Etherlive is very pleased to announce it has been nominated as a finalist in the Association of Event Organisers Excellence Awards. Our submission focused on our continued delivery of innovative technology for the events industry, which this year includes femtocells, a crew accreditation system and cordless VoIP in addition to our normal services. The awards, which are held annually, highlight the best suppliers within the events industry so we find ourselves in the same category as 360 Creative Event Services, Melville Middle East and asp, which is praise itself. Winners will be announced on the 1st July.
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Mobile phones. Can’t live without them, can’t…well…er…you certainly can’t run an event without them. Mobile phone coverage continues to be a pain point for many customers. It’s normally the same story; everything is fine in the run up to the event but once the attendees arrive, making a call, using mobile internet or even sending an SMS becomes unreliable.
Telecoms operators may install temporary masts at larger events (for varying commercial arrangements) however in many cases these are only linked back to the local town, which may already be near capacity and therefore only compound the problem. Generally the mobile network in the area simply isn’t designed to handle a ‘density spike’ such as a large gathering of handsets all communicating more than is ‘normal’. For smaller and more remote events the situation is even worse, where often there is no coverage at all.
Providing high density mobile coverage is a complex area, but a femtocell can help keep key staff connected via their mobile no matter what else is going on with the normal mobile network. Femtocell technology is essentially a miniature cell phone mast for a pre-approved list of people. The unit can be linked to the internet services on site and route a number of concurrent calls for the authorised handsets as if they were on the normal mobile phone network. With a range of 150m radius it’s the perfect unit to have at a production enclosure, box office or artist/VIP area.
The pre-approved handsets can be added in a matter of seconds, whilst the unit itself is outdoor ruggedised so can be installed on the same infrastructure which carries other services such as site Wi-Fi, like for example our communications tower light. So what’s the catch? It’s only Vodafone handsets which will work with the unit today. Although not ideal it does at least provide a way of continuing to use the service, regardless of everyone around watching their bars disappear. For non-Vodafone handsets temporary Vodafone SIMs can be provided.
The femtocell has been added to our 2011 services along with some other additional voice communication products such as a specialised wireless handset which integrates with existing VoIP services, all designed to keep an event operations team functioning smoothly.
For some time we have been really keen to get together a group of thought leaders from the events industry to discuss a range of technology related topics. With a fantastic team effort this event, which we called ‘The Gathering’, was held on the 30th of March at Lords futuristic media centre. Each of the four panels was focused on a specific area of technology with industry experts giving practical guidance, their opinion and answering questions from the audience. The notes below highlight some of the points raised but a lot was covered in the five hours so they are just a very small window on the discussions . To keep the discussion about technology in events going we aim to keep the twitter hashtag #eventtech for questions and comments.
Ticketing and Cashless Payments – Tom McInerney facilitated a panel involving Paul Pike from Intelligent Venue Solutions and Darren Jackson from Ticketscript discussing the latest innovations.
- Many events are now becoming aware of the customer data associated with tickets. The opinion of the panel was in many cases this is worth more than the face value of the ticket as events should be starting to build profiles from their customers which can then be the cornerstone of many other activities (such as loyalty schemes).
- Loyalty systems may take the form of branded cards or RFID wristbands but the important element to consider is using these in more than just a ‘closed loop’ way, perhaps opening them up for eating out in the local area or purchasing merchandise providing another revenue stream for the event.
- Paul Pike discussed trials which are under exploration for this year which would see significant steps in making cashless events a reality.
Social Media – Chaired by Ian Irving the panel included Andrew Cock-Starkey from Lords and Jonathan Emmins from Amplify discussing how events can use social media before, during and after an event.
- Ian discussed how events should continue to focus on using social media as a core element, enlarging the community past just those that attended.
- Lords Andrew Cock-Starkey talked about how they have developed a large following for their Twitter feed, using it for continuous commentary on matches and a channel for last minute tickets (which can then be tracked back using offer codes to get quantifiable value).
- There was lively discussion on managing the ‘negative’ aspects of social media too, engaging with, rather than ignoring those who are complaining.
- Many of the panel thought the key technologies of the future would be live streaming content to those not at the event and ensuring that those attending can access online resources.
Event Vision – Tom McInerney chaired a discussion between Dan Craig, Loudsounds and Dale Barnes from Virgin Media focused on the key technology elements events will be focused on in the future.
- Dale talked about how as a major brand when he is asked to deliver services in temporary events locations it really helps to have a technology person to engage with and discuss practicalities. The requirements from sponsors will only become greater as events continue to look for ‘partners’ who can contribute to the event not just push product X.
- The panel discussed how events which take place at the same locations year after year will become more focused on what investments can be made. Not just in terms of water and power but also internet presentation. In many cases arranging service over multiple years can generate significant savings.
- Dan discussed how events are continuing to invest in backend systems to simplify event management but also share data quickly with suppliers so everyone has up to date information. Tools like Dropbox and Google documents were sighted as invaluable but increase the pressure on IT systems at events.
Applications – Joanna Wales from Ascot Racecourse, Adrian Strahan and Chris Green discussed the key elements to a successful application and the challenges which still surround creating an app which gains traction within what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.
- The panel shared their experience of working applications released by several large customers, and that by working within the businesses to find the different things the application could deliver was critical to its success.
- Chris discussed the issues of delivering a ‘cross platform’ application (i.e. one which works across Android, Apple, Microsoft and Blackberry) this continues to be a challenge however planning for a multiple release during the design and creation process can avoid painful re-working later on.
- The panel discussed the Edinburgh Fringe application as a great example of an application that was really useful and improves the event experience.
- Many of the audience thought that applications should be free for events, since trying to charge generally puts off those that might find it valuable. Some discussions identified that a good app will encourage more people to attend and get more out of the event.
Real World Experience – Chris Green, Mike Lang and Tom McInerney fielded questions from the audience and discussed how some of the customers they partner with had developed an on-going technology strategy encompassing many of the topics that had come up during the day.
- Several questions from the audience focused on how smaller events can take advantage of technology without huge investments. Chris discussed how many technology services can be delivered for growing events – the key is to ensure enough lead time as solutions which have to be delivered in a rush tend to more expensive. There is also opportunity to share some of the costs of connectivity between events that use the same locations.
In summary a fantastic day to network, meet new contacts and learn. We hope to run The Gathering again and are really excited about developing the forum and taking on the feedback from the attendees.
As part of our continued commitment to supporting young people and education Etherlive recently took part in the St. Joseph’s career’s day sitting on a ‘Question Time’ style panel. Four sessions of 40 students each took place throughout the day asking probing questions of the businesses who spoke candidly about the challenges of young people starting their careers.
Questions from the audience focused on a range of topics from the practical, like tips and tricks for interviews, to discussions around what help businesses are receiving from the government to encourage hiring young people. The aim of the day was to give an insight into the way businesses recruit and help students weigh up their future options.
Tom McInerney from Etherlive was among several panellists, many of whom are also part of the Swindon Strategic Economic Partnership, including St. Joseph’s governor Rob Collins a partner with Withy King, and Ramona Derbyshire a partner from Thring Townsend Lee & Pembertons.
QR codes link the virtual world with the real world. Like many technologies it sounds abstract but once appreciated it can be very powerful for the events world. A few of our customers have been asking what, practically, can one do with them…so we have listed a few applications.
For those of you who haven’t come across them before, QR codes are the next generation of bar code. A normal bar code contains just a set of numbers which can be quickly read by a computer (or you can read them yourself if you are so inclined) whereas as a QR codes can contain text and context information, such as identifying the text as a URL or an email address. QR codes can be generated for free (here is one example) and many apps exist to scan them just by taking a photo from a smartphone.
Using them in print media – Imagine you are launching a press campaign for a new event. You want people to go to a website to sign up for the event. The print advert cost you a bit so ideally you want to know how many people register as a result of seeing it. Normally to achieve this you would either use a hyperlink for registration which is unique to the advert (which can be hard to remember) or ask those who register where they saw the advert (good luck getting someone to fill that out). Now imagine you create a QR code which links to a registration form with a special string which highlights the exact advert. If someone wants to register whilst reading the advert they pull their phone from their pocket, take a photo of the QR code and they are immediately connected to the hyperlink.
Linking them into social media – Although this requires a little bit of technical knowhow a lot of companies are now linking QR codes with a Facebook ‘Like’ so that it can be instantly shared with someone’s friends. By using a small application interface (in Facebook) people viewing a poster at an event can ‘like’ it which then presents itself in their Facebook profile (they need to input their password and username). The event attendee would take a photo of the QR code which would then link them to the sign in function for Facebook.
Used as a feedback link – I saw this recently on Eurostar. Just a simple poster as you leave their luggage area which reminds customers with any feedback to please send them a text message. Text is great, however on the same poster you could include a QR code with a specific email access. Much quicker for the person walking out of the area who doesn’t have time to stand and type in the email address to wewantyourfeedback@someverylongdomainname.com is to use a QR code
Put them on your business card – QR codes can contain a full digital business card, so no longer do your contacts need to type in your information.
Payment systems (and beyond) – Starbucks has a great example of this application working now. You pay for a coffee through their smartphone application then simply show the barista the QR code. They have a scanner at the pay point which confirms the QR code against their system and you get your super latte mocca frappe. Imagine that working at a bar? Or for a customer willing to pay access to VIP shower facilities? Endless possibilities.