A difficulty for event organizers is measuring the overall performance and results of their events. With data generated by wearables and other connected devices, these challenges can now be addressed.
Globally, the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) industry has become a huge segment as organizers use these events to sell products or market themselves. However a difficulty for organizers is measuring and quantifying the overall performance and results of these events. With data generated by wearables and other connected devices, these challenges can now be addressed.
That was the point raised by
etouches, provider of Loopd, an event analysis solution.
“People attend events to meet other people, network, and exchange information, but the manual process of collecting business cards and collateral to act on post-event is inefficient and unproductive,” said Brian Friedman, Vice President of Digital Innovation at etouches. “With the Loopd badge and accompanying enterprise-grade mobile event app, businesses can better communicate with their attendees. This breakthrough product enables event professionals, for the first time, to gain a comprehensive view of the value their events generate and the real-time means to improve the outcomes."
The hardware and software combination in the solution is rather simple and straightforward. “The Loopd badge is a small, passive wearable that captures physical engagement during events, maximizing attendee networking and enhancing attendee serendipity. The Loopd analytics platform is a real-time data engine that presents insightful actionable metrics to help event planners save time, demonstrate value, improve outcomes, and understand what their attendees are doing during events. The Loopd app is an easy-to-use event app that captures digital analytics and enables event planners to guide and curate the event experience for their attendees during events,” Friedman said.
Benefits for organizers, attendees
According to him, the solution can benefit event organizers and attendees alike. “Event planners can efficiently capture attendee interactions and measure engagement, automatically monitor session attendance, identify event influencers with contextual information and generate heat maps with event traffic flow. Analytics tools can evaluate and impact event success in real time by defining event goals and keeping track of performance, capturing and analyzing mission-critical engagement and other event data,” he said. “For the wearer, etouches reinvented the event name badge and replaced it with something fashionable that is equipped with a new set of tools to manage their business relationships. Loopd wearers can easily exchange contact information while at an event, automatically check in and out of sessions, and collect marketing materials with the touch of a button on the badge.”
The solution has met positive response, Friedman said, citing as an example Sensus, which used Loopd’s integrated technology at its three-day annual Reach Conference to optimize the overall client experience. “All of the 700 attendees wore the connected Loopd Badge, allowing Sensus to monitor session attendance at the three-day event. During each session, Loopd Hub sensors accounted for individual attendees and any clusters of attendees from specific energy firms. When these attendees entered and exited session rooms, the Loopd Hub sensors captured time and position data, determining duration in each session room. Following each session, as they walked out, attendees received a short app survey to measure their level of interest in session topics and to provide feedback on the content itself,” he said.
According to Friedman, in the future AI will be employed to make the solution even smarter. “By using AI, we’ll be able to provide smart recommendations to help event planners and attendees achieve their event goals, like giving an event planner the ability to create a new sponsorship opportunity or message an influencer while the event is occurring,” he said. “Once recommendations are being accepted and used effectively by event planners, we’ll enter the next phase with automation, and an event planner will be able to give Loopd permission to take automated actions during the event. At this point, Loopd becomes a sidekick who is working alongside the event planner and can better improve the outcome of the event.”