T h e T e c h n o l o g y t h at P o w e r s
Smart Events Top 10 Questions Smart Companies Need to Ask How Can Event Tech Help Me Do My Job? How Can Event Tech Help Me Grow My Business? How Can I Demonstrate Cost Savings? How Can Event Tech Make My Attendees Happy? What is The True Cost of Event Tech?
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Key to our decision to work with ACTIVE Network was not only the experience they would be able to offer to our members and attendees but also how their intelligent event technology solutions could add quantifiable value to our members and exhibitors when they attend an ESCRS event. Carol Fitzpatrick, Deputy Chief Executive of the The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS).
top 10 questions
Thinking about buying Event Tech?
Top 10 Questions Smart Companies Need to Ask
Table of Contents EVENT TECH & ME 1.
How Can Event Tech Help Me Do My Job Better?
2. How Can Event Tech Help Me Prove ROI? 3. How Can Event Tech Help Me Grow My Business? COST SAVINGS
Running events at your company – everything from small gatherings of under 50 to large conferences – is getting unwieldy, costly and you’re not sure if they’re helping your business. That’s why you’ve decided to look around for event technology that can: ++ Improve the efficiency and management of your events
4. How Can I Demonstrate Cost Savings? EVENT TECH & YOUR ATTENDANCE
++ Provide a deeper engagement with your attendees
5. How Can Event Tech Make My Attendees Happy?
++ Grow your business by providing leads and audience intelligence to help build new opportunities
6. How Will it Improve My Relationship With Attendees?
But as you shop around, it’s a good idea to ask yourself some important questions about the benefits of event technology and how it will address your needs. Below are the top 10 questions to ask yourself – followed by important features to look for in event tech – that will guide you through the sourcing process.
EVENT TECH & YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS 7. How Will it Improve My Relationship With Exhibitors? 8. How Will Event Tech Improve My Relationships With Hotels?
Here’s what event producers, exhibitors and event marketers say is most important to their organizations:
TRUE COST 9. What is The True Cost of Event Tech? CHOOSING SERVICES
90% Improving Event ROI
88% Improving Attendee Experience
83% Expanding Customer Engagement
79% Driving Higher Quality Attendance
72% Improving Measurement of Key Performance Metrics
ACTIVE Network’s solutions can help you achieve all these goals! Source: “The Connected Event: Insights into 2012 Technology Trends,” an ACTIVE Network/ Event Marketing Institute study of over 500 leading organizations.
10. What Event Tech Services Should I Choose? About ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions
3 | The Technology that Powers Smart Events
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3. How will it help me grow my business? Event tech best practices should be about growing your business. Think about how lead management assistance helps grow your business. Do the systems you’re looking at: ++ Generate revenue by:
EVENT TECH & ME
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1. How will it help me do my job more efficiently? You’re looking to make life easier. Will the tech you’re looking at streamline… ++ Attendee registration – by setting up a website that enables attendees to register with speed and ease? ++ Attendee engagement – via mobile apps and social media, so you can easily distribute updated event material and build attendee communities? ++ Event coordination – Managing hotel room blocks, the call-for-papers process, exhibitors, speakers, demos, setting up 1:1 meetings? ++ Data analysis – by providing online reports on metrics as varied as event spend levels, exhibitors visited, sessions attended, new leads generated?
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2. How will it help me prove ROI? Will the tech you’re considering answer senior management’s queries about what ROI your events provide? Good tech will give you a consolidated picture of all kinds of ROI-related data, for example: ++ Attendee type, year-over-year attendance, registrant profile data ++ Session attendance ++ Popularity of speakers ++ Growth opportunities – sales leads, hot prospects ++ Hotel spending on: ―― Room nights ―― Meeting rooms ―― Food & Beverage
―― Providing up-to-date status reports to ensure you meet service level agreements and confirm that exhibitor fees have been paid? ―― Managing orders and payments of lead retrieval rentals? ++ Expand partnerships with exhibitors, hotels and other suppliers with: ―― A portal that allows you to connect and communicate with your exhibitors, hotels and other event suppliers? ―― Personalized log-ins so exhibitors can self-administer such areas as booth operations, sponsorship levels, and lead reports? ++ Drive sales growth by: ―― Providing an easy-to-use, lead-retrieval device with full contact information? ―― Enabling barcode or QR code scanning at exhibitor booths to automatically capture data on sales prospects? ―― Providing real-time information on sales leads during the conference or immediately thereafter?
best practiceS Ask your event tech supplier for a real case study showing process efficiencies.
Get real reports from your tech provider that zero in on data used to prove ROI.
Clearly map tech to your event objectives, goals and metrics for success.
top 10 questions
event tech savings Here’s what meeting professionals say are the top benefits of consolidating meetings purchasing:
81%
62%
57%
19%
19%
Budgetary Control
Improved Quality
Leveraging Volume with Suppliers
Reduced Headcount
Sourcing Documentation
ACTIVE Network’s StarCite™ technology helps companies create, implement and expand strategic meetings management programs (SMMPs) for holistic management of all events. Source: 2012 Strategic Meetings Management Survey, Business Travel News survey of 99 travel & meeting professionals who have consolidated purchasing.
5 | The Technology that Powers Smart Events
++ Compliance & Risk. Industry-specific SMM technology provides data designed to support the compliance and reporting requirements of such industries as Life Sciences, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services. In addition, SMM attendee profile data cuts the risk of meetings travel by giving you up-to-date information on the location of attendees – should an emergency arise and you need to provide immediate assistance. Look to pare 1.6% - 5% off your annual event budget using this tech.
COST SAVINGS
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4. How can I demonstrate cost savings?* Event tech can help you turn your meetings and events department or program into a profit center! When looking at providers, consider the following tech and how it can help you save: ++ Process automation. Online attendee registration and mobile registration apps dramatically reduce labor involved in manually registering participants, especially for large conferences. Plus registration technology – enabling attendees to sign up for sessions, book airfare and hotels – deepens engagement. You can cut from 3%-6.5% off annual event costs with event planning process automation.
++ Procurement automation. Electronic request for proposals (eRFPs) simplify the process of sending out queries for events to multiple hotels, reviewing responses and comparing bids. You can cut from 4.8%-8% off annual event costs with procurement automation. ++ Automation to boost visibility & control. Online, 24/7 data from standard and ad-hoc reports show event spending – such as airfares, hotel sleeping and meeting room costs, audio-visual spend, food and beverage totals, ground transportation and entertainment. With such information you can negotiate discount deals with preferred suppliers. You can cut from 2.4% 5.5% off annual event costs with tech to boost visibility & control.
CASE STUDY:
STARCITE Helps seiu save millions a year.
Meetings
200
MEETINGS PER YEAR
StarCite SMM Technology improves operational performance and efficiencies to save both time and money.
++ Meetings Effectiveness. On-site event reporting on attendee satisfaction with speakers and sessions can give you a good sense of how attendees rate your meetings. Also, reports on lead generation that feed directly into your customer relationship management system offers a great look at new business gained. Companies have cut 0.5% - 5% off annual meeting costs with automated metrics such as these. * Source of stats on this page: CWT Travel Management Institute’s 2010 study, “Meetings & Events: Where Savings Meet Success,” which polled 222 event planners worldwide, among other methods.
best practiceS When shopping for event tech, ask your provider for estimates on how much you can save.
Cost Savings
48% decrease
top 10 questions
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6. How will it improve my relationship with attendees? Knowledge is powerful. It gives you the information you need to better serve your attendees and build great events. Consider if the tech you’re looking at helps increase your ties to attendees via:
EVENT TECH & YOUR ATTENDEES
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5. How will event tech make my attendees happy? Happy attendees make for successful events. Will the tech you’re looking at make it easy... ++ For attendees to register and engage with your event via: ―― Pre-populated forms for easy registration? ―― Automated communication tools, such as surveys and messaging? ++ To personalize content, for example, the ability to offer specific hotels or room types based on attendee profile?
++ Social media that creates blogs and other communities and lets attendees view YouTube videos ++ Mobile technology that enables attendees to do such things as: ―― View and schedule sessions ―― Download agendas
++ To network with attendees via tools such as... ―― A portal that participants can use to search for and connect with others? ―― To recommend, share content using a mobile app? ++ To create recommendations for attendees based on their profile, interests and groups? Attendees can go online, view these and request 1:1 meetings with other participants and exhibitors.
―― View daily news updates ―― Participate in goal-oriented business games ++ Data and insights allowing you to personalize the event experience for your attendees, for example: ―― Profile information on attendee lodging preferences, session attendance and survey information so you can improve future events.
best practiceS Test drive user-friendliness of prospective event tech by logging on as an attendee.
Compare different technologies on their ability to connect event owners with attendees.
INDUSTRY STATS:
Top event needs for meeting owners ACTIVE Network’s suite of smart event tech solutions helps you better manage attendees… and improve the event experience for participants! Source: “The Connected Event: Insights into 2012 Technology Trends,” an ACTIVE Network/Event Marketing Institute study of over 500 leading organizations.
94%
85%
Improving the attendee experience
Expanding Customer Engagement
7 | The Technology that Powers Smart Events
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8. How will it improve my relationships with hotels?
EVENT TECH & YOUR BUSINESS PARTNERS
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7. How will it improve my relationship with exhibitors? Exhibitors pay the bills that help make your conference possible. Keep them happy with event tech that allows you to market to and manage them. Consider these tools: ++ A resource portal with a personalized log-in for exhibitors, enabling them to: ―― Quickly and easily select their booth space, sponsorship level, and manage any additional options; ―― Add, delete and manage staff; ―― Manage hotels and registration;
―― Download leads captured; and ―― Communicate with leads via e-mail follow up. ++ Management tools to help you: ―― Receive up-to-date status reports as important exhibitor deliverables are met; and
Managing hotel and meeting rooms for your event can be a headache. But it’s easier with automation. Can the tech you’re considering do all this: ++ Manage negotiated hotel room blocks with easy creation of room blocks and sub-blocks that you can offer to attendees? ++ Display hotel information with photos, maps and directions – and enable attendees to book or modify reservations via an online platform? ++ Offer specific hotels or room types based on attendee profiles? ―― Enable hotels to securely receive all booking details? ―― Integrate with Passkey or other real-time booking systems? ―― Capture credit card information to secure attendees’ rooms?
―― Receive and process exhibitor payments.
best practiceS Improve exhibitor ties with Interactive, 24/7 web communications.
Link registration with hotel room block tech.
INDUSTRY STATS:
Among top event management priorities for event producers:
71%
ACTIVE Network’s Conference™ software gives you the tools and data to achieve these goals. Source: “The Connected Event: Insights into 2012 Technology Trends,” an ACTIVE Network/Event Marketing Institute study of over 500 leading organizations.
Want to Sell More Exhibits
top 10 questions
conference technology ACTIVE Network provided its Conference solution and integrated mobile app to support global conferences for a Fortune 100 technology company in several locations around the world. Conference technology helped the company manage every detail of these large events, while Conference’s mobile app gave attendees the ability to navigate, interact and enrich their event experience.
Here’s how ACTIVE’s Conference Mobile app helped the company foster ongoing attendee engagement before, during and after its events: 1. EASY ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND CONNECTIONS ACTIVE’s fully integrated mobile app provided a way to manage event sessions, fill out surveys, find out the latest happenings and set meetings. Attendees could sign up for session wait lists and availability notifications. 2. DELIVER A CONSISTENT BRAND EXPERIENCE The custom branding and integration with the company’s social media sites allowed attendees to follow and share event information. They were more immersed in the brand because they didn’t have to visit other channels to post messages or to connect with their friends. 3. GIVE ORGANIZERS REAL-TIME INSIGHT TO RESPOND TO CHANGES AND REACH ATTENDEES All interactions such as a session change or trending topics were tracked in real-time, giving the company one central place for all event reporting, as well as attendee, exhibitor and sponsorship tracking. Event organizers used the App for instant survey feedback and to rapidly respond to and reach attendees.
MOBILE APP
1.2 Million Clicks
7,719
total downloads
16,794 SURVEYS
USAGE
100%
Among target attendees
9 | The Technology that Powers Smart Events
ACTIVE Network’s RegOnline™ offers a low-cost registration tool with free online support AND free mobile event app! INDUSTRY STAT
In 2011, event producers purchased or planned to buy the following top tech:
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9. What is the true cost of event tech? When you’re buying event tech, make sure there are no surprise costs and determine which services are included … and which are not. Consider these cost factors:
53% Social Media
49%
Registration & Attendee Management
49%
Lead Retrieval
40% 36%
TRUE COST
Audience Response & Surveys
Event Management Software
Source: “The Connected Event: Insights into 2012 Technology Trends,” an ACTIVE Network/Event Marketing Institute study of over 500 leading organizations.
best practiceS Buy based on your need – simple to complex event requirements, small to large attendance, many to few events per year.
++ Registration costs vary depending on which technology you want and the scope of your needs. For example, tech that focuses mostly on attendee registration and management – versus automation that includes modules for exhibitor and speaker management -- should have low transaction costs … but also include value-adds. For example, ACTIVE Network’s RegOnline offers a $3.95 fee per completed registration, which includes unlimited custom reports and a free mobile attendee app. ―― Bulk discounts. Your tech provider should negotiate based on high registration levels, not-for-profit and multiple events. ++ License costs: For more comprehensive event tech, like conference management software, expect to pay a license fee determined by modules used and number of annual events. The annual license fee for strategic meetings management (SMM) tech is typically based on
volume of events. On the other hand, registration-only tech should charge no set-up costs or monthly fees. ++ Service costs: For single-purpose tech that focuses only on registration, look for zero to no support and maintenance costs. It should be included! Meanwhile, there are additional costs usually involved for a service manager for more comprehensive events. In some instances, your event will require more complex tech requirements, a project manager and a team, dedicated account managers, and personnel to assist on-site at events. All of this increases your costs. ++ Report costs: Good event tech should offer you a stable of free, standard reports, plus the ability for you to build customized reports online based on your own parameters. But some reports will require the assistance of a developer and/or account manager for your account – and thus cost extra. ++ Tech extras: Mobile apps are all the rage for both event owners and attendees at today’s events. They enable online registration, QR-code contact sharing, gamification and mobile collaboration. Mobile apps should be free for straight-forward attendee management needs, such as registration-only technology, but expect to pay extra for more complex and engaging requirements.
top 10 questions
CHOOSING SERVICES
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10. What services do I want? Service and support: They are critical pieces of event tech for most buyers. When shopping around for a solution, take an inventory of what kind of services are important to you. Consider the following elements: ++ On-site event assistance. Can include a mixture of hardware (check-in kiosks), software (survey software and session control) and live personnel. On-site assistance should cover such areas as: ―― Registration ―― VIP handling ―― Controlling access to and tracking attendance at venues and sessions ―― Taking surveys ++ Customer Support. For solutions for simple, smaller events, customer support should be free and include an online assistance portal – for example, with ACTIVE Network’s RegOnline. ++ Self-service event options. For all sizes of events, would you like: ―― Self check-in kiosks at the venue or in remote locations that attendees can use to quickly browse session content, manage personal schedules, request 1:1 meetings and access event surveys?
++ Project or Account Management. Depending on the size and complexity of your meetings, you may require: ―― Assigned project or account management with a support team, including a deployment person or business analyst to manage your project or account on an as-needed basis.
ACTIVE Network’s suite of solutions, RegOnline, Conference and StarCite, offers extensive service options to support both event owners and attendees.
INDUSTRY STAT:
Most Important Event Technology Service Provider Criteria for Event Producers:
94% Cost
++ Implementation. Can your provider offer a technical specialist to work hand-in-hand with you to get your tech up and running?
92% Customer Service
++ Training. Can you get a business analyst offering consulting to help you learn about your software?
best practiceS Running large conferences or expos? Take advantage of on-site assistance for registration.
89% Reputation
Source: “The Connected Event: Insights into 2012 Technology Trends,” an ACTIVE Network/Event Marketing Institute study of over 500 leading organizations.
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL: Key to our decision to work with ACTIVE Network was not only the experience they would be able to offer to our members and attendees but also how their intelligent event technology solutions could add quantifiable value to our members and exhibitors when they attend an ESCRS event. Their lead retrieval and networking tools provide more in depth and valuable data to our supporters enhancing relationships and opportunities whilst delivering increased ROI. Carol Fitzpatrick, Deputy Chief Executive of the The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS).
About ACTIVE Network, Business Solutions Group ACTIVE Network is powering the next generation of SMART EVENTS™ through its Business Solutions technology suite, which provides intelligent data and insights designed to increase potential revenue growth, deepen attendee engagement and gain efficiency. Customers of all sizes—including small and medium-sized businesses, enterprise corporations, associations, tradeshows and expos—benefit from a single technology partner for all of their event management needs. The Business Solutions technology suite includes ACTIVE Conference™ for large flagship conferences, ACTIVE RegOnline™ for event management software for any type of event – big or small, ACTIVE StarCite™ for strategic meetings management and event expense management, and ACTIVE Marketplace to connect events with suppliers. Locations:
Contact Us:
San Diego, California 10182 Telesis Court, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92121
Phone: America: 855.ACTIVE8 (855.228.4838) Europe: +44 (0) 207 313 5701
Broomfield, Colorado 320 Interlocken Pkwy Ste 200 Broomfield, CO 80021
Email: eventsdivision@ACTIVEnetwork.com
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1600 Market Street, 27th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103 London, England Westbourne, House 4-16 Westbourne Grove London, W2 5RH, United Kingdom
Connect with us online: Twitter: @ACTIVEBusiness Facebook: facebook.com/ACTIVEBusinessSolutions