The events industry is undergoing a revolution. It has shifted from manual data collection, and workflows, in-person meetings and old-school tools, and embraced the era of digital transformation and cutting-edge technology. This article discusses the six big shifts in events technology that are currently happening in the events industry.

1. Adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology uses radio waves to identify people or objects. The technology consists of two components: tags and readers. Readers have one or more antennas that emit radio waves and receive signals from the RFID tags. The tags can be embedded in various materials, for example, wristbands, or cards or badges.

The possibilities for RFID are practically endless, including entering attendees in giveaways, seamlessly integrating social media, automatically registering and signing into an event. It could eliminate a lot of manual work and make processes much faster.

2. Event-Specific Apps

Event-specific apps have the potential to eliminate cumbersome paper event guides with all their paraphernalia. Often, these paper event guides were not only cumbersome, they had information that the reader may not have any use for because events managers had no way of personalizing information.

Event-specific apps allow users to access only that information they deem relevant to them, on a device of their choosing, without having to go through reams of paper.

Notifications can make planning easier for attendees and communication channels can facilitate networking.

3. Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is what you get when you use technology to superimpose information on the world we see. Typically this is done using a mobile device or some kind of wearable technology.

AR could allow vendors to demonstrate their products without having to transport them to an event. Ads and videos can be displayed anywhere across event venues. Immersive experiences can be created by brands around their products. AR could dramatically increase engagement thereby improving customer experience.

4. Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment that is near-reality in feel. It can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person becomes part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions. As with AR, it can be used to create very immersive experiences in event venues that will improve engagement and customer experience.

5. Event Analytics

This is the use of data to analyse an event to determine performance levels and find areas of improvement. With the increase in use of technology, the amount of data available will only increase, leading to more data-driven insights that will improve the management of events. If unexpected data emerges, event managers will be able to react in real-time to that data. Future events can be planned with an eye for even greater degrees of effectiveness.

6. Hyper-Targeting on Social Media

Network effects in social media mean the quality of insights from social media will improve as more and more people use social media. Though there are privacy issues to navigate, it is possible to stay within strict guidelines and profit from the opportunities that higher quality data insights provide to have hyper-targeted social media strategies.