Digital solutions are on the rise in events

Digitalisation is spreading, mostly in event marketing and organisation

Unsurprisingly technology makes us more efficient. Three-quarters of organisers noticed an improvement in their processes, particularly in event preparation, by using digital technologies. This is also reflected in the opinions of attendees who feel that additional event information, networking opportunities and online ticketing are the greatest advantages that digital event preparation has to offer.

There Is a gap between what attendees want and what organisers offer

Especially when it comes to ticketing, the answers diverge strongly. Only half of organisers are using online ticketing, whereas it has become indispensable for almost 90% of attendees. Although organisers feel that event marketing and attendee communication has successfully been optimised, attendees believe there is still room for improvement when it comes to information about the digital solutions used.

Mostly an acquisition tool. And during the event?

It is interesting to see technology used mostly for email campaigns and online marketing, but much less for what will actually take place before and after the event (networking apps, beacons, digital interaction with the audience). Technology is today used to promote the events, maybe tomorrow it will be as intensively used to improve the participants’ experience, communication and networking during the event.(see chart)

The problems: lack of understanding more than lack of money

Getting digital is not all easy. Amongst the problems planners face, technical complexity, data protection and lack of know how are the top 3 headaches. Interestingly, cost is a secondary problem: know how and change management are the problems. For a cost which is new in the meeting planners budgets, this is definitely good news. It also means there will have to be a strong effort to educate and help meeting planners to successfully understand and implement solutions.

A special mention for data protection: the survey shows there is a need for more information about it. According to the report, organisers should include more explicit data protection information in their communication with attendees, and inform attendees about why they are asking for specific data.

The conclusion is a piece of good news: according to 75% of organisers, digitalization optimized their event management processes. Technology does bring value. Now, let’s all do our homework!