Highlights from Event Tech '15

Nearly 1,000 marketers, event specialists and most innovative marketing agencies gathered at Las Vegas for Event Tech, a conference and exposition on using social media and technology to optimize live experiences.

With over 100 insightful sessions, opportunity to test-drive multiple technologies, discussing & decoding successful case studies and the ultimate chance to network with the most creative marketing minds on the offer, Event Tech ’15 was certainly a place to be at.

However, for those of you who could not make it to the event. We bring to you some interesting updates directly from the confrence.

Day 1 of Event Tech began with 30 attendees hopping on the morning shuttle to the Mojave Desert for a two-hour hiking excursion.  The content of program however started with three workshops which were Drone University, Instagram Power Workshop and Viral Video Workshop.

The Drone University session was headed by Expert Drones CEO Brett Velicovich, who discussed about how drones could be creatively integrated into events safely. Author Jason Miles then, led a workshop on brand building through Instagram, and viral video architect Rob Bliss offered his tips, insights and strategies to create viral content for the social media.

Day 2 of Event Tech started off with Allen Adamson, author of the book Brand Digital, giving a keynote presentation on the challenges of communicating a brand story. Talking about it he said, “Precision is the key, there is very little that distinguishes your brand from its competitors and how you decode that 2 percent of difference is the secret to break the clutter.”

Later, the attendees headed to the EventTech campus from wherein they could choose from 5 learning labs for crisp, 30-minute sessions. The topics of these ranged from Anatomy of the viral video, digital+live strategies: creating ‘liquid’ experiences, neuromarketing-driven tech planning for b-to-b events, real-time video content: supercharge event buzz, the 411 on periscope and meerkat, lessons from mastercard: upping your b-to-b meetings tech game, live streaming events: inside coke’s e-sports playbook, virtual reality: best practices for using VR and choosing the perfect hashtag: the power of # and others.

Next, the Event Technology Awards saw the best digital and technology integrated events winning top honors.  In the most popular categories, The Gold in the Best Use of a Single Technology (B-to-C) 
 was bagged by Merell for its Trailscape campaign that used oculus rift to make people feel like they were walking around a crumbling ledge and over a treacherous wooden bridge high in the mountains.




The sliver in the same category was won by Survive the Strain of FX networks. The campaign was VR Experience to promote season two of the FX Networks horror drama series ‘The Strain’ and followed the story’s character as he lead viewers on a 360º journey through an abandoned warehouse, while under constant threat of attack from vampires.

In the category of Best Use of a Single Technology (B-to-B). The Gold was awarded to Microsoft for its initiatives at Worldwide Partner Conference 2015. The computer brand at the conference had used technologies like Hololens, Project GigJam, Cortana Analytics Suite and LiveTiles to create a surreal life like experience.

The Best Digital+Live Campaign was won by Verizon #WhosGonnaWin.  The campaign WhosGonnaWin gave all NFL fans a chance to let everyone know which team they are rooting for.  Fans could visit WhosGonnaWin.com and use Google Street View to decorate houses in team colors and share those decorations socially with friends.  On NFL Mobile, fans could also claim territory for their team by rapidly clicking within their designated zip code to take over the #WhosGonnaWin map.

The Silver in the same category was won by #DellLounge Powered by Windows 10 by Dell, Microsoft. The campaign featured a lighting lounge created by Lacy Maxwell Productions.



The Bronze in this category was won by Untameable Tour of Bacardi created by GMR Marketing. The Bacardi Untameable Tour combined the latest beats with killer cocktails to ignite the most passionate music fans in the bar, at music festivals and at the after-party.

In another category of Best Audience Interaction Gold was awarded to Coke Zero Drinkable Billboard. For the campaign Ogilvy & Mather installed a "drinkable billboard" that shot soda through a massive straw into a public drinking fountain.

Coke Zero in the campaign activity was flown through 4,500 feet of straw to spell out "Taste It." Then the liquid traveled from the bottom of the billboard to a sampling area with six fountain spouts where people can taste the soda.

The Silver Winner in this category was Ignite Launch by Puma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0whqsvHPw5E

The campaign saw New Yorkers harnessing running energy in Times Square with an epic group run. Their energy was collected, and upon reaching 100%, Usain Bolt, the World’s Fastest Man, appeared to officially reveal Ignite.

The day 2 of event tech continued with more sessions and ended with EventTech group networking dinner at Carmine’s.

The final day of the conference concluded with 35 final sessions on topics ranging from geofencing technologies, particle photons, internet and others.