INTERVIEW
Following the launch of RefTech ’ s Neo registration software , Mike Fletcher sits down with chief ideas officer , Simon Clayton to find out why not making an impression is so important
MF : So , Simon , you are a fan of The Matrix then ? SC : The first one was good … oh , you mean why is it called Neo ? I had a vision of how I saw the next generation of our onsite software working . I remember discussing this with a colleague at Frankfurt airport , which inspired the codename “ Neo ”. Apart from being the Greek word for “ new ”, Airbus has a range of aircraft that are called “ Neo ” which stands for “ new engine option ”. We were also talking about using a different engine for the next generation of our software so it felt fitting . MF : What ’ s so new about ‘ Neo ’ then ? Please don ’ t tell me it ’ s revolutionary , we get enough of that type of talk from tech companies . SC : Neo is revolutionary behind the scenes but for most of the people who encounter our systems - they ’ d never know - it simply does what it ’ s meant to do . MF : Er , so why are we talking about this then ? SC : Reliability is everything . You can have all the bells and whistles in the world , but if your registration system crashes , it massively impacts the visitors ’ perception of the whole event . We ’ ve all seen registration problems – systems not working resulting in queues of people trying to get in , or the venue Wi-Fi being too slow . But no decent reg company should
Simon Clayton
Registration doesn ’ t have to be complicated
be blaming onsite problems on poor Wi-Fi - everyone knows Wi-Fi is unreliable . MF : How does Neo overcome this ? Give me the geeky stuff SC : Neo uses IoT ( Internet of Things ) protocols to communicate . Those protocols are designed to work on poor-quality network connections . So it works amazingly well even if the onsite Wi-Fi isn ’ t great . Plus , each machine gets the data it needs for the event but nothing more - the data that is sent to the computers only contains the information needed to be able to search for a delegate and print their badge - along with some other bits that might be needed for session scanning etc . It means there is far less data so on an average connection , the initial data sync for a 5,000 delegate event should take only a few seconds .
Neo continues to work , even if the Wi-Fi connection fails - in terms of searching for delegates , printing their badges and scanning people . Any changes that occur are queued and sent to the main servers as soon as the connection is restored . MF : This is behind-thescenes stuff – why should organisers notice this ? SC : They probably won ’ t notice it ; it ’ s the nature of all software that most people don ’ t notice upgrades . Google
Chrome is now on version 119 . It has had countless new features and bug fixes in the 14 years since it was launched but users don ’ t notice because the changes aren ’ t radical . Organisers just want their events to run well with smooth and efficient registration . All this complex back-end stuff ensures that . MF : So that first impression is key ? SC : The first impression should be no impression . Visitors won ’ t normally be aware of how great the registration is , they just want to rock up , get their badge and walk in – in one smooth operation that doesn ’ t impact on them at all . It should be a near-invisible process . People only notice this sort of stuff when it goes wrong . MF : What happens when the “ computer says no ?” SC : We occasionally get visitors presenting the wrong barcode . In the past , they would be turned away , but now Neo can tell the organiser exactly why the barcode presented was rejected . Most of the time it ’ s because it ’ s a barcode for a badge from an historic event that has never been deleted from someone ’ s email . MF : So is set-up complicated ? SC : Neo is so easy that anyone can do it . MF : Even a technophobe like me ? SC : It ’ s really easy to configure , you just have to run an installer then scan a barcode and it ’ s set up so even you could set it up , Mike . I believe that this is the most advanced onsite event badging system in the world . MF : Thanks Simon , you would say that . EN
Winter — 19