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The Exhibitor Dashboard tool presents exhibitors with data on their trade show leads – who they are , where they came from , what products they were interested in and more – in a way that is easily digestible . It also offers them actionable insights to improve their event performance and key metrics to support decision making and justify their investment . We also offer a PRO version enabling exhibitors to benchmark themselves against other companies in their category .
Data collection also allows us to better understand what our attendees are interested in . Last year we ran a series of visitor badge scanning pilots whereby visitors could tap their badges on QR codes to access information at the event . This has informed the
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launch of a brand new RX app called Colleqt which we introduced for the first time at in-cosmetics Global in March . Visitors could use their mobile phone to scan QR codes within the product feature zones and the Sustainability Zone , and at the end of the day they were emailed all the information they requested – no brochure-laden bags or random mobile snapshots – just valuable information straight to their inbox .
Another example is Mercury , our global registration and e-commerce system which makes it easy for visitors to pre-register for our events , print their badges at home or on site . Mercury also allows us to gather data at scale , across the entire customer journey .
In recent years we have also launched a number of 365 marketplaces which are adding real value to the markets they serve – including MOM , which offers the Maison + Objet experience all year round , and The Loop , a sample ordering platform developed for the Functional Fabric Fair . As F2F events returned , we found not all of them were still needed and it is unlikely that RX will go wholesale into what I would call transactional marketplaces , but we remain interested in how e-marketplaces can generate more leads for our buyers and sellers .
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Above :
Gaby Appleton
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Q . What sets RX ’ s approach to digital and data apart from your competitors in events ? Three things . Firstly , we have a global approach to technology and a global technology backbone for our events that allows us to do more with data than anyone else . If you have your portfolio of events completely fragmented across different tech stacks , then it ’ s painful and expensive to do things once and to do things well .
Second , being part of RELX means we have very high technology standards for things like reliability , privacy and security , so customers can have a lot of trust in our products and what we do with their data .
Third , we are customer outcome obsessed . So , we ’ re trying to make sure that everything we do is measurable in terms of the benefit it drives for our customers – they should be confident that they get value for money from it .
Q . What new digital tools and services can event customers expect to see over the next 5 to 10 years ? My view is perhaps best summed up by William Gibson , author of Neuromancer ( the book that became the Matrix film ) who said : “ The future is here . It ’ s just unevenly distributed .” In other words , many tools already exist , they are just going to keep on accelerating . Smart phones are a great example , with a lot of what we deliver at show becoming even more optimised for mobile . I can forsee real-time recommendations , and QR codes on absolutely everything , from visitor booths to conference slides .
We will see augmented reality being used to help people navigate events , and gamification . Chat GPT and large language models are exploding . Real time translation will also enable participants to communicate instantly in different languages . In fact , the world of the Babel Fish from Hitchhiker ’ s Guide to the Galaxy being in your ear – it ’ s pretty much here now .
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