February 201719 transmitters of an attendee's presence or readers of pre-positioned beacons within an event location. Finally, show organizers could deploy a networked system that could accurately gather information about actual behaviors of attendees. With this information, they could offer a great deal of value to all stakeholders involved.There are two approaches to deploying BLE technology into a trade show or meeting environment. The first is to deploy stationary transmitters, or beacons, at known locations throughout the facility or exhibit floor. Then, the attendees download and run the event's mobile app and the app acts as a receiver. Data regarding where and how long attendees are spending time in generalized locations is generated. The granularity of the data is dependent upon the density of beacon deployment. The challenge for this implementation is that it requires getting the attendee's cooperation to download the event mobile app, identify themselves to the app, and elect to run the app while they are active at the show.The second implementation would be to tag each attendee with a BLE beacon as part of their badge and deploy a network of BLE readers throughout the event facility to capture attendee data. This methodology begins with an advantage of 100 percent attendee involvement which opens the door for meaningful value-added offerings to be created. The network of readers with adequate density can be expensive to deploy and maintain if companies have to rely on hardware devices, but some vendors have solved this challenge by adding BLE reading capabilities within existing mobile app products. This results in 100 percent of attendees being tracked throughout the entire trade show space at a very low cost.All of this might create mild angst to the casual trade show attendee. What good can come from all this tracking? The same question has been posed many times in similar situations, such as Google's tracking of location information through their Maps program or Amazon's tracking of buying behavior within their e-commerce portal. In both of these cases, consumers willingly relinquish their valuable behavioral data in exchange for measurable value in return. Attendees will be able to receive relevant and compelling recommendations for which exhibitors to visit, which sessions to attend, and which other attendees they may be most interested in connecting with. Exhibitors will be able to better qualify their booth visitors based on their behaviors and will be able to understand the ROI of their trade show investment by having insight into booth traffic that was never available before. Show organizers will be able to understand how to better design exhibit space to maximize the value to all involved. They will be able to offer personalized information and experiences to attendees to ensure differentiation within a competitive environment.We live in a dynamic time where more and more business interactions are expected to be experiential in nature, providing unique and valuable experiences to those involved. We are the "show me that you know me" generation and personalization has become a standard in which all business engagements are built upon. The trade show industry is undergoing a revolution by leveraging the big data generated by proximity and location technologies to create meaningful personalized experiences within the event space. Behavioral analytics will allow the event organizers of the future to continue to develop environments and experiences that drive business activity and customer loyalty for its participants.Headquartered in Twinsburg, USA and founded in 1970, Experient is an event management company with expertise in designing and executing distinct global meets and events. Behavioral analytics will allow the event organizers of the future to continue to develop environments and experiences that drive business activityBrian Scott
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