Conference News Supplements The Tech Factor Supplement | Page 10

10
The new
face of
registration
Technology
David Preston, CEO at Realise, talks to Keith Findlay
about facial recognition as an events solution
s organisers
understand the need
to enhance the
experience of event
delegates, focus has turned to the
thorny issue of registration. Even in
2020 pictures still emerge of
impatient crowds gathering around
harassed staff, who desperately try
and assemble and distribute badges
to the masses.
Switched-on organisers
understand the need to refine the
process, and new developments are
appearing. Facial recognition at
airports is already familiar to most
international travellers and is now
being used as a tool for unlocking
mobile devices. Now it has made its
way to major events in both the
Europe and the US. Market leaders
Zenus offer the option of uploading a
picture during the registration
process, and claim a 50-75%
take-up, on a par with event app
uptake. The company states that it
reduces check-in time to less than
eight seconds and integrates
seamlessly with other providers.
“Enhancing the customer
experience starts with getting the
language right,” says Keith Findlay.
“We have large signs at events
with the word ‘Registration.’ In
fact, most people have already
registered; this element is the
check-in, and maybe we should
steal the airline analogy.” Findlay
is running the European arm of
the Australian company AV1
whose self-service kiosks under
the ‘Sprintr’ banner have
revolutionised numerous
antipodean events. “In our daily lives
we are all becoming more and more
used to automation, with self-service
options and AI influencing what we
do, buy and experience. There’s no
reason why we shouldn’t have the
same experience at a trade show.”
Aside from the cost-saving
opportunity for organisers, increasing
choice for customers is at the heart
of the new technology. “It shouldn’t
"IT IS ABOUT THE
CHOICE THAT WE
HAVE ELSEWHERE
- BANKS, SHOPS,
AIRPORTS - TO
ENGAGE WITH A
HUMAN BEING
OR NOT."
www.conference-news.co.uk
be about aiming to get rid of human
interaction,” explains Findlay. “But it
is about the choice that we have
elsewhere – banks, shops, airports
– to engage with a human being or
not. Personally, I think those
registration staff are better utilised
welcoming people and directing
them to the coffee.”
While making the process faster at
the event may be appealing,
developments such as Sprintr offer
another key benefit. The kiosks can
be sited at external locations, such
as airports, stations and hotels. “A
ten-thousand-person event might
see the majority of attendees
concentrated at a dozen large
hotels,” explains Findlay. “Doesn’t it
make sense to allow them to collect
their badge at a time that suits
them, rather than join the huddled
masses when the doors first open?”
The kiosks are stand-alone units
with a digital keyboard, allowing
delegates to make changes (subject
to whatever security protocols the
organiser wishes to include.) The
design of the kiosks and the large
screens are also perfect as
sponsorship platforms, music to the
ears of most organisers. They are
also designed to be agnostic,
merging with whatever registration
system organisers use.
Such a strategy also ticks the
‘green’ box; badges can be printed
straight from a barcode and onto
sustainable badge stock. Less
paper can be consumed using
double sided printing. And if you feel
name badges are passé, Sprintr
offers a Wristband which – like their
badge stock – come in plastic-free,
bio-degradable paper. The
self-service kiosks can also print
small stick- and eco-friendly lanyards
which are made from bamboo. In
this post Thunberg period such
things matter.
Event registration may not be the
most exciting element of an event,
however, a faster, seamless and
customer-centric approach not only
delights your visitors, but should
provide them with more time inside
your event. And that’s what really
matters.