys, we can measure engagement over time, identifying where our most interested customers are and when they might be ready for hand-over to sales teams. They can also show us what content we should be producing more of.
Smart events may sound overwhelming, but they don’t have to be. They should simply be viewed as a culmination of all the hard work many marketing and event teams are already doing, bringing things together into more focused, data-driven audience journeys that get real results.
We’ll be sharing insider tips and tricks to get started with smart events at Event Tech Live.
Join Totem’s Director of Growth, Rob Prevett, to discuss how to leverage smart events to drive ROI at an exclusive Event Tech Live roundtable.
Nov 16th, 1pm – 1.45pm
email hello@wearetotem.io to secure a place.
Visit stand B14 for a demo of the Reef engagement ecosystem and to book a one-to-one smart event workshop.
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Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
