How to Create Amazing Events Using Event Tech

Technology innovations have made event planning easier by allowing for more automatic and seamless processes. But with endless options available in the market for different aspects of an event – from pre-planning to check-in, audience engagement, and post-event evaluations – it can be a difficult task ascertaining which one would work the best for you.

In this post, we'll cover the essential event technologies you need to plan, host, and evaluate your events more efficiently and effectively.

Here are some tips to help you out!

Streamline Your Pre-Event Planning

Planning an event is often the most time-consuming phase. Finding and booking a venue, organising travel arrangements, marketing, and registration are just a few of the important tasks you need to get done.

Here are some key event planning tools that can simplify the planning process, thus saving you precious time and money:

Sourcing your venue – Finding the right venue is essential. It's time to ditch your excel sheets and start using software that can help you build and distribute RFPs, receive bids, and share bid information with key decision makers. You'll save time on logistics, stay organised and speed up decision-making.

Event marketing and promotion– The more comprehensive your marketing tool is, the easier it is to integrate with other systems you already use. Look for a tool that allows you to create customised and automated emails. This will help you allocate more time to pressing issues (like driving registration).

Event budgeting and spend tracking – With the right technology, you can build a more complete and realistic event budgets, track funds across events, calculate variable costs, and assess event spend. Reporting and dashboard features make it easier to manage costs and share information with decision makers.

Online registration – Event technology can also help you personalise the entire event planning process. You can create a branded event registration website that's designed to identify who is visiting your website. This lets you modify the registration process based on attendee type. With more sophisticated software, you can even create dynamic registration paths and pricing based on preset criteria.

Travel and accommodation booking – By integrating booking travel and accommodation directly into the registration process, you make registration quicker, easier, and more logical for your attendees. It also jumpstarts working partnerships with those in the travel industry.

Payment processing – An automated payment system allows you to track payments in real-time, automate refunds, and even accept international currencies or offer promotional pricing. For security, make sure your payment processing technology is PCI Level 1 compliant.

Make Your Event Engaging

Once your event begins, your most critical job is to keep attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors engaged. Your guests want to feel that their investment of time and money is worthwhile. This means providing a seamless experience throughout the entire event – from the moment they arrive to when the step out the door. Here is how you can do so:

Check-in technology – Use check-in software to speed up check-in, badge printing, and collect attendee information digitally. Consider upgrading to mobile apps or kiosks so participants can self-register, saving everyone time.

Mobile apps – You can expect that everyone at your conference will have a mobile phone by their side. Apps engage attendees with interactive maps that use GPS and beacon technology to guide them through exhibits or sessions. You can also use apps to create social media feeds, attendee messaging and networking opportunities, polls, and surveys, or gamification features.

Exhibition tracking – Use technology to track lead counts, stalls that visitors are attending, and flow of traffic in real-time.

Evaluate Your Event's Success

There are different components that go into making an event successful, and among the most important of them is the event ROI. Here is what is matters to improve your ROI:

Attendance tracking and reporting – This software feature can allow you to track overall attendance as well as attendance at specific sessions, helping you pinpoint which speakers and exhibits are most popular. This information can inform your next event as well as enhance the follow-up and sales process.

Integration with a CRM or other internal systems – If you want to get the most out of your event data, you need to integrate it with other technology systems, such as your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, marketing automation platform, or financial software. This allows your data to sync and stay up to date.

Consider a Unified Technology Approach

We've covered a long list of event technologies that can get your event off the ground with less stress, resources, and money. However, the best way to implement these technologies is a comprehensive event management platform.

With one event management platform, it'll be easier for you and your team to learn and use the technology. Additionally, when all the data is collected and stored in one place, you'll get better visibility into the event and your processes. Finally, having data all in one place makes it easy to make sense of your numbers and make decisions in the future.