Many of the digital tools people relied on during the pandemic fall flat when events are in person. Chime does not! In the fast-paced world of events, engagement is the key to success. Meeting and event professionals focus on delivering event experiences that are significant and provide clear advantages for participants. If attendees feel your event delivered a smooth and streamlined experience, helped them build their networks, and they gained important insights, they’ll be satisfied and more likely to attend again. Finding tools to prepare attendees for events, as well as connect and engage them during the in-person experience isn’t easy.
An event platform that delivers end-to-end solutions
A notable exception is the Chime event platform. Whether you’re planning a virtual, hybrid, or in-person event, the Chime app from Encore Canada stands out as the go-to solution for fostering meaningful interactions. It was developed for use at in-person events, though its capabilities have been expanded to fulfill the needs of any event format. Let’s explore how this powerhouse event app takes engagement to the next level, making your events unforgettable.
1. Digital Kiosk: A Hub of Information and Connectivity
Enhance your event’s lobby experience with Chime Live‘s Digital Kiosk feature. Chime can easily integrate with digital kiosks. Attendees can access event information, check the agenda, explore exhibit maps, and search for exhibitors—all at their fingertips. The app’s user-friendly interface ensures seamless navigation, empowering attendees to make the most of their event experience. This ensures a streamlined and informative start to the event.
2. Digital Signage: Dynamic Displays for Maximum Impact
Imagine digital menus, ingredients, and event graphics displayed on LCD monitors and iPads. Chime redefines event signage with its dynamic digital displays. Chime allows real-time content switching, ensuring that information is always fresh and relevant. Whether it’s a large-scale conference or an intimate gathering, Chime’s versatility shines through, captivating audiences with visually stunning content.
3. Gamification: Boosting Engagement Through Interactive Challenges
Chime has a captivating gamification element. Attendees can scan QR codes to earn points, creating a dynamic and interactive experience. This incentivizes active participation, turning every interaction into a point-scoring opportunity. The added incentive of redeemable prizes keeps participants actively scanning. This enhances attendee engagement, fostering a sense of fun, competition, and excitement.
4. Streamlining Exhibitor Registration and Engagement
Chime is the perfect app for exhibitor registration. Attendees can scan QR-coded exhibitor badges to collect points and gain access to valuable contact details. This not only enhances engagement but also creates a mutually beneficial interaction, incentivizing both exhibitors and attendees to actively participate.
5. Achievements and Prize Redemption: Fostering a Sense of Accomplishment
Chime doesn’t just stop at engagement; it celebrates it. Attendees reaching specific point milestones can receive congratulatory messages, fostering a sense of achievement. The integration of achievements and prize redemption adds an extra layer of excitement, turning event participation into a rewarding experience.
6. Integration of QR Codes: A Multifunctional Tool
Chime’s integration of QR codes extends beyond gamification. Event planners can use Chime for various purposes. From scanning QR codes for session attendance to purchase verification, and from tracking inventory to exhibitor engagement, Chime’s capabilities revolutionize event management. Exhibitors can efficiently scan attendee badges, facilitating lead generation and creating connections. This not only ensures a smooth event flow but also provides valuable data for organizers and exhibitors.
7. Keeping the conference conversation going
Want to give attendees access to conference content after the event? If you’re using the Chime platform, you can keep its library of conference content and videos online and give event participants access to additional educational and networking opportunities.
8. Get key insights to continuously improve your events
Chime Live’s rich post-event analytics report can provide essential information about patterns of engagement, the themes and content that most resonated with audience segments, and attendee return on investment (ROI). This data can demonstrate the event’s value to key stakeholders and decision-makers. It also can improve the event’s programing. Knowing what content resonated with audiences can help meeting and event professionals pinpoint future themes and content to develop. Understanding what engages your audience and when they tune out increases the potential for improving future engagement.
Conclusion
Chime isn’t just an event app; it’s a comprehensive engagement platform that transforms events into immersive experiences. Whether you’re aiming for increased attendee interaction, streamlined exhibitor engagement, or a gamified experience, Chime delivers on all fronts. Elevate your events with Chime and redefine the way attendees experience and interact with your gatherings.
Interested in learning how Encore can elevate your next event through our end-to-end event platforms and strategic solutions? Our experts offer free consultations if you want to discuss your specific needs. We’d love to help you develop a transformative experience for all attendees — so that your events can foster a new level of community, inspiration and connection.
While the hospitality industry is anticipating growth in 2024, economists are cautioning about the back half of the year for the U.S., keeping CEOs on their toes about what is to come.
The Group Customer Pulse
The results from the Q4 2023 Encore Planner Pulse survey show that 47% of meeting professionals are increasing budgets for 2024 and 40% expect to remain flat. This is a similar outlook to what we heard in early 2023 and illustrates a baseline understanding that the cost of doing business has increased and therefore budgets must increase.
When asked if forced to cut budgets, top areas included décor, entertainment, and off-site excursions. As a hospitality professional, that gives me a sense of relief that our group customers feel the value that the hotel, food & beverage and event technology experiences deliver to the success of their event.
But here’s where we still have our work cut out for us: When asked what areas they are most challenged by their stakeholders to defend their spend, both event technology and food & beverage rank in the top five areas of concern.
What we take away from that is that the path to continued growth will require us to innovate and effectively communicate the value of the total event experience to an organization, with event technology and food and beverage as priority components.
Insights For the Future
In 2023, Encore embarked on a journey with a leading research firm to conduct qualitative research across business leaders and influencers around the globe, as well as in-depth quantitative research among event professionals. What we’ve learned: the shifting cultural values of our time that we’ve all felt, seen, and read about in the news over the last two years are quickly actualizing.
That shifting culture should impact how we serve our teams and our customers in 2024 and beyond.
Insight #1: There’s increased interest in the individual, societal, organizational, and cultural impact of events.
Reasons to believe:
- 74% of global adults believe businesses have a responsibility to make society fairer
- 39% report that ‘being memorable’ is the second most important thing in events
Business implication: There’s opportunity to cater to the value system of the attendees by innovating aspects of sustainability and DEIB throughout the F&B and event technology experience to incrementally deliver a “return on emotion” that makes events more memorable. Delivering ROI and ROE arms our customers with more data to support their business case for meetings.
Insight #2: Emerging tools for AR, AI and virtual experiences will remain buzz-worthy and begin to see more adoption, but human connection remains a top value.
Reasons to believe:
- 32% of global adults believe “connecting with others” is a top three priority for events, behind “being memorable”
- 69% believe “humanness”— seeking to connect with real people — is an extremely or very important personal value
Business implication: While the value system that in-person, real-life connection is paramount, it will inevitably need supplementation from technology to deliver the wow factor, personalization and immersive qualities that have taken hold in the zeitgeist. Innovations in event technology and production are a vital part of total revenue growth and the customer experience.
Insight #3: A sense of belonging is non-negotiable at events.
Reason to believe: 52% of global adults believe belonging is an extremely or very important personal value
Business implication: We should evaluate how we are training our teams to continue to elevate personalized, empathetic service and exceed customer expectations in every facet of the event experience. Encore has taken a page from our esteemed hospitality partners and spent the last year entrenched in training for customer experience with unmistakable improvements, most notably marked by being named as the Official Event Solutions Partner to Forbes Travel Guide. Much like how Sage Hospitality continues to cultivate new and exciting experiences within the walls of their properties and the communities in which they reside. In 2024, we see the opportunity for all organizations, including ours, to elevate CX through the marriage of smart internal technology and strong cultures of belonging that will make our teams’ workdays more effective, fulfilling, and connected to our greater purpose to serve our customers and our communities.
Key Questions to Ask Your Management Team:
- How invested is the hotel in training for the next year?
- How invested are your key partners to deliver the service that matches your brand promise?
When looking to maximize event trends to drive incremental revenue, the path can seem daunting to owners, management companies, and the venues themselves. Knowing the end-user customers, keeping your hand on the pulse of the industry and ensuring you have the right partners can ensure a smooth journey toward enhancing revenue streams, providing value, improving overall client satisfaction.
Key findings from the Encore 2022 Winter Planner Pulse
With the world of events ever-changing, staying up-to-date on the latest industry trends is an essential tool for crafting successful experiences. To help ensure your event design, programming and format resonates with today’s audiences, Encore surveys meeting and event professionals quarterly to capture a closer look into today’s event landscape and to maintain a pulse on where meeting event needs are heading.
Read on to learn key insights from our latest survey.
Human connection and engagement are the most impactful values for in-person events
In-person events will continue to increase with each new quarter
Most planners expect their audience numbers to grow this year
This data brings a welcome implication — people are actively interested in physically attending conferences, meetings and other events, making now the perfect time for you to invest more resources into their event design. Get ahead of the curve by ensuring you have the best solutions to deliver successful outcomes.
Six of 10 planners will see budget increases — driven by food and beverage, room rates and transportation costs
DE&I is an important ESG area of focus
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives remain an opportunity in 2023. We asked planners about four major ESG issues to collect feedback on the role they play in event planning. Those issues were: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and local legislation that aligns with organizational values.
Our findings? Approximately half of event professionals (55 percent) view DE&I as the most important ESG area to consider while selecting venues. This research speaks volumes about how event professionals now prioritize DE&I when making critical event planning decisions.
When it comes to selecting a venue, event professionals regard the other ESG attributes in the following order of importance:
- Local legislation that is aligned with organization values (45 percent)
- Environmental sustainability (45 percent)
- Social responsibility (42 percent)
In terms of choosing an AV/event technology partner, event professionals prioritize the following attributes behind DE&I:
- Environmental sustainability (40 percent)
- Local legislation that is aligned with organization values (39 percent)
- Social responsibility (35 percent)
Insights-led meeting planning for more engaging experiences
Interested in personalized solutions that can help optimize your next event? Request a free consultation with our event experts! We’d love to discuss your specific needs and help you develop a transformative experience that achieves your event goals.