APRIL | TECH
Ctrl+Alt+Del?
Words: James Morgan, founder,
Event Tech Lab
E
vent organisers - get
rid of those tired and
over-tested social
media channels, and try
something new to market
your events to a new
generation. Your sponsors
and attendees will love you
for it.
With 39% of the global
population using social media
channels, taking a closer look
at how organisers evaluate
their social media channels
for marketing events is
crucial. This is especially the
case when marketing to a
global audience. So what have
we missed?
My hot tip is Tik Tok. With
500 million people using
it regularly, it has more
monthly active users than
Snapchat or Twitter, globally.
It’s a video sharing channel
where users can create short
videos of themselves lip-
syncing to songs, or acting
out comedy sketches, with
a database of music, effects
and sound bites from which
to choose. Tik Tok challenges
attract a lot of attention and
often go viral, providing a
great channel to promote
events. Or, organisers could
provide Tik Tok booths at
their events, which can be
branded by sponsors to
amplify attendee experiences
to virtual audiences.
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Staying with the idea of
the sponsor-branded booths,
how about exploring the use
of Houseparty? It has a lot
less monthly active users at
20 million. But, with the huge
growth and popularity of
online social video growing
in both the Generation Alpha
and Generation Z segments,
this app is just waiting
in the wings to take off.
Houseparty is a virtual living
room where up to eight users
join an online video chat.
Chat requests are sent out
to friends via notifications
through the app or through
SMS text messages. Imagine
branded booths being used at
events, so attendees can share
their experiences with friends
that are not there?
Lastly, with over a billion
monthly active users, WeChat
is an app to be applauded. Its
core function is similar to
Whatsapp, but it also allows
users to create a timeline of
moments where particular
contacts are allowed to see
updates. So there could be a
timeline created for friends,
family or work colleagues.
For organisers this is
a great app. Companies
can offer vouchers and
promotions to their followers,
and event flyers that include
QR codes can be scanned by
users via the app to allow
interaction. Organisers can
also use WeChat to take
payments.
So, organisers, why don’t
you re-think your social
media strategy with one of
these new platforms?
A monthly look at the newest products
and services for the live events industry
Virtual reality cafe Underworld opens in Hackney
A new entertainment venue is coming to 336 Acton Mews in Hackney,
London, by the name of Otherworld.
The venue, which opens 15 April 2019, brands itself as a ‘portal to
another dimension’, and offers a variety of virtual reality experiences
which visitors can step into.
Among the VR experiences it offers are sword-rhythm game Beat
Saber, mountain climbing simulator Everest VR, Fruit Ninja, slo-mo
shooter Superhot and a virtual reality version of Google Earth.
Artem’s ‘smoke vortex cannon’ The roaming AI ‘Selfiebot’
Physical special effects company Selfiebot – billed as ‘the world’s
Artem has made further inroads first robot photographer’ – has
into the theatre sector, with a arrived in London following
new effects challenge from overseas success in Italy and
Birmingham and Barcelona- Australasia.
based dance company,
Humanhood.
The company were asked
to design and build a piece of
equipment capable of projecting a
Selfiebot roams the floor of any
event it is present at, interacting
with visitors using a brand’s
unique tone of voice and colours.
It provides guests with a
single giant smoke ring the shape memento to take home, printing
of a doughnut – known in physics photos instantly and sending
as a Torus – from the rear of a them via SMS or email.
stage, out over an audience.
The ‘smoke vortex cannon’, as it
It encourages social sharing,
and provides a data capture
came to be known, had to be large tool for re-targeting guests with
enough to make an impact in a follow-ups.
sizeable performance
artem.com
selfiebot.co