Event Tech Live 2017 was a great opportunity for our business to learn new things about the future of event technology and to discuss the important factors that technology companies should be focusing on to improve their offering and experience. 

Here are our three takeaways that we feel will become even more significant in improving the customer experience of event tech: 

1. Participate not spectate 

The future of technology is continually focusing on creating immersive experiences. What I mean by this is that the technology is enhancing event experiences for people by making them memorable and allowing people to feel really ‘in the moment’. No longer do people want to be simply observers of a situation, they like to be involved. Virtual reality and augmented reality are two great examples of immersive technologies. VR and AR both enable users to experience stories, games and even meetings through life-like simulation and to be actively engaged in activities and interact with this simulated environment. Interactive technologies will continue to grow in popularity and will no doubt see further exciting developments that will enhance the event industry in the coming years.  

2. Engagement really matters 

For customers to really use event tech to its fullest they need to feel engaged with the product or service and the brand. They should have confidence that the technology they have chosen is going to be reliable and deliver the outcome they want, in event tech, one size doesn’t fit all. The tech provider needs to actively engage with their customers to ensure they get the most out of their product/service and feel confident in using the technology. To maximise customer confidence and experience, details such as support to resources and marketing materials through to the delivery of the technology can be personalised. Engagement technology that enhances an event or conference experience is also growing in popularity.

Engagement apps (like Vevox) can transform a conference or event by making it interactive for all attendees, as people can ask questions, take part in polls and have a say on the topics at hand. If you want to better understand the benefits of using an engagement app like Vevox, then read Why Vevox?  

3. The overall customer experience 

Whether your product is packed full of features or has a great USP, success and maximum adoption rests on great user experience.  

The customer experience essentially boils down to these 5 main points: 

1. How user-friendly and accessible your product is. 
2. ​The benefits vs. challenges (or perceived challenges) of your product/service. 
3. The level of support and resources that you can provide to help customers achieve their goals.  
4. Having a service level agreement for your customer support staff that includes a timely response rate for dealing with requests/issues and offering general help as well as technical support.  
5. Follow up with your customers to find out if your technology helped them to you achieve their goals/ROI?  

To win in a customer-led market, all event tech businesses need to deliver exceptional user-experiences and continue to add value to the customer experience. This value could be anything from creating an easier onboarding process or just listening to customer feedback to update functionality or to develop a much-requested feature. By having a customer-focused approach to your business, you will not only be winning new customers but you will be retaining existing ones them too! Here are Vevox, we love feedback from our customers and we consistently try to find ways that we can add value to our customer experience.  

All of the Vevox team (including our robot friend, Sanbot) thoroughly enjoyed another year at Event Tech Live. My personal highlight was seeing Vevox being used within all the sessions at the Brand and Buzz Stage and Festival and Future Stage. Vevox made these sessions interactive and allowed delegates to ask questions whenever they wanted through the messaging board and view other people’s comments.  

If you'd like to try a live polling and Q&A app for your meetings and events, then why not try Vevox for free! 

See you at Event Tech next year!