1. July 21 to July 22, 2015
Boston Quincy Marriott, Quincy, MA
Transforming Events with Beacon Technology
Michael Younder, VP of Growth

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§ Reality check of the event space
§ What are Beacons and how do they work?
§ How do Beacons drive analytics?
§ Benefits of Beacons and data analytics
§ What about privacy?
§ Brief case study: Infiniti
This Afternoon

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§ What hosts and exhibitors need and want from shows
today: engagement
› Hosts want a busy event with content resonating
with attendees and activity appealing to exhibitors
and sponsors
› Exhibitors and sponsors want to be with the right
prospects and see proof that this is the right show to
come back to
Reality Check

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§ How events and trade shows are supported today:
› Hardcopy resources like agendas, maps and sign-in
sheets
› Mobile apps
› Badge scanning hardware for lead capture and
traffic management
› Intuition and subjectivity (“the show looks busy”)
§ But…
Reality Check

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§ More can be done in capturing and understanding the
physical activity of those present at an event
§ Events that understand attendees are the most
successful:
› Hosts can get increased revenue from exhibitors
together with reduced churn
› Exhibitors can get the clearest line of sight yet on
booth activity for qualified lead generation
Reality Check

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Reality Check – Host Perspective
We just finished hosting
our 3 day event
Without Beacons With Beacons
Where did attendees
congregate the most?
I’ll poll my event team
and get feedback
A heat map can show me
exactly where peopled
dwelled the longest
We need to look for
areas to cut costs
Have review with my
ops team, look at
questionnaires, make
some guesses and
assumptions
A traffic map can show the
flow of people across
different areas or floors to
show where I don’t need
space
Exhibitors thought there
wasn’t enough traffic
Scanner data will show
people engaged… I’ll
check for more details
For each booth and zone
(e.g. demo or seminar), I
can see total attendance,
total time spent and
return visits

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Reality Check – Exhibitor Perspective
Thank you for coming to
our booth Simon
Without Beacons With Beacons
I forgot, were you there? Only if I scanned you Yes
When did you come by? Only if I scanned you 9:45 AM
How long did you stay? I don’t remember – 5
minutes?
13 minutes
Is this your second trip to
the booth?
Only if I scan you again No, you’ve come by three
times
Did you see a demo? I can’t remember –
maybe…
Yes, you spent 4 minutes
watching it
What else did you see
before coming here?
I don’t know unless I ask A seminar and related
content on the show floor

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§ Small, lightweight sensor that communicates via
Bluetooth LE
§ Battery powered (lasts for whole event)
§ Stuck or clipped in place
§ Wide range of sensitivity
What are Beacons and how do they work?

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What are Beacons and how do they work?

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What are Beacons and how do they work?
Sensor
… or by a
show app
via phone
BLE

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Where do Beacons work?

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§ Beacons are much less expensive when the event size,
hardware and deployment effort are considered
§ More flexible than RFID and easier to deploy (i.e.
lighter, less cumbersome equipment)
§ Beacons offer greater coverage (up to 30 times greater)
and accuracy (foot versus feet)
RFID versus Beacon

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RFID versus Beacon

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§ By explaining what a busy show or booth is and what
that means to the host and exhibitor
§ By showing data in multiple dimensions (visits, dwell
time and interest)
§ By knowing where someone is, and driving proximity
based messages and content that can then be tracked
How do Beacons drive analytics?

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§ Hard data supporting booth and sponsor traffic:
› Reduce booth churn and increase profile of the show
with activity reports:
§ Traffic per booth, aisle, cross section
§ Dwell time in sponsored or trade areas
§ Number of return visits
› Wins the business case for investing in solution
(based on booth rental and sponsorship rates won)
Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Host

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§ Proof of attendee engagement (which part of the show
got the most traffic and longest attention span)
towards better planning
§ Operational insights (e.g. help better determine where
resources are needed via traffic flow maps add content
about dark areas)
§ Proximity based message delivery to attendees
Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Host

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Host

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Host

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Host

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§ Get qualified lead information: who do you call on
Monday?
§ Know how long someone spent in a booth
§ Know how many times someone visited a booth
§ Know other show content that is most appealing to
attendees
§ Easy and simple data collection (no need to chase
people and grab badges)
Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Exhibitor

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Exhibitor

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Exhibitor

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Exhibitor

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Benefits of Beacons and analytics: Exhibitor

25. What about privacy?
§ Events and shows are fairly public to begin with:
› Attendees walk around with big name tags
› Attendees are shown on delegate lists or
questionnaires
› Attendees are scanned during the event (sometimes
mandatory for admission)
› Event apps capture usage patterns and profile data
from attendees
› Attendees are captured on security footage
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26. What about privacy?
§ Beacon technology is a variation of tracking already
being done, however:
› It can be modified to show anonymous traffic data
› It can be deployed on an opt-out basis at registration
› By taking sample data of a large population, not
everyone needs to be tracked:
§ Example: a 5,000 person event can have 588 attendees
tracked to achieve 99% +/- 5% confidence interval
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27. Case Study: Infiniti Cars
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28. Case Study: Infiniti Cars
§ A pilot for analytics and experiential marketing:
› Could solution stand the rigors of a busy consumer
auto show environment over four days?
› Could solution deliver meaningful metrics to the
exhibitor?
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29. Case Study: Infiniti Cars
§ Light up the booth:
› 10 cars and 3
zones included
for show
duration
› 66 tracked
locations in total
› 100 booth visits
simulated
› 15.7 million data
pings
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30. Case Study: Infiniti Cars
§ Rigors of the show
floor?
› No technical issues
experienced
› Misplaced only a
few of the 66
sensors after 4 days
› Manual intervention
was minimal
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31. Overall Conclusions
§ Reality check of the event space:
› Engagement is the word for hosts and exhibitors, to
resonate with the right audience
› There’s room for improvement: with Beacons versus
without
§ What are Beacons and how do they work?
› They’re small, easy to use and deploy, accurate and
better than RFID
› They can be deployed in lanyards or via an event app
› They can work everywhere
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32. Overall Conclusions
§ How do Beacons drive analytics?
› They define what “busy” means while delivering
powerful insight into show activity
§ Benefits of Beacons and data analytics:
› The host gets a clear line of sight on show traffic,
supporting tighter operations, reduced churn and a
better ROI
› Exhibitors get qualified leads and a clear
justification on their investment in the show
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33. Overall Conclusions
Privacy:
› Beacon technology is a variation on a theme to
what’s been tracked today (albeit, better)
› Solution is flexible and can accommodate attendee
opt-out where necessary
› Not everyone needs to be tracked in order to have a
meaningful sample of data
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34. Questions?
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35. Contact
Michael Younder
VP, Growth
Panvista Mobile
myounder@panvistamobile.com
More here: panvistamobile.com/features or find us at the
Red Diamond Congress
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