Successful Meetings - December 2008 - (Page 34)

Trade Show > Showing Off Report the goal of eventually reducing the staff needed to man the booth to the mid-900 mark. The RFID results revealed that Philips would benefit by rearranging its exhibit space. “We had it set up in a way that made sense to us internally, but this was not the way our customers viewed our product line, and we always have to be cognizant of their perspective,” he says. In 2009, Philips is scheduled to exhibit in the Lakeside Building of Chicago’s McCormick Place, a 15-minute walk from the rest of the convention center. The RFID statistics will reveal what kind of traffic this area of the convention center gets, information that will help Masters make sure the Lakeside Building is the right fit for the company. What’s extra on Freeman created a “Geek Bar,” where attendees could relax and watch presentations at the SIGGRAPH 2008 conference. Read more at www.mimegasite.com demographics are of those who came by, and what products stimulated the most interest,” explains Lewis. He says Alliance Tech applied RFID technology to the trade show industry after reading about how Wal-Mart used it to tag and track products. Masters is quick to point out that Philips does not use the information it gathers from RFID technology for mining leads. “We use it to make our booth more convenient and more educational,” he says. SHRINKING THE SHOW FLOOR With more than 2.6 million square feet of exhibit halls, Chicago’s McCormick Place can be overwhelming. The RSNA employed technology to make the facility more user-friendly, offering a MAKING IT WORK How does this RFID technology actually work? With tags affixed to the back of name badges, radio frequency identification is searchable database of exhibitors and online planning guides used to communicate with readers that are mounted in strategic that can be downloaded to a PDA. Other advances at the conferlocations all across the exhibit floor. ence include a Digital Presentation System (DPS), whereby eduAt RSNA 2008, held November 30 to December 5, Philips cational and scientific posters can be put online. “This system is Healthcare had over 50 readers in place pretty unique. I can go in and find what to capture various data points, which will I’m looking for and chat with those lookhelp determine the company’s show sucing at the same things as I am,” says cess. By using this RFID technology, Steve Drew, RSNA’s assistant executive exhibitors are able to gather information director of scientific assembly and inforon attendance and traffic patterns as well matics, based in Oak Brook, IL. as formerly unattainable demographic Attendees at this year’s RSNA coninformation, like job function, geography, vention were also able to bring notebook and organization. The technology also computers to educational sessions and allows the exhibitor to identify VIPs. follow along with the presentation. They “When a company is con- could add annotations to the presentaWhen these selected people enter the booth, a text message is sent to a cell templating whether to tion in their computer and even send phone or PDA that says something like, spend six or seven digits on questions to the presenters. “It wasn’t “Dr. Smith just entered the booth at the floor space they want met- that long ago when you had to carry a southwest corner,” and the exhibitor can one-inch printed meeting program rics to prove it’s worth their throughout the conference. Now, all greet him or her by name. time.” —Roger Lewis, Alliance Tech All of this information is vital for calcuattendees have to do is go to ‘MyRSNA,’ lating return on investment, more importo get their schedule,” says Drew. tant than ever given the state of the economy. “In really tough RSNA is improving the overall experience of the trade show economic times, when people are doing their best to survive, for its exhibitors through its partnership with ethnoMetrics. Video metrics are vital to show return-on-investment on particular cameras throughout the entire convention facility record attenexpenditures,” says Roger Lewis, executive vice president, dees navigating their way through the show. “It’s a great way to sales and marketing, Alliance Tech, based in Austin, TX. “When gauge behavior. This, combined with RFID, offers a powerful a company is contemplating whether to spend six to seven digmeasurement analysis,” Drew adds. its on floor space for a trade show, they want metrics to prove SHOW 2.0 it’s worth their time and effort.” Alliance Tech’s RFID technology is its fastest-growing prodThe whole concept of a trade show started with the simple idea of uct. “With a little chip in the back of a name badge, exhibitors creating a forum where merchants could publicly display their can gauge how many attendees visited their booth, what the wares. No video walls, computerized nametags, or global position- 34 successfulmeetings.com DECEMBER 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS http://www.mimegasite.com http://www.mimegasite.com http://www.successfulmeetings.com

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Successful Meetings - December 2008 Contents Editor's Note Corporate Events On the Record Calendar Research Planner Spotlight Personal Success Technology Talk Food & Beverage Professional Development Quick Tip Tools of the Trade On Site: Retire Those Tired Power-Point Slides On Site: 12 Tips for Thriving on a South African Safari Deep Impact Recession-Friendly Speakers Showing Off Hawaii Insert Places & Spaces Mississippi Gulf Coast Fort Worth South Florida Beijing Gurus

Successful Meetings - December 2008

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