Technology was always the job of a consultant, the products you purchased were a familiar sales pitch that usually started at wired or wireless microphones and ended with you amassing a significant outlay in the obligatory AV budget line. We rarely understood what we were purchasing, much less how to operate it. As long as the technology worked why give it a thought? When it did fail, we chalked it up to technology issues only an engineer could comprehend and along we went to the next event oblivious to why or how we could have prevented it.
Equally as frustrating, technology in events took too hard of a turn to embrace the wow factor, (a phase one could argue we are still in). Designing experience is one thing, but our industry’s failure to understand technology has resulted in vendors pitching fantastical products that (when used poorly) rarely provided benefit and far more often confused our message and muddied our events.
No greater example of that than the Second Life like craze where we asked individual sponsors to pay upwards of 20 thousand dollars to build virtual exhibit hall booths and then waited around for attendee avatars to literally fly in. Just because a vendor builds something new doesn’t mean it is a product we should embrace.
In similar ways it is happening now with social media and mobile technologies. Our industry is chock full of experts ready to sell you social media and mobile technology knowledge they acquired from reading mashable.com but have never used effectively themselves.
Like a shiny bead salesmen we Ooo and Ahh at the almost mythical new tools of Pinterest and QR Codes never asking, do we really need this? There is one event expert currently advocating you place a giant QR Code next to the speaker at the podium so attendees can scan the speaker bio. What could possibly could go wrong with attendees trying to scan a barcode while a speaker is presenting?
Like the wireless microphone before it, there are genuine uses of these technologies but unlike before, event professionals need to know how to use and set them up, what are the benefits for the event, and with tightening budgets we ultimately must be able to justify the expense. Added up together this means the event professional must now wear a new hat that doesn’t rely solely on consultants.
According to MobileStatistics.Com there are more iPhones sold each day than children are born in the world. As smart phone usage continues to skyrocket, there will continue to be no great shortage of mobile app vendors in the market, some better than others, but all with new “ground breaking” features that they will promote as a must have for your event. When making a decision, what is driving you? Is it the attendee’s needs, supplier needs or your need to impress your boss?
As an industry we have to demand better solutions, but before we can we must educate ourselves in the growing industry of event technology. You can no longer sit in on the mobile app discussion without a clear understanding of what the product will do and how it aligns with the events purpose.
This is the mantra that MPI Chicago’s TechCon education event is based around. It is no longer enough to say you have a Facebook profile or Twitter account. You need to become enough of an expert to talk as confidently about event technology as you do other core areas of your business.
We are bringing people from outside our industry to cut through the talking points and bring you the truth about digital tools. (Even when the truth is, you shouldn’t be spending time on it). We are also integrating into our event, technology ranging from LED curtains to new audience response systems. We want our attendees to be immersed in new technology, kick the tires and when necessary challenge our vendors on how this technology will improve your event.
Improving your technology skills will help separate you from your competitors and being knowledgeable around event technology helps to improve your events, (a better way to impress your boss). MPI TechCon Chicago won’t cover all of your technology needs but it will be a step forward to the day when you can lead the AV decisions on how to incorporate the most beneficial tools for your client’s time and money.
About the author: Kyle Hillman is an event professional for the National Association of Social Workers in Illinois and Co-Chair of MPI-CAC TechCon