As a provider of digital participant management we are, of course, in January at the Best of Events in Dortmund. In 2020, the main theme is also technology. With our solution for digital guest management, invitation, admission, and check-in management, we are in the right place.
For AirLST, BOE means the same thing every year: Road Trip – 600km on the highway. But the roads are empty when we set off for setup on Tuesday, so we arrive relaxed at the exhibition grounds and can immediately dive into the hustle and bustle of Hall 7. Our stand (D52) has a new, fresh design, and the colleagues from Party Rent have already delivered our furniture. We just need to sort out a few minor details and can install our technology, as well as the print station for printing name badges, on site. This year, Karli Karlsson, the Photo Bus is our neighbor, a mint-green T2 – converted into a mobile photo booth – a real eye-catcher. The neighbors from Chariot Event are old acquaintances; they supply us with coffee and chocolate, and we look forward to two intensive days at the fair.
Two days of Best of Events followed, with many conversations, exciting discussions, and presentations on the stages of the individual halls and at our stand. According to official figures, 11,000 visitors gathered to learn about the latest trends and developments in the event industry to inform themselves.
Especially on the first day, there's a lot going on, and we note: digital participant management is in demand. We present our solutions AirLST ONE for individual events and AirLST PLUS for planning multiple events, and we are especially pleased to present our latest development: the AirLST Studio
On Wednesday, we'll attend various lectures and talks in Forum 6 on the topic of Future Meetings & Events, for example, the Pecha Kucha talk by Dr. Christina Buttler titled: Success Factors for Events – How Do We Meet Participants' Expectations? The answers: We should know our target groups precisely, storytelling remains the strategy, but creating unexpected situations and dynamics is also high on the list. Dr. Buttler urges: Trust your participants! And then don't leave them alone, but provide guidance and direction. The subsequent Panel Discussion with Dr. Buttler, Stefan Kirchner, and Rainer König directly follows up on this.
Too often, the phrase is heard: "I can't do that with my participants." Will the problem eventually resolve itself because future generations are more familiar with innovative formats and the use of technology? Do new technologies actually help make events more participatory?
Dr. Christina Buttler, Stefan Kirchner, and Rainer König have a controversial discussion, but they agree on the point that Innovation should be accompanied by careful moderation. If participants are not left to their own devices and overwhelmed, but are instead introduced to innovations, then, experience shows, these will be adopted.
To conclude the discussion, the panelists, in turn, had questions for the audience and simultaneously presented the live voting tool from SwarmWorks. The panelists asked if, according to the audience's opinion, more and more events are taking place both online and offline? The audience held up paddles with mirror pads, which were detected by red light cameras. It was thus determined that 85% of the audience present agreed with this question. Another question was: Will events become more participatory and will these formats displace classic lecture-style events? Here, 69% of the audience agreed. The audience was not as unanimous on the question of whether virtual reality and holograms will conquer congress halls. 50% agreed, 42.9% disagreed, and 7.1% stated they did not know.
Overall, an engaging discussion in which important questions were asked and which showed that event planners must remain in active and constant communication with their participants.
We are already looking forward to next year: BOE 2021 will take place on January 20 and 21.
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