Event technology that enhances and facilitates interaction between event attendees as well as between delegates and organisers is said to be the most exciting today by judges for this year’s IBTM World Tech Watch Award.
James Morgan, founder of Event Tech Lab, said Rich Communications Services (RCS) will have a “big impact on events in the future”.
Morgan elaborated: “Companies like US-based Sciensio and Belgium-based Eventumbot are leading the way on this, with chatbots being deployed at some events in North America and Europe. Gartner research predicts that 75 per cent of all customer service transactions will take place on RCS platforms by 2020. RCS is all about text- and voice-based chatbots that can answer generic attendee questions via messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Due to this technological advancement, production costs and attendee satisfaction have increased.”
For Martin Sirk, owner of Sirk Serendipity, Kubify’s Learning Toolbox is his technology of choice.
“Although it is currently being marketed primarily as an ePoster and Round Table content and engagement enhancer, the potential of Learning Toolbox to add depth and intelligence to any delegate-to-delegate interaction is enormous. I can see it being used in all kinds of innovative ways by smart meeting organisers; and it is very user friendly,” said Sirk.
Kubify, an interactive e-poster system that offers a simple and creative way to improve the standard poster session, won the very first IBTM People’s Choice World Tech Watch Award in 2018.
Sirk added that the “best event technologies take human psychology into account”, and can help “less socially confident delegates to network and build connections at events”, among many other benefits for the event attendee and organiser.
Meanwhile, applications for this year’s IBTM World Tech Watch Award are said to be “coming in thick and fast”, according to a press statement. Application will close this Friday, September 6.
Besides Morgan and Sirk, the Awards’ panel of judges include chair judge Corbin Ball, Bruno Group Signature Events’ Michelle Bruno, DAHLIA+ Inc’s Dahlia El Gazzar, SoolNua’s Pádraic Gilligan, and Event Design Collective’s Ruud Janssen.
The Awards last year named Zenus and Fielddrive as joint winners for their pioneering and impactful work in bringing facial recognition software to the events industry.
IBTM World will take place in Barcelona, Spain from November 19 to 21, 2019.
