Better Shows Through Better Technology

Industry innovators are constantly developing new products and services to make life easier for show managers (and their customers). Here's a look at a few of them.

• Sponsors find events
  SponsorFest, a new technology from Festival Media, finds targeted audiences for sponsors. The copyrighted Web-based planning, purchasing and measurement tool searches out the most effective sponsorship opportunities from a database with more than 45,000 events worldwide.
  Users can select events according to their program's goals, demographics, location, size and cost. Festival Media negotiates and purchases the sponsorship rights on behalf of the sponsor or its agent, using SponsorFest as the transaction platform.
  Jim Shanklin, Festival Media executive vice president, said SponsorFest saves time and money in reviewing and selecting events and measuring sponsorship results.
  "Tradeshows provide an excellent sponsorship opportunity to promote products or services that can be integrated with an event to stimulate brand awareness," he said.
  For more information, go to www.festivals.com.
• Really, everything online
  PennWell, which has offered Event Management Communications' EMSystem Online Exhibitor Manual for its European and Asian events since 2001, will offer it now also in the United States. The kit provides exhibitors with general service contractor, facility and specialty contractor services online.
  Plenty of suppliers now offer their exhibitor kits online, said Lee Haggan, Event Management Communications vice president of global sales, but the difference with EMSystem is that the show manager can give all the parties who distribute information the opportunity to be part of a one-stop shop for exhibitors, where everybody communicates in real time and shares common data. Exhibitor profiles, orders, payments and registration flow automatically to their proper places, with show management monitoring progress at every step.
  Organizers, contractors and facilities can use it to enhance customer service and improve bottom lines. "If you have Internet access, you can review your show database any time for the latest information," Haggan said.
  John Riddle, president of Riddle & Associates, used the EMSystem for the first time at Clean '07/World Educational Congress for Laundry & Drycleaning. "Our exhibitors thought it was great," he said. "We are pleased with the results and are developing the system further to meet our specific needs."
  For more information, go to www.exhibitorkit.com.
• Mingle with Interop all year long
  EventMingle created a custom social networking tool for CMP Technology's Interop Las Vegas 2007. InteropConnect.com allowed attendees, speakers and exhibitors to network before, during and after the show.
  Attendees completed a short profile, including who they wanted to meet, then EventMingle recommended networking opportunities based on their answers. Exhibitors could also browse profiles to find attendees. More than 3,000 introductions were made during the event, said Jim Harrer, EventMingle co-founder.
  Alex Dunne, executive producer for CMP Technology, said the product was great at connecting attendees and exhibitors, the goal of the show's Web site.
  "We saw a much higher audience participation rate using EventMingle than other social networking systems we've tried, and it even generated some revenue for us," he said.
  On EventMingle's Daily Planner and To-Manager, exhibitors posted press releases, product descriptions, exhibitor events, parties,giveaways, raffles and other prizes for stopping by booths.
  EventMingle launched InteropConnect approximately two months before the May event and will keep it active through the Oct. 22–26 Interop New York.
  For more information, visit www.EventMingle.com.
• Visit the world
  A globe standing 26 feet high and containing touchscreens with information about biotechnology around the world was in the lobby of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for the May 6–9 BIO Intl. Convention. Designed for the show by a collaboration of Freeman, AVW and Strategic Media Group, it fit with the show's theme: "The Global Event for Biotechnology: New Ideas, Bold Ventures, Global Benefits."
  Robbi Lycett, vice president of conventions and conferences for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said, "Its purpose was to brand the global theme and educate our industry."
  A convention participant could touch a country on the globe and a video would describe an interesting biotechnology innovation happening in that particular country.
  Designers created an enormous, hollow globe to span a 50′×50′ space. Viewers could see video clips on its transparent surface both from the interior and exterior. Five touchscreens were located inside and 17 outside. About 20 attendees could fit inside the globe and another 50 or 60 around it.
  BIO will not use the globe at its 2008 convention in San Diego, but only because the San Diego Convention Center doesn't have enough room for it. The group may use it at future annual events in Atlanta and Chicago. Meanwhile, the globe is available. BIO has the right of first refusal, but it belongs to Freeman.
  For more information, go to www.freemanco.com/freemanportal/freeman/.