Smart venues
The world’s smartest
conference venues
CMW EMBARKS ON A GLOBETROTTING TOUR OF SOME OF THE WORLD’S
SMARTEST CONFERENCE VENUES TO FIND OUT WHAT SETS THEM APART, AND HOW
THEY STAY ON THE CUTTING-EDGE. STUART WOOD REPORTS
hat makes a venue
‘smart’? In this modern
age, there are many ways
we could define the
innovations taking place in conference
and congress centres around the globe.
One thing is certain, however – venues
are adapting, and many of them are
now integrating technology as diverse
and as intelligent as the delegates that
walk their hallways.
For this feature, we spoke to the
brains behind some of the most
inventive venues in the world,
employing technology in particularly
creative and business-savvy ways. Our
first stop takes us to The Netherlands,
where if you look out of the tour bus to
your left, you may see a rather unique
piece of tech preparing to face the
music…
Facial RAI-cognition
The RAI Amsterdam completed its
initial construction in the 1960s,
but the venue has since expanded
to become a cluster of several
interconnected conference and
exhibition spaces in the Dutch capital.
It recently partnered with event
technology company fielddrive to pilot
a new way for delegates to check in to
events at the RAI. Facial recognition is
able to scan the likeness of delegates as
they enter the building, offering them a
fast and secure entrance.
The key at the RAI, however, is not
technology for the sake of technology,
says Pim Schoonderwoerd, the venue’s
IT Product Specialist. Instead, it is
about using technology to provide a
smoother user experience.
“The more advanced the tech
becomes, the more invisible it should
become,” he says. “Here at the RAI,
we offer service-oriented products,
not technology-led products. But
technology can be used to facilitate
service, and this is our goal with facial
recognition.”
The facial recognition tech went
into pilot status in January of this
year, and is currently in the process of
being rolled out across RAI titles, and
as a service for external organisers.
Schoonderwoerd says it will allow
staff working at check-in to personally
greet attendees as they arrive, while
having all their necessary information
easily to hand.
“If there are 24 registration desks at
the RAI, facial recognition can reduce
the number of people needed to stand
there, while still providing strong
customer service,” he says.
Schoonderwoerd highlights the
importance of practicality when
it comes to technology in events:
“Technology is not the goal, the goal
is what we do with it. For example,
virtual reality – it is an answer, but I
think many in the industry do not yet
know to what question. IT is just the
carrier. Content is key.”
ISSUE 100
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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43