16 July 2018

Is the "Internet of Things" turning attendees into things?

Beacons, apps, sensors, smart badges and cameras enable the precise measurement of visitor flows, whereabouts and the behaviour of trade fair participants. Trade fair organisers hope to gain in-depth insights into their visitors with this wealth of data collected by the increasing number of connected devices at trade fairs. But what happens to the individual needs, hopes and wishes of each visitor - are they forgotten? Is the Internet of Things (IoT) turning visitors into things?

 

PRESENTATION ON DIGITAL DISRUPTION AT THE UFI GLOBAL CONGRESS IN JOHANNESBURG

 

At the UFI Global Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, in November 2017, Gunnar Heinrich (CEO adventics & Scan2Lead) gave a presentation on "Digital Disruption" together with his colleagues from the Digital Innovation Committee Stephan Forseilles (easyfairs) and Matthias Tesi Baur (MBB-Media). Various controversial and thought-provoking topics were presented to the audience, stimulating a lively debate on the pros and cons of each topic.


VIEW OF THE AUDIENCE ON THE TOPIC

 

The majority of the audience disagreed with the statement, but not by a large margin (54% vs. 46%). Various arguments were exchanged during the presentation. Below is a brief summary of what was discussed by the experts on site, Tesi Baur and Gunnar Heinrich:

 

Pro:

  • Yes, because our devices will make decisions for us.
  • Yes, if we don't mature in our digital behaviour and learn how to deal critically with the decisions made by our devices.
  • The VW emissions scandal has shown that devices will tell us what we want to believe so that we are willing to buy more services.
  • Our devices will become our own little echo chamber. Diversity will not generate business for any one company. This principle already works brilliantly for Facebook.

 

Contra:

  • If we work with absolute transparency, we can prevent our visitors from feeling like things.
  • Visitors are more than biological robots carrying around our beloved RFID tags.
  • And finally, it's all about value again. We need to offer our visitors real added value when we use modern technologies. An electronic shopping bag for digital brochures is definitely not enough.
  • We will still have a face-to-face business in the future and not a gadget-to-gadget. Only face-to-face can generate trust

 

STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE UFI DIGITAL INNOVATION COMMITTEE

 

This article is based on Stephan Forseille's post "Is IOT turning out attendees into THINGS?" in the UFI Digital Innovation group on LinkedIn. Stay in touch and up to date on digital innovation in the exhibition industry.

 

Join our LinkedIn group ("UFI Digital Innovation Group" or http://www.ufidigital.com) or follow us on Twitter (@UFIDigital). Join your fellow experts in the event industry, become part of the community and shape the future of events together.

 

Join us at the next Digital Innovation Group Focus Meeting: Once a year, we invite CIOs, marketing managers, IT specialists and anyone interested in the digital transformation of our event industry to a Focus Meeting. In addition to interesting talks and presentations, the three finalists for the UFI Digital Innovation Award also present their solutions at the Focus Meeting. Take part and vote for the winner.

Munich, 16. July 2018, © adventics GmbH