Your Touchless Tech Toolkit for a Pandemic-Proof Event
Top 5 Innovations in Touchless Tech You Need to Know About
You know the story well. What we thought were a few weeks working from home in mid-March 2020 turned into countless event cancellations, industry-wide layoffs and a complete overhaul of not only our personal lives but the way we do business as event professionals.
Thankfully, March 2020 feels like ancient history. As vaccines roll out and businesses flirt with normalcy, we are all eager to go back to business as usual and connect face-to-face with our peers again. After all, building and nurturing those human connections is what makes the event space so powerful as an advertising medium. But the reality is that our world has permanently changed, and it’s not enough to assume your attendee base is fully vaccinated. Here are the top innovations in touchless tech you need to know about to keep your staff and attendees safe and healthy.
1. Implement temperature screenings and high-tech health stations
Pre-screening physical attendees with touchless temperature scanning and offering high-tech UV sanitization stations or portable hand-wash stalls at strategic locations around your in-person or hybrid event is a must for ensuring the safety of your participants. Brands like CrowdRx or Health Pass by CLEAR offer large-scale or innovative screening solutions.
2. Utilize QR-code, biometric or NFC-wearable solutions for check-in, registration and ticketing
Touchless tech solutions for event registration, check-in, product and exhibitor interactions and peer-to-peer networking are a must in a post-pandemic world. Enable QR-coded or NFC (near-field communication, think Apple Pay) badges to make safe connections, and utilize biometric or facial recognition tech to streamline registration for in-person attendees at your hybrid event.
3. Explore heat mapping and beacon technology for risk regulation
What started out as buzzy technology to monitor real-time event traffic flow and increase ROI pre-COVID for big hitters like Digestive Disease Week, heat mapping for in-person events can now enable organizers to monitor traffic flow and keep viral risk at a minimum. In a similar vein, beacon technology can prompt proximity alerts to maintain social distancing guidelines and even aid in contract tracing.
4. Consider digital queuing for exhibitor/attendee matchmaking sessions
Brands like QLess offer remote queuing with SMS notifications and virtual call-back for attendee customer journeys that are not only efficient but safe.
5. Create exceptional digital experiences that delight, engage and educate
No matter what you offer in-person at your event, there will always be a subset of attendees who will not be swayed or would just prefer not to risk it. Uncertain times persist, and let’s face it: embracing digital event platforms is the future of events. We went from physical first to digital first, and it’s now more important than ever to consider all the digital tools available to you.
Virtual or hybrid events offer not only unmatched safety but incredible digital tools that allow organizers and exhibitors alike to analyze and utilize AI-technology to personalize the attendee experience; ways for attendees to opt-in digitally like never before so that exhibitors can really hone their lead gen game; engage in new and exciting ways with live Q&A, chat, polling and gamification elements; and lean in to the flexibility and accessibility of digital by creating a blend of live and on-demand educational content that gives attendees exactly what they want. 96% of surveyed attendees in CEIR’s 2018 Attendee ROI Playbook: Decision to Attend and Factors Driving Attendee ROI/Value attend events to learn, and education has historically been a top motivator for attendees of all ages and professional levels.
To roll out flawless virtual or hybrid events, you need to keep safety in mind for any in-person elements and play to the strengths of digital for the rest. Do not attempt to replicate onsite events with your digital counterpart. Ensure the virtual platform you use is as trouble-free as possible to minimize technology disruption, test all aspects of the program and make sure your content is top-notch.
To take it further, consider enabling a seamless platform that gives your attendees access to the learning, content and community of your event all year round. To learn more, schedule a demo with JUNO today.
As event organizers, you are responsible for creating a safe environment for all participants of your event. What are your go-to touchless solutions for keeping your attendees safe and engaged?
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