The M.I.C.E industry is no stranger to technological revolution — From the mind-blowing Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to the game changing Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and Near-Field Communication (NFC), the industry is fast-evolving past its traditional ways.

As impressive as today’s events technology is, the question remains: How does one effectively adopt said technology to their advantage?

Here are 4 ways exhibitors can harness event technology to save them money and stay in budget at their next tradeshow:

Digitalise Your Promotions

This one’s nothing new — The promotion of events today is dominated by social media, websites and effective search engine marketing (SEM).

Less physical promotions would mean that exhibitors would be able to save money on printing and transport, allowing for more of their budget to be channelled to the more effective digital space:

• Have a microsite with booth information up and running before a live event begins
  

• Run an event blog to build conversations about your event program
• Engage prospective attendees on the popular social media platforms
• Have digital copies of your event’s handout accessible by your attendees
• Take it one step further by listing on a  virtual trade show.

Photo Credit: Le New Black

Le New Black, a Parisian fashion network, runs an invite-only virtual fashion trade show where exclusive fashion brands can list their products in an E-commerce environment. The benefits seem clear — Fashion brands would be able to list in the virtual trade show whilst concurrently promoting in a live event and buyers that were not able to attend a live event would still be able to engage with a brand’s event program. Today, event organisers are able to create virtual marketplaces complementary to their trade shows more easily and affordably through Exzbit.

A.I. Customer Support

Increasingly, organisations around the world are adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of their Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Photo Credit: BizBash

The M.I.C.E industry is no different — there has been a rising use of concierge bots as part of customer support for events. Using their preferred messaging app, attendees can interact with a chatbot 24/7 via text to learn more about a company and its offerings.

These bots can be deployed as part of an event booth and/or as part of pre-and post-event customer support. Ultimately, they allow exhibitors to scale down on manpower size, hours and trainings.

A controversial topic but one that is worth discussing; as this technology becomes more developed, look to it becoming even more affordable and viable.

Modular Event Booths

The exhibition booth is arguably the most crucial factor in an event. It is your main point of contact with consumers and your opportunity to make a lasting impression on them.

This, however, does not mean that you must overspend on your booth — Exhibitor magazine estimates that at least 20% of an event budget is solely spent on the transportation and construction of an exhibition booth.

Having a modular event booth  that is both easily redeployable and transportable may save you money on labour and transportation costs, especially if you participate in several events throughout the year.

Don’t be fooled by its simplicity to deploy, a modular event booth can range from a very simple look to the most intricate designs that you would rival a custom-built booth. Here are some past deployments of the modular booth:

Photos Credit: Skyline.com

NFC Business Cards

We are now at the frontier of NFC and RFID in the commercial world; Everything from contactless payments to the exchanging of information, businesses today are adopting this tech into their practice.

We suggest that exhibitors may adopt the latter to streamline and revolutionise the way they network at events. These cards enable an easy exchange of contact information which allows for less money to be spent on physical business cards.

Beyond that, exhibitors can harness this technology to relay any information about their organisation and products to any attendee with an NFC-enabled smartphone. That means less money and time is spent on other forms of indirect communications and/or displays at a booth during an event.

Photo Credit: 1Card.in