The opening performance at this year’s Singapore Tourism Awards gala event was a dreamy dance between man and robot – specifically drones moving to the music and with their human partners. It was something I’ve never seen before and thought would seem right at home at a party onboard a Starship Enterprise spacecraft.
And it struck me as a good example of how technology could be used to enhance an event experience.
Of course, the sort of technology available in the marketplace today can do far more than put up an unusual dance; they promise to benefit both event organisers who need to achieve ROI on their event spend and event attendees who hope to meet their business goals while being entertained.
Solutions powered by near-field communication, for instance, allow exhibitors at tradeshows and companies at product launches to distribute far more corporate information to targeted individuals and recipients no longer have to lug tons of materials back to their office at the end of the event.
With our community comprising events specialists, one should expect MICE trade events to be at the forefront of technology applications in delegate engagement. How else do you communicate with and impress these expert buyers who, on a daily basis, guide their clients towards the best ways to do events to meet corporate objectives?
Oddly, there are still MICE trade events that utilise manpower-heavy attendee registration procedures when online registration and QR code driven on-site badge collection are already commonplace. And for some organisers who have adopted QR code badge collection, even the process is raw and often human intervention is needed.
Then when you head onto the show floor, you find some exhibitors still relying on brochures or slideshows and videos on tablets to show off their latest products and ideas. Using immersive videos or Virtual Reality to take buyers on a walk through a new hotel or recently revamped event venue, or give them a taste of a helicopter ride over lush vineyards would make a far bigger and more lasting impact, don’t you think? If a picture is worth a thousand words, then immersive technology is worth a million.
