From a technological perspective, events have evolved greatly over the past few years. Services that were once considered luxuries are now essential to having a great event. However, not all venues and locations have caught up with the times. We look at how event organizers can take advantage of new technologies like event apps even when connections are less than ideal.
We all know the feeling. You are an event organizer who shows up at a venue, ready to host an amazing event, and the first thing you see is no bars. Its both frustrating and detrimental to your event. Plus, event attendees have come to expect strong mobile service and wi-fi to keep them connected throughout your event.
So how do you plan an event where you know network connection will be minimal? After experiencing these conditions at various events, we came up with a few tips below:
1) Know before you plan
Visiting a venue before booking for an event is common, but measuring connection while you are there is also essential. It is very difficult to plan for technology use when you don’t know the situation. There are many tools to help you in the process from getting connection maps to getting venue-provided wi-fi range and speed statistics.
2) Don’t make essential functions depend on connection
It is easy to fall in love with the latest technology, but anything that requires connection is useless when one is not available. That is why its important to make sure functions like registration, audience response, and media should all be available without requiring connection. The worst thing that can happen is not letting your event move forward because the wi-fi is spotty.
3) Make sure your event app works offline
Event apps have become pretty essential to conferences, trade shows, and exhibitions, but not having connection can make them useless. Make sure you event app is available offline and allows attendees to view important information, whether there is a connection or not.
4) Think about third-party solutions
When connection is limited, sometimes its necessary to get your own. There are a variety of vendors that will create temporary wi-fi networks or boost cell signals at your venue to ensure that if you need a connection, you have one.