On December 4th, AirLST was present with a booth at the first Munich edition of the Locations Trade Fair. Focusing on venues, the Locations Trade Fair targets conference and event planners in a metropolitan region. After the platform had already become a permanent fixture in the trade fair calendar in the regions of Central Germany, Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine-Main, Stuttgart, and Rhine-Neckar, Munich was added as a new location this year. That's why we spoke beforehand with Martin Stegmann, the Locations Director of Sales & Marketing . In the interview, he answered our questions about the development of the Locations Trade Fair and spoke about his expectations for the Munich edition. The Interview can, of course, be found on our blog.
As an exhibitor, we presented AirLST as a solution for attendee management for individual events, as well as an enterprise solution and for planning multiple events. We also had our On-Site Print Station for lightning-fast printing of name badges. With it, you can also produce employee IDs or guest passes on-site as needed. We were very pleased with the visitors' response. Personalized name tags in corporate design, printed on-site, are truly impressive. We also observe: The interest in alternatives to Excel lists for attendee management remains high. But not only new prospects, but also old friends and acquaintances stopped by the AirLST booth. A nice advantage of such a regional platform.
That the topic of Sustainability is on everyone's lips and that the environmental factor is becoming increasingly important in the event industry, was obvious. We were particularly often asked about the ecological footprint of our name badges. Clearly, PVC cards don't exactly excel in terms of environmental protection. Fortunately, we can now use 100% biodegradable cards made from salts.
A trade fair is always also an industry gathering, meaning trends, current discussion topics, and developments emerge. What were the topics at the Locations Trade Fair? Since our booth was placed directly opposite the stage, we were at the pulse of things and, despite our exhibitor presence, caught some of the Locations Trade Fair's supporting program. For example, there were presentations on the psychology of multi-sensory experiences in live communication, digital transformation, and crisis communication, as well as a look into the future by students of the ISM Munich presented their future concepts for tomorrow's event industry.
This year, the Locations Trade Fair ran under the motto "more experience, more networking, more knowledge," and it hardly needs to explicitly state that these imperatives are closely linked to digital technologies. The concepts of experience, networking, and knowledge converge in both events and digital aspects.
Technologies play a significant role in the realm of experience, perception, etc. New sensations and challenges elevate a situation beyond the ordinary. This is precisely why experiences are so crucial for event marketing and why technologies should help create these exceptional situations: If a product is linked to such an experience, it is not only encountered but incorporated as an experience and a valuable memory.
The event industry is increasingly leveraging these implications in advance through social media channels. Event apps, social media accounts, and hashtags connect guests and visitors with each other and promote digital interaction. It has never been so easy to contact other people; participation becomes easier in social networks . Well-prepared content increases information transparency around events. Topics and trends within an industry are discussed and generated in a digital community. This transforms events into social events, supporting the demand for more experience.
Access to contacts and discussions also requires and promotes access to knowledge. At the same time, skills for filtering and categorizing this knowledge must be developed. This also presents event planners with new challenges and the need for lifelong learning. Instead of paper lists or Excel sheets, they now navigate cloud-based online tools and mobile applications.
Digitalization offers the event industry countless opportunities, especially at the planning level, to organize events more efficiently. New technologies thus not only change the consumer experience but also, in particular, the working methods of industry insiders.
Exciting questions and discussions raised by the Locations Trade Fair with its motto and supporting program.
Our conclusion: A pleasant trade fair that reflects current trends and creates a familiar atmosphere through its regional focus. And with the development of AirLST, we are on the right track, as feedback from customers and interested parties confirms. We are already looking forward to the next time when we can present entirely new developments that are already in the pipeline. Bring on 2020!
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