At a big medical conference in Nebraska, around the time when palm tops were the ‘big thing’ in technology, event managers decided to incorporate the latest gadget into their event. The idea was to present each attendee, doctors by profession, with a palm-top that carried complete itinerary of the event. The event was a complete failure as the doctors were not used to the technology that was thrust upon them and had no idea how to use it. Did technology really serve its purpose? We think not. This gave us food for thought and EE got in touch with industry experts to get their thoughts on technology and its not-so-talked-about downside.
“I am not surprised few people talk about this. The key to a good communication is a keen insight into the target audience and a strong creative to engage the consumer. Technology is a mere tool to achieve this. Unfortunately, agencies and clients alike tend to get overwhelmed by the attractiveness of the technology and lose their way to the target audience. In such a situation, the target audience is likely to remember the technology engagement and even enjoy it but the brand message may well get lost. Often times, there is a desire amongst agencies and clients to be “the first” to use a technology and force fit into the event engagement, this too can be quite dangerous for the event / brand engagement,” says Atul Nath, MD, Candid Marketing.
People need to start using technology in the right ways and not just because it sounds ‘cool’ without thinking what they’re trying achieve through that technology. We also need to dwell upon how much time we are going to spend trying to learn the technology. The time saved in learning the technology could be used to offer the attendees a great experience. We need to ask ourselves the questions on how technology can make our event more efficient, attractive, and use it to support our objectives.
“Everything in moderation is good, you need technology when you really need it. You shouldn’t be forcing technology wherever you need it to happen. For example, for a small event that has about 200-300 people in the mall, I would like to focus my attention on the people. However, by adding a layer of live streaming, even though I’m able to increase the reach, I may not be able to do so as they may not be able to get the right product experience. But for a product like Bose, I need an increase in the level of technology. So it really depends on the product, type of audience and the number of people,” finishes Pratik Gupta, Director, Foxymoron.
