Events Are Personal. Tech Is Not. How the Two Are Reconciling
Photo Credit: Event attendees meet with one another. IMEX America 2019, Sands Expo, Las Vegas. Skift / Isaac Carey
Skift Take
Events are held for a reason: Companies know that face-to-face interactions and in-person experiences are vital for business. The only problem is that those things are notoriously hard to measure.
Event technology is becoming a hot sector, as software startups rush to solve the longstanding challenge of measuring attendee engagement.
In fact, many in the industry say the meetings sector will soon see a tech explosion — maybe as soon as within the next year or two — as companies realize the importance of gathering attendee data. Still, this enthusiasm may be overlooking one of the most fundamental and challenging aspects of events: They are personal. They are about relationships, experiences, and often emotions, something that is uniquely hard to quantify, and may require a more holistic approach.
“Online you know what people are doing. You can track every movement. But probably the most important interactions people have are in person at events. And that’s very different,” said Michael Burns, global head of sales and marketing for event software company Aventri.
The personal aspec
