Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events:
Live management tools provide new opportunities to boost ROI
A Frost & Sullivan White Paper
Sponsored by
frost.com
Introduction...................................................................................................................................................................... 3
In-person Events Matter Now More than Ever........................................................................................................3
The Value of Applying Technology to In-person Events...........................................................................................4
Features and Functions Critical for Success..............................................................................................................8
What to Look for in a Provider...................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Conte nt s
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
Introduction
As technology continues to change the way so much of business gets done, one area is frequently overlooked: live
event management. Most organizations manage in-person events with a hodge-podge of software applications, each
of which might handle only a small part of the process—registration, promotions, expenses and revenue tracking,
project planning, and so on. And there are few options for managing what may be the most difficult part of running
an event—planning the agenda, recruiting speakers, evaluating submissions, handling booth assignments, and so on—
which is why most event planners resort to Excel spreadsheets, sticky notes, and other old-school “technology.”
But effective event management requires a 360-degree view, as well as integrations with marketing- and salesautomation applications and services. In-person events can and should deliver measurable value to the producers, the
speakers, and the attendees. According to Hubspot,1 organizations spend nearly 20% of their marketing budget on
events, and that doesn’t include the resources required to manage the events when they occur. But how can planners
and the organizations they work for determine actual return on investment if they can’t track all the elements that
go into a successful event? They can’t. And that’s where event-management software comes in.
Streamlining event management is essential for these organizations, and software
plays a big role.
A full-fledged event-management tool will include a large number of features specifically designed to make it easier
to create, plan, market, host, and leverage an event. Modules should include registration, website design and support,
email and other marketing campaigns, and surveys. But enterprise customers—as well as non-profits and other
organizations that run events “for a living”—will need more advanced capabilities, too. These span everything from
budgeting and location identification; to meeting-room scheduling, seating, and booth allotments; to a built-in RFP
tool that allows meeting planners to automate the process of soliciting, qualifying, selecting, and communicating with
travel and hospitality vendors from initial inquiry to contract.
At every point along the way, users should be able to seamlessly enter information into the system, knowing it will
populate across modules and deliver consistent reports and metrics. And it should integrate with the most popular
marketing- and sales force-automation tools, including saleforce.com, Eloqua, and Marketo; travel apps and services;
and various mobile platforms and services.
This paper will introduce the need for event-management software, discuss the features and functions critical
to success, and highlight what to look for in a provider to see maximum return on investment from each and
every event.
In-person Events Matter Now More than Ever
As popular as they are, online interactions cannot replace in-person ones, and smart businesses still use live, realworld events to bring people together, highlight their brands, share information and contacts, train and educate
attendees, make personal connections, and, of course, close new deals. In fact, according to the 2015 B2B Content
Marketing Report, 77% of B2B marketers use in-person events as part of their marketing strategies.2 Whether they
are hosting an event themselves, or participating in a large industry conference, these organizations know that there
is no true substitute for bringing like-minded people together to network, share ideas, and literally get their hands
on new products and services.
1 http://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/fascinating-event-marketing-stats
2 https://www.sensiblemarketing.com/blog/100-b2b-content-marketing-statistics-for-2015
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
3
Creating Meaningful Customer Engagement
This has never been truer than it is today, as more and more of us spend significant time away from our colleagues,
partners, and customers. Whereas just a few years ago we could count on seeing our fellow employees, regular
business partners, and key clients in person on a regular basis, these days we are much more likely to interact over
email, instant messaging, and social media. But while those technologies have many advantages, something does get
lost in all this “virtualization”—we have a harder time making connections, deepening relationships, building brand
loyalty, and understanding the value of the work we, and others, are doing every day. Live events can’t replace the
daily face time that used to be the hallmark of business, but they can help companies and employees bridge the gaps.
Social Media Marketing Can Boost Real-world Attendance
Although it may seem like social media is the enemy of real-life events, smart marketers are using the technology
to create buzz, attract attendees, and build community before, during, and after their events. Indeed, social
media should be part of a larger marketing strategy. Here are three ways in which social media can help you
achieve success:
• Create Awareness Social media lets you identify and engage with your target audience in ways never before
possible. With real-time tracking, you can see who is interested in your topics, sessions, and sponsors; what
is driving that interest; and whether you (or they) are encountering any roadblocks along the way. Then,
you can tailor your programming to meet your prospective attendees’ needs, ensuring they will come and
get significant value from the event.
• Support Attendees On site, social can help you do everything from communicating changes to the program
and sending out surveys and questionnaires, to creating ad-hoc user groups and reacting to real-time
responses on the fly.
• Build Ongoing Community Social lets you extend the event into the virtual world after everyone has gone
home, which, in turn, helps deepen brand loyalty and foster meaningful connections among attendees. By
monitoring and feeding these conversations, you get excellent feedback about the event itself, as well as
insight into what resonated, what questions remain, and how to make it an even better experience next time.
The Value of Applying Technology to In-person Events
Events are only as good as the experiences they deliver. Anything planners can do to ensure every attendee gets
exactly what he or she is looking for will not just result in higher satisfaction scores, but also higher revenues.
Technology, which has transformed so many industries and job roles over the past several years, is now doing
the same for the event business. New, effective tools are making it easy for planners to design, staff, and market
the event; deliver excellent communications during the event itself; and follow up with attendees and no-shows,
extending the contacts and communication for long-term effect and maximum benefits.
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All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
A complete event-management solution should be able to help an organization achieve three critical goals:
1.Enliven and personalize the experience, which will affect an attendee’s current and future behavior;
2.Empower the user to be in control of the entire event life cycle, to optimize event management within the
company; and
3.Maximize ROI by leveraging data and analytics to engage prospects and participants all along the value chain—
before, during, and after the event.
Source: etouches
Not surprisingly, event marketers and planners are looking for ways to leverage their registration systems, social
media presence, messaging, data collection and analytics to target, engage, and convert attendees weeks or months
before an event. Doing so ensures higher attendance rates, richer and more personalized experiences, and better
outcomes for the business and its customers. Then, smart marketers leverage the same information for months and
even years after the live meeting to continue the conversation, cement their position as a thought leader, and drive
more participation down the road. This feeds into other campaigns or marketing and sales initiatives.
Frost & Sullivan research shows that in 2013, more than 5 million annual events
and meetings were held around the world, reaching roughly 512 million attendees
and comprising more than $500 billion in spending.
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
5
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
Let’s look at the three key areas in which event management software can turn a good event into a great one:
Before the Event. The pre-event stage is a critical time for planners as it sets the tone for the rest of the event process.
Event technology will help marketers stay focused on event goals and deadlines, resulting in a better outcome for
the organization. The first step in almost any planned event is sourcing: identifying and securing everything from the
event location, hotels, catering, venues for ancillary activities and parties, and all the materials that will be needed
on site (such as badges, lanyards, printed collateral, signage, and so on). Software should help with all these needs by
allowing users to locate, procure, and track all necessary materials and locations.
Once you have sourced your event location, you need to start marketing your event. With today’s technology, there
is no reason to treat all prospects and attendees the same. Instead, marketers should customize content, planning,
schedules, and even networking opportunities for each participant, based on their wants, needs, job roles, geographic
location, industry, interests, and so on. One person might be attending specifically to meet like-minded peers to
share stories and pick their brains for best-practices advice; they should be presented with lots of opportunities to
meet fellow attendees in both casual and formal settings. Another person might be interested in learning new skills,
earning certifications, and returning home with an experience they can put on their resume; they should be targeted
with educational content, relevant tracks and sessions, and so on. Use this information to create customized emails,
campaigns, ads, etc., that will appeal to a specific attendee type.
Building community is a big part of the pre-event effort, and it will likely take place on social media. Here, planners
can develop a reputation for thought leadership through online content (including papers, infographics, podcasts,
and webinars). They can also nurture “birds-of-a-feather” groups, allowing them to connect and interact virtually,
well before they ever meet in person. Finally, organizers can also use technology to tweak their event before it takes
place, based on the reactions and trending topics they’re seeing on social media and other channels.
All these pre-event tasks are essential in allowing you to create an event that is set up for a strong return on
investment. By collecting information about how your attendees react to your content, you can analyze and pivot
before the event to ensure that they will have a positive experience.
Using technology to drive event attendance and success has multiple benefits, but it also
comes with a requirement: transparency. People will expect event organizers to share
information as soon as they get it, including lists of attendees (with as much relevant
details as possible, so people can find camaraderie easily), changes to the venue or
program, and ways to contact speakers in advance with thoughts or questions.
During the Event. The event itself is of course the busiest time for marketers and planners, but it’s also one of the
best times to take advantage of event-management tools. It should start with registration, which today should be a
fully automated process that attendees can handle on their own at a kiosk or scanner. Once they scan their barcode
and/or ID, print a badge, and receive a personalized agenda, they’re ready to go—without a wait.
Indeed, that personalization should carry throughout the event—starting with messaging attendees on their
preferred platform or mobile app. The goal here is to inform them of changes, of course, but also to suggest
sessions or booths they might like (based on other sessions they’ve attended or booths they’ve visited), people
they might want to meet (based on their mutual interests and needs), and special opportunities they might enjoy
(say, a cocktail reception or a bus tour, depending, again, on their past behavior and posts). Many companies are
doing this through mobile apps, which can push reminders about start/end times, or alert vendors or hosts to the
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All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
presence of a VIP. Geolocation and/or RFID data makes it possible for event organizers to alert attendees to a
relevant booth, session, or meal as they make their way around the venue.
Organizers also can use mobile apps and other platforms to collect data during the event through QR codes
and iBeacons—the data from which can be used to personalize the event experience. Indeed, this behavioral
information can be useful on site—for adjusting session sizes or topics, say—as well as in the post-event debriefing.
Offering small “prizes,” including coupons, shirts, and sweet treats, can encourage attendees to share information
all day long. The data can also serve as an incentive for sponsors. As an event organizer, if you are looking to gain
more sponsorships, let potential exhibitors and sponsors know about the data that will be collected around their
booth or sponsored event. You will be able to let them know how many people visited their booth or session,
how long they were engaged and what they shared during that time. It will create added value for exhibitors.
Organizers can also use the platform to extend the conversation after conference hours by posting new content
from speakers, attendees, and the hosts themselves even as the event is taking place. By using these cross-platform
discussions to create buzz, organizers ensure that attendees are as excited about the event on the last day as they
were on the first.
Mobility is mandatory for communication at today’s events. Assume everyone is
on the go all the time. Attendees will have a smartphone or tablet handy; make
sure the venue has excellent Wi-Fi, and that you offer information in multiple
mobile-first formats—ideally, through a custom app.
After the Event. Today’s events are not limited to their real-time life. Indeed, marketers may find the best return
on investment comes after the event, when attendees are looking to leverage the information they learned and the
contacts they made. Social media, combined with microsites, apps, and targeted online communities, help organizers
create a place for attendees to interact with them and their peers for months and years to come. Analyzing activities
and interests after the event can funnel into the sales pipeline, continuously qualifying leads based on new actions and
information. Combining the data you collected at the event with online analytics and website statistics lets you offer
post-event content specifically targeted to each attendee.
The key is constantly creating new, targeted, relevant content that will keep attendees coming back—not just to
your in-person events, but to your online community, too. You know what they want—you’ve been collecting data
on them for weeks or months. Use it to offer education, news, and discussion around topics of proven interest to
any given person. That will generate more clicks, which will generate more comments and likes, deepening the sense
of community. The next time you offer an event, attendees of the first one are more likely to return—as well as
purchase goods and services in the interim.
Right after an event, attendees decide whether they will attend again, buy the
products they tested, and continue or grow their relationship with the organizer or
brand that produced the event.
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
7
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
Features and Functions Critical for Success
Advanced event marketing software lets planners achieve their goals, generate and track ROI, and focus on the user
experience. To do so, it should have an array of functionality to cover the basics and beyond. Here are the four main
categories to pay attention to:
• Marketing and Content An event is only as good as its content, but managing submissions and selecting
abstracts to turn into live presentations can be an overwhelming task. A good tool will handle a variety of
selection processes and integrate with scheduling and speaker databases, eliminating the need to copy-andpaste speaker profiles and session descriptions into the agenda. Reviewers should be able to easily evaluate
submissions, and administrators should be able to quickly approve the resulting sessions and speakers.
Likewise, marketers should be able to create a custom website that looks professional and is easy to
navigate and use, without the need for coding skills; widgets and templates should make it simple to design
your page, with all the necessary content and features. Finally, marketers need a way to create and manage
professional email campaigns to promote an event and communicate with the target audience. The ability to
track click-throughs lets you see whether your campaigns are working; included banner ads will yield more
revenue and sponsorship opportunities.
• Registration and Logistics Sourcing venues can be a time-consuming and costly process, and yet it is an
obvious and necessary first step for any event. A good venue-sourcing app lets meeting planners automate
the RFP process of soliciting, qualifying, selecting, and communicating with travel and hospitality vendors
from initial inquiry to contact. You should be able to identify, assess, and price everything from conference
rooms to guest quarters, catering to signage. Once you have your venue, it’s time to start the registration
process. Event registration should be secure and comprehensive, offering everything from payments to
reporting. The ability to customize registration workflows and receive real-time reporting lets marketers
gather and analyze the data they deem important. A good tool should cover submission and registration
management, invitations, badges, certificates, housing and travel management, and reporting. Customizable
branding and pricing are important, too, along with the ability to process payments and send personalized
emails as needed. At the same time, you’ll be attracting and confirming exhibitors; software users should be
able to access a visual floor plan to easily show sponsors where their booths will be and the overall layout
of the event space, and make changes on the fly as needed. Finally, room and inventory management apps
let meeting planners allocate their meeting rooms and equipment among scheduled sessions, sponsors,
and exhibitors. Drag-and-drop tools can make it easy to assign sessions to rooms, stipulate set-up and A/V
requirements, and generate custom reports to ensure that walk-throughs with vendors, staff, or clients
go well.
BIGGEST PAIN POINTS WHEN IT
COMES TO EVENT CONTENT
BIGGEST PAIN POINTS WHEN IT
COMES TO MARKETING YOUR EVENT
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Source: etouches
8
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
• Engagement and Mobile Surveys should be integrated with registration, so that as soon as you’ve created a
list of registrants, you can send surveys automatically. Matchmaking is also an important part of live events,
and yet it can be one of the most challenging aspects to enable. A good software solution should make
it easy to allow participants to connect privately and securely before the event, and for them to request
and schedule on-site meetings and briefings. Automation can make the process even better by matching
vendors and attendees with similar interests and backgrounds. Mobile Apps keep planners, speakers, and
attendees up to date on everything from the agenda to the location of specific sessions and meetings, to lastminute changes to the schedule. Attendees want access to a list of sessions with speaker bios, matchmaking
opportunities, live polls, and other information, while planners can use monetization features such as banner
ads, sponsored push notifications, and premium listings to increase revenues and boost their brand.
• Data and ROI An event can only be seen as a success if you meet the goals decided upon during the
inception of your event. Success can be determined by the net revenue the event produces, satisfaction of
stakeholders, high levels of engagement, etc. Project management tools are a good way to ensure you’re
using your resources effectively, but look for one that is specifically designed for hosting live events. This will
keep the team on track and on time by creating tasks, assigning responsibilities to specific employees, and
developing timelines specially created for event management—ensuring you never run over budget. But it’s
also important to take advantage of the reams of data available to event planners. Survey responses, mobile
app use, and scanning attendee behavior and attendance helps organizers see what content and sessions
most resonated with the audience, and which exhibitors received the most interest. This information can
help the manager tweak the event itself on the fly to improve outcomes in real time, and generate leads for
themselves and their sponsors for follow-up after the show. Both will have a positive impact on the ROI.
Finally, budgeting software facilitates control and tracking of event costs, revenues, and overall financial
performance. It should include a simple tool to input expenses and track revenue against real-time data,
allowing managers to ensure costs are not outpacing revenues.
Finally, all these components should be integrated with each other and with back-end applications to a thriving
ecosystem that event planners and marketers can use throughout the life of the event, and well after it’s done.
Source: etouches
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
9
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
Integration is Key
As valuable as they are on their own, event-planning tools are better when they are fully integrated with
leading CRM and automated-marketing applications, including salesforce.com, Eloqua, Marketo, and Silverpop.
Such integration ensures that all data is shared among the various apps that need it, protecting its integrity and
smoothing the way for seamless processes around the event itself, marketing, follow-up, future sales activities,
and so on. Out-of-the-box integration should be standard for the most popular applications in the space; custom
work should be enabled by APIs and other toolkits, supported by professional services as needed.
What to Look for in a Provider
As important as event-management software is, choosing the right provider is critical. Look for an integrated solution
that works well with other providers’ applications, and which supports the following capabilities:
• Robust and Innovative Feature Set A complete event software solution should include a wide variety of
functionality to meet all your planning needs—before, during, and after the event. Make sure your choice
includes modules to help with registration, website design, marketing, surveys, networking, seating, sourcing,
venue management, exhibition and inventory management, project management, budgeting, content
planning and design, mobile apps, and attendee interaction. You should look for a provider that offers an
integrated solution that works closely with other best-in-class solutions to provide clients with a one-stop
shop for event planning. A provider that plays well with others will work to your benefit: realizing that many
organizations already have a sales and marketing ecosystem in place, they make it easy for you to connect
your existing solutions into your platform, creating a complete ecosystem.
Source: etouches
• Reliable and Knowledgeable Support All software and services require some level of support, but with live
events it’s absolutely critical that users be able to get access to knowledgeable tech staff 24/7. As event
planners know, staging a conference starts months before the actual event, and the days leading up to the
proceedings generally run around the clock; similarly, event staff are often making last-minute changes and
tweaks throughout the event itself, often late into the night. These dedicated team members need to know
that the technology tools they’re using to streamline and improve the process will work every time; when
they encounter problems or bugs, they need immediate access to support personnel who understand not
just the software, but also the event market and the processes (and urgency) that go with it. If you’re using
a platform with mobile apps, make sure the provider will also support your end users (i.e., attendees and
exhibitors) and a wide variety of devices and operating systems.
• Global Footprint Regardless of where an event is held, it’s likely that many attendees and exhibitors are
coming from far-flung locations around the country or even the world. Likewise, many organizations host
events around the globe, servicing customers, prospects, and partners in multiple regions, cultures, and
languages. Choose a software solution that delivers a global experience—with support and customer service
available anywhere, in multiple languages, and via a variety of channels (including Web based, email, phone,
and social media).
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All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
Technology Can Maximize the Value of Real-life Events
• Secure Platform As you use your event management software, you’ll be populating it with an enormous
amount of confidential and proprietary information. All you contacts—including registrants, attendees,
sponsors, suppliers, and exhibitors—will be in the system, along with critical details on venues, speakers,
materials, and so on. You’ll also be collecting a wealth of data on the participants, ranging from what
they do, where they go, who they like, and more. And you’ll have a vast store of content, ranging
from PowerPoint presentations and infographics to videos and podcasts. All of it needs to be secure—
protected from malware, of course, but also searchable and archived for future use, and safely integrated
with other applications.
APIs and Gateways should make it easy to integrate your event-management
solution with popular marketing, sales, CRM, payment, and social software
systems. Look for out-of-the-box integrations with salesforce.com, Eloqua,
Marketo, Silverpop, and other leading automation applications; APIs will allow you
to customize data exchange for other tools or business processes as needed.
Conclusion
Event management software delivers multiple benefits to event planners and organizations alike. By putting structure
and data collection and analysis around what has traditionally been an ad-hoc and rather chaotic process, these
applications can improve the attendee experience, the value to your sponsors and exhibitors, and the overall return
on investment. By investing in an event management solution, organizers are not only adding more structure to their
strategies and marketing plans, they are adding a better user experience as well. Attendees will be offered a more
personalized experience during the event, one that they might not have had without the assist from technology.
Additionally, stakeholders will have access to much more concrete data on their investment.
Event organizers will also have a more unified marketing process overall. By putting in place event management
software that allows them to better manage their event before, during, and after the show, organizers can achieve a
higher ROI. By using the tools to source venues and related materials; recruit speakers and create content; market
the event; collect real-time data on what’s working and what isn’t; personalize the experience for attendees based
on their interests and needs; deliver actionable follow-up with participants; and integrate with other back-office
software, including marketing and sales-automation tools, event marketers can ensure the time and resources they
put into each activity pay off in spades.
Successful event marketers are realizing that tracking website, registration, and
on-site data can help them learn more about attendees—and then use that
information to create offerings that deliver better outcomes and higher revenues.
Frost & Sullivan strongly recommends that event marketers evaluate, purchase, and deploy event-management
software—including tools for registration, website development, content submission and selection, mobile apps,
resource sourcing, email marketing, networking enablement, seating and booth management, and more.
Consider using professional services to get the most out of your new applications. Experts can help you do everything
from design the perfect website or mobile app to customizing registrations and social networking capabilities to meet
the specific needs of your organization.
All rights reserved © 2016 Frost & Sullivan
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E: [email protected]
About etouches
etouches global event management software solution is a success oriented and cloud-based platform
that delivers innovative technology solutions to streamline the event process and increase ROI.
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses
the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today’s market participants. For more than 50 years,
we have been developing growth strategies for the Global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community.
Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive
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