Conference News Supplements The Tech Factor Supplement | Page 8

8
Technology
Event
technology
myth-
busting
Jose Bort, CEO and co-founder at EventsCase,
takes aim at the common misconceptions
surrounding event technology
Myth 1: Event tech is
expensive
e all recognise the
importance of a trusted
opinion. Word of mouth
is a powerful purchase
driver and especially when it comes to
buying technology, where 29% of
decisions are based around what we hear.
That being said, we should all recognise
the galaxy that separates a qualified
review made by a long-term customer and
an ill-informed opinion of someone with
little knowledge of their subject matter.
Event technology platforms are among
a host of solutions affected by hearsay
regarding what they can and can’t do. Part
of this could be attributed to a recent and
rapid transformation in their capabilities,
user experience and cost, which has
created a much-improved outlook for
event organisers.
With this area of the technology
landscape continuing to go from strength
to strength, we’ve decided to put the
record straight on a cluster of dated
perceptions.
Increased competition
among providers has
reduced the cost of event
platforms by a considerable
margin. Smaller events are
now catered for by payment
structures allowing them to
pick and choose the features
they need for each event.
Meanwhile, for those
organising multiple events
over the course of a year,
there is always a chance to
save big through the
software as a service (SaaS)
model, which operates on a
flat monthly rate.
Event tech still requires an
assessment of ROI, but a
combination of price wars
and opportunities to space
out the cost has taken us far
beyond the era of it being
‘expensive’, relatively
speaking.
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Myth 2: I don’t host
enough events
Some tools have base figures
for new clients. These could
be for events, attendances or
contract value – all ways of
justifying their cost. The truth
is, even when dealing with a
private meeting of under 50
people, an organiser should
be able to find something
that doesn’t break the bank.
We have seen companies
using technology for just one
event per year. The trick is in
finding a provider that can
flex their cost in order to
meet the requirements of
small and large
organisations.
Looking at things from a
non-financial perspective,
the user should also be
happy with any outlays of
time and resource.
Organising just one event per
year means learning about a
new technology for that
specific purpose. That’s why
it pays to find something
that’s either easy to set up or
applicable to other event
types – ready for whatever
the future may bring.