Business travel experts at the ongoing Malaysia Business Events Week (MBEW) are urging business event planners to embrace technology and use it to enhance their event experience.
Yusno Yunos, CEO and founder of Malaysia-based event technology specialist Evenesis – Y Us, said event technology should not be an element that only comes into the picture when there is excess budget.
Sharing his experience, he said: “Government-linked companies and (non-profit) associations are somewhat open to the idea of adopting new technology in their events, but their decision (to actually implement it) is usually determined by cost. They will only implement event technology when they have additional budget.
“This attitude must change. Companies must set aside a budget for event technology if they want to create a better event that will entice people to attend.”
Yusno believes that events will move towards paperless identification for delegate registration, such as by using facial recognition software.
“This is already adopted in some countries and will become more mainstream in the future. Evenesis – Y Us is researching and developing facial recognition software which we hope to roll out by mid- 2018,” he said.
Technology could also change people’s motivation for attending a business event.
Panellist, Angeline Van Den Broecke, director of sales and marketing, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, said technology has made knowledge so easily accessible to delegates that their primary reason for attending conferences in the future will not be for gathering new knowledge but rather for networking opportunities.
In this changed landscape, she foresees a future “where organisers will pay delegates to attend meetings”.
Yusno opined that the “right technology is not necessarily the most expensive one” and that having people knowledgeable in event technology to plan and execute such applications are critical to success.
Also speaking on the same panel, Jan Bartscht, co-founder and managing director, Leadapreneur, urged event organisers to not fear technology, and instead embrace it, use it to innovate and improve the experiences for event attendees.
