Tradefair ticketing systems

"TRADE FAIR TICKETING: IT'S TIME FOR INNOVATION NOW“

WHY SHOULD TRADE FAIR ORGANISERS RETHINK THEIR TICKETING SYSTEMS RIGHT NOW?

I can clearly see a positive side to the current exceptional situation. Because now is precisely the time for innovation. If a trade fair organiser wants to implement innovations at the moment, they will find the ideal conditions. The lack of day-to-day business makes updates of any kind easier - if you don't have to sell tickets at the moment, it's easier to reorganise the ticketing system. What's more, exhibitors and visitors are very understanding of change at the moment. I would even say they are literally expecting it.

HOW DOES AN IDEAL TICKET SYSTEM THAT CAN FULLY REALISE ITS POTENTIAL LOOK LIKE?

(laughs) That can definitely only be answered in the context of the requirements of the respective trade fair organisation. There is no such thing as a "one size fits all" system. Functions and characteristics depend very much on the respective requirements: How small or large is the trade fair, how international is its focus, does it primarily organise trade fairs or exhibitions for the general public? Should it also be used to manage the congress business? Should foreign subsidiaries work with the system? There is always a suitable ticketing system for every application. You just have to find the right solution.

A modern ticket system should definitely be capable of integration and interaction in the future. It must also definitely be able to grow with the requirements of a trade fair organisation. Right now, many want to be able to incorporate new options: Ticket allocation due to the limitation of visitor numbers or registrations for hybrid or virtual events are two popular current examples. If you have the right systems, this is easy. Others can quickly run into problems if partners do not go along with the conversion, expensive programming becomes necessary or systems simply cannot grow with them.

WHICH POTENTIALS ARE THERE FOR EXISTING TICKET SYSTEMS?

The entire area of registration and ticketing systems is under enormous pressure to innovate. In the past, it was enough to sell tickets and let people in, but now more is rightly demanded. The most important formula has been the same for some time now: Tickets are given in exchange for data. And registration is still the most important system for obtaining the basis of participant data.

There is a lot going on in Europe and Asia at the moment, with many interesting new projects. As mentioned, ticketing systems must always be viewed very much in the respective business context. Nevertheless, I see the main pressure to innovate in the area of data handling. Invitations and the entire topic of monitoring are crucial here. The generation and management of profiles, data management and data connectors, and things that have long been considered solved, such as invitation and guest card management, will keep the industry busy for some time to come. I personally would not place such a high priority on the implementation of different payment systems, which some consider to be crucial.

I see the second major area of innovation pressure in the integration options for virtual platforms. This is a very important issue, especially for hybrid events, when existing events are extended into the digital space.

Some systems are already prepared for this, but is this also the case for providers? In the past, some found it easier if only requirements were implemented and no innovations were introduced from outside. That's why I prefer to add "Where is the innovation potential of the systems?" to the question "Where is the pressure to innovate?". This of course also applies to their operators.

IS CORONA ACCELERATING THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW TICKETING SYSTEMS?

Definitely. On the one hand, much more data is available due to regulatory constraints. For example, all public exhibitions must now be fully registered. This is a requirement that many previously thought was not possible or in any case not necessary. And secondly, virtual and hybrid elements are here to stay in the medium and long term due to coronavirus. To implement them successfully, you need perfect data. The better the data, the more and more suitable participants and the more successful the event.

Corona is accelerating the pressure to innovate. Organisers have to ensure compliance with official requirements or need support for virtual events. We are all seeing a strong shift towards additional digital business models. Digital business is here to stay and will continue to expand, but it is difficult to operate successfully without a system foundation.

The only downside is that the budget situation is unfortunately under pressure. Colleagues on short-time working, budget discipline and cost-cutting constraints are hampering the implementation of urgently needed updates. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that now is the ideal time to change the system. We have fewer events now and when they do take place, they are smaller. 2023 will be too late, when business has picked up again and my competitors will have long since overtaken me.

HOW WILL THE TICKET SYSTEM LOOK LIKE IN THE FUTURE?

If we knew that, we would have built it already (laughs). There are already a number of theories on the ticket system of the future around the world, including in the digital working group of the International Federation of the Exhibition Industry (UFI).

The market expects various elements in the ticket system of the future. On the one hand, there is the controversially discussed face recognition technology, which is set to completely replace registration and admission control at some point. But even before that, it will be possible to minimise registration issues in advance. The signs are generally pointing towards acceleration: Important profile information such as interests can be collected during the visitor journey after entering the trade fair event. In the best case scenario, those who are also well positioned in terms of 360-degree visitor management will have optimised the admission process in a customer-friendly way and still have the best possible data situation.

THE TICKETING SYSTEM SEEMS TO BE A SURE-FIRE SUCCESS FOR ADVENTICS.

Yes, it really is and has been since the company was founded in 2006. Our experience with ticketing systems is even in the company name. Adventics is made up of the words "adventor", Latin for visitor, and "tics", short for tickets. Before we founded adventics, we had all gained experience with various ticketing systems since the early 1990s. We then pooled this experience under the company umbrella. We do this home game with many renowned partners on the European trade fair market, such as ADITUS, dimedis, axess and many others.

Over this long period of time, we have been able to realise many European projects in terms of consulting, supplier selection and support during implementation. We have also developed our own methodology for ticketing systems. Over the years, our client enquiries have resulted in an extensive catalogue of requirements, use cases and international best practices. Our expertise with EU tenders is also a reassuring advantage for our European trade fair clients, who often have public sector shareholders. This has made us the provider with the largest number of possible building blocks on the market, from which we can then offer the right elements for our customers. This wealth of expertise means that we can work faster and more cost-effectively to the point and in the interests of our clients.

Munich, November 13, 2020, © adventics GmbH