Exhibition News September 2022 | Page 27

TECHNOLOGY and make the most of their feature areas .

Head of partnership network for VenuIQ Luke Buckley says : “ Our [ tracking ] is more qualitative than quantitative . We have Bluetooth beacons which can be attached to a lanyard or credit card size badge . When you come to the reg desk , we find you in our system and allocate you a badge via QR code . At this point , inside the event spaces we will report on who and how many attended sessions , if they moved from one to another , popular networking areas or booth spaces and so much more .”
Tracking The system also avoids any concerns over data consent and provides the same level of insight into visitors ’ movements that web analytics can provide . “ It ’ s within the terms and conditions , and there are certain caveats on how you can use the data , for example if you wanted share data with sponsors to get leads , you ’ d still have to use a lead scanner ,” he explains .
“ Think of the virtual world , portal reports show to the second who and how many people are on a page , session or sponsor . Our Bluetooth tracking is replicating that level of reporting , but at physical events .”
VenuIQ might not be for everyone Buckley accepts – but in certain circumstances it can provide significant ROI .
“ We know most exhibitions are run on a shoestring budget but for an event where every person has paid a large amount of money or been handselected it really gives the organiser ROI .”
Planning Buckley sees the digital future as giving visitors more control over planning their time at live events .
He says : “ It ’ s about pre-event engagement and configuring your time at a show before you turn up – not just what sessions you ’ re going to , but having meetings booked in and having good understanding of the floorplan / exhibitors .
“ The second part is measuring what people have done . How many messages were sent , how many meetings were booked , where were they booked , how many people actually engaged in the panel discussions Q & A , polling , session chat , this topic vs that one .
“ It will help us enhance the traditional but improve it with technology . Pre and post event engagement is almost as important as onsite when it comes to improving year on year .”
VenuIQ hope to accelerate their tracking capabilities within exhibitions .
“ We ’ re getting more and more tracking into exhibitions . It ’ s really exciting to be able to give exhibition organisers the inside scoop on what their visitors are doing , popular sessions , best exhibition spots and so much more , in one easy-to-digest insights report .” EN
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