Large events like trade fairs bring the industry and the market together at one place. For example, the international trade fair held every year at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, during the month of November for 14 days, attracts lakhs of visitors. ITF provides a common platform for manufacturers, raders, importers & exporters from various industries, an opportunity to display a wide range of products and services.

Annually, there are numerous trade fairs and consumer shows being organized all around India. Some of the well-known are book fairs, food and beverage fests, automobile and electronic expos, etc.

As a visitor, we primarily go to these trade shows to shop, have fun, experience the product demonstrations, and interact with vendors directly. We get to explore, collaborate and socialize with the atmosphere which is a far cry from shopping online at home.

These large events are brought together by some of the finest event management companies and in order to improve our experience, event managers are sprucing up the strategies heavily banking on Technology.

So, in the future, how the use of technology can enhance our experience at these events?

Getting Invited – Event organizers and exhibitors will reach you largely through personalized emails &social media highlighting the key attractions of the events that would
be of a major interest to you. The event promotions will become more focused and non-intrusive, seamlessly enabling to buy the ticket with a myriad of options.

Prepping up for the event – Event organizers will give the convenience through mobile apps, notifying the participants regarding the event highlights and features. The B2B events will also connect participants enabling them to connect and fix meeting appointments during the event. The mobile app will also help in easy check-in, saving huge time of waiting in long queues.

At the event – Mobile apps will help in easy navigation through the stalls and make your visit more productive. With real-time notifications, you can visit the stalls in the order of importance to you and also get to access the promotional materials and product information at the proximity of the stalls. What’s more! The apps will also promptly remind the stalls you had missed, on exit.

Getting invited through social media and online ticketing is now a norm, but is it possible “for stalls to send us contextual information”?  If that’s your question, the answer is a big Yes! It is made possible with Beacon Technology. Apple was the first to introduce Beacon Technology in 2013. Even Google has its own version, Eddystone. Organizers of events, trade fair/shows, product launches etc., have been experimenting this technology to enhance the visitor experiences.

So, what is Beacon Technology? Beacon is a Bluetooth radio transmitting device which is compact, inexpensive and powered by a battery.

iBeacon, the name of the Apple technology that allows iOS and Android devices to listen to signals from Beacons in a physical space. iBeacon technology allows mobile apps to understand their indoor location and deliver contextual content to the users based on location. The technology used for communication is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Eddystone by Google is an open platform that can be used with Android and iOS.

Sooner, Beacon Technology will become a norm in enhancing the visitor experience of large events. Also, Beacon Technology was used for indoor positioning at the 2017 G20 Summit held at Hamburg. While the event was not the biggest to use Beacons, it was certainly one of the most important. Since the venue was fairly unknown to the attendees who arrived from all over the world, indoor navigation through Beacons eased the mobility with the help of the app.

Let’s see Beacon Technology in action!

Pixel Studios has successfully implemented Beacon Technology in events at Singapore. The enthusiasm displayed by the visitors & the organisers who experienced the technology in action is surely an indication of the shape of things to come.  Pixel Studios has ready-to-deploy platform, with customization options to implement such technology in events of any size & nature.