Tag: event technology
ABCey’s #TechTuesday: Top 10 High Tech Event Activities
#TechTuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. Today’s #TechTuesday features high tech event activities!
1. Projection Mapping
Projection mapping is displaying a video over an object to create an amazing experience for your guests. The video projection brings to life any performance and activity that your audience engages in. It also adds another aspect to any event that will capture your entire audience’s attention. We also used projection in one of our previous events, and it was a huge hit!
2. Spotify House’s Bose Soundbooth
This amazing Bose Soundbooth presented by Spotify was from SXSW! Guests completely immersed themselves in music as the booth was covered in mirrors and disco balls. Attendees were also more than happy to add their favorite songs to the official Spotify SXSW playlist. What song would you add?
3. Digital Graffiti Wall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=NfYNIgI9b9E
Let your guests leave their mark at your event! Also, if you add an overhead question, your guests will be excited to head over to the wall to contribute. If you’re looking for a more kid-friendly activity, project a coloring book. Adults will love the activity, too!
4. 3D Selfie
In just a few minutes, you can be 3D scanned and recreated! If you have ever wanted a small model of your photo, your wish has come true! With this booth at your event, your guests are able to walk away with a “mini me” and a lasting memory of your event! If you’re not a huge fan of having a model of yourself, you have the option to have your mini me sent to yourself and you can share it to your social media, too! Now everyone can see exactly what you wore and all the fun you had at every angle!
5. iZombie Brain Scans
These unforgettable brain scans were from the CW’s premiere of iZombie hosted by Buzzfeed! Attendees lined up to get a scan and observe their brain activity as they ate 3D-printed candy made onsite! Also, they kept the scans afterward! How could you adapt to use these brain scans at your event?
6. Social Media Wall
A social media wall is an amazing way to have your guests engage with your event and with each other! Not only will it spark conversation, it will create an online presence for your event! It will be an amazing way to break the ice and have your guests networking instead of making awkward small talk.
7. Virtual Tunnel Entrance
Give your attendees a grand entrance! Or maybe it could an enchanting and thrilling! It’s all in your hands. You decide what to project whether it be starry, checkered, or swirly! It will give off a great first impression of your event before they even enter! They’ll find themselves wanting to make another entrance.
8. Augmented Reality Gaming Wall
Whether you’re competitive or nonchalant, take your games to another level with an augmented reality gaming wall! Kids and adults alike will love seeing their movements interact with the virtual world of the game. Who can resist?
9. Edible Photo Booth
Pictures and food. Sure, they’re amazing apart, but it’s even better combined! This printer will take your selfie or any picture and print it onto your food for you! It’s the perfect Instagram moment and will help increase your social media presence along with engagement. The only problem? It’ll look too good to eat.
10. Interactive Virtual Wall
Have you ever been to a mall and seen those walls that interact with your body movements? It’s almost as if you are the wave and the colors that splash and swish around on the screen. Let your guests be mesmerized with the effects as they catch themselves walking back and forth in front of the wall!
How do you like our high tech event activities?
Have you seen any of these high tech event activities lately? Which one is your favorite? Which ones did we miss? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
ABCey Presents: 10 High Tech Photobooth Trends of 2018
Besides your swag bags, photos taken at your event are the best memorabilia any guest could have. Photobooths are a great way to get your attendees involved and can be the perfect social media marketing strategy too! From artful product design to social enablement, these photobooth experiences are designed to seamlessly complement your brand and maximize visibility and engagement. ABCey has compiled a list of 10 high tech photobooth trends of 2018 that you can try at your next event!
1. 360 Degree Photobooth
With a rig set up around, your guests can take a picture where you can view it from all angles! This creates an amazing photo-op for groups or singles, and creates an interactive component with the photo. Pixperience has some great 360 photobooths for your events!
2. Projector Booths
Instead of having to single still backdrops, spruce it up a little with a projector booth! You can switch up the backdrops for every photo and can also personalize it for every person! Ask if your guests want to upload one of their videos for a background or if they want to choose one from the set! Either way, guests are able to interact with whatever background they choose to create the perfect photo!
3. GIF Booths
Animated GIFs (pronounced “JIF,” like the peanut butter brand) have completely permeated, and in some cases, taken over social media! Let your guests create record a short and fun, animated photo to let them remember what a great time they had at your event. We even had our very own from Bosco at the Sephora VIB Rouge SF Flagship Launch, and our guests had a blast using it!
4. Light Painting Photobooth
Painting with lights. It’s an unforgettable photo op! You can use these lasers to write words or draw shapes in midair and the photo captures it all! It creates an amazing effect and allows you to get a little creative too! What will your light say?
5. Hashtag Photobooth
#Hashtags #Are #Everywhere! Who can resist them too? They are a fun way to help others find pictures similar to the one you posted. With this booth, you take a photo with the event hashtag and the hashtag printer will print a copy of the photo with the hashtag to put up on the mosaic wall! It’s a great way to personalize every photo with unique hashtags from your attendees!
6. Flipbook
A picture is worth a thousand words. This flipbook is a way to tell a whole story through a stack of photos. By printing frame by frame, these photos look as if the guests are moving, allowing you tell a story or show some dance moves, too! Giggle and Riot have super cool flipbook photobooths for your stop motion stories!
7. iPad Booths
These little iPad booths are nothing new, but have really started to gain popularity lately! People are realizing how fun and convenient these photobooths are! You are able to take the photo and send it to yourself, without any hassle or wait. It also doesn’t need to be manned all night long, so you can focus on the other aspects of your event!
8. Mirror Booth
Don’t you wish that you can see yourself while you take your photos so you know you look good? Here’s the answer to all your prayers, the mirror photobooth! With this, you can see your own poses in the mirror while it takes your photo! Say goodbye to awkward poses and stray hairs you missed when you checked yourself out!
9. Video Photobooth
Video from Bosco
These photobooths are amazing because you can make a short little clip, featuring you! It’s the perfect way to show off some of your dance moves or let a little of your silly side out. And, you can send them directly to yourself!
10. Ball Pit Photobooth
Who doesn’t love a good ball pit? Let your guests relive their childhood memories by diving into a pit of balls to take the perfect photo! It’s the optimal time to let your inner child out and capture these moments of joy!
What’s your favorite high tech photobooth? Are there any we missed? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
ABCey’s #TechTuesday – Social Tables
#TechTuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world! In today’s #TechTuesday, we present to you Social Tables, an awesome event planning software!
What is Social Tables?
Social Tables is event planning software that streamlines the floor plan and guest list creating process. We love Social Tables because of all its customizable features as well as their dedication to helping users maximize the software. It is cloud based so you can access your diagrams from anywhere and those shared on the event can get up to date changes as they are being made. Social Tables provides a customer success planner which helps you with any problems you might be having with the software. They can also coordinate with venues to get a floor plan if the software does not currently have it. We love that all these features truly let users personalize events to their needs and create very accurate representations of their upcoming event!
Creating Floor Plans
An awesome feature on Social Tables is their floor plan creator. You can take floor plans from the actual venue site and pull furniture etc. from the menu bar to create a realistic depiction of the floor plan. That floor plan can also come to life in a 3D rendering. Once you add tables to your layout, Social Tables also gives you the opportunity to create a seating chart. If you tend to work with a specific furniture company your customer success planner can also coordinate with the company to upload their furniture to the floor plan creator. If you choose to share the floor plan with vendors you can give them a handy equipment list.
Managing Guest Lists
Social Tables also allows you to upload a guest list. You can use that guest list to seat people around tables on the floor plan. Additionally, you’re able to tag guests as “VIPs” or group certain guests together that you know should sit together. This guest list also proves helpful the day of the event. Using an iPad, you can check in guests as doors. If there are multiple entrances the guest list will automatically be updated to all tablets so you can see if guests have checked at any other entrances. If you have any VIP members you can receive texting notifications when they check in as well.
Have you tried Social Tables? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Create a Customized Snapchat Filter for Your Event
As Snapchat continues to be a dominant avenue for social media, it is a great tool to use for event promotion. As you may know, Snapchat has an awesome feature that allows you to create your own snapchat filter for an event, On-Demand Geofilter. This allows anyone at the location of your event to use the filter during a designated time frame. At ABCey, we like to keep you up to date on all the latest social marketing tactics. So, here is a simple step by step on how to create your own filter!
** Note: to create an On-Demand Geofilter you must have a Snapchat account.
Create a Customized Snapchat Filter for Your Event
Step 1: Go to Canva.com
Once at the website, create a design using custom dimensions 1080px x 1920px.
After setting the dimensions, start designing! Keep in mind you want to leave room for people’s faces – so try to stick to customizing the top, bottom, and frame of the space.
Step 2: Download Your Finished Product
After you finish designing your cool new filter, click the download button and download the file as a PNG.
Step 3: Download GIMP
Download the computer application GIMP.
Step 4: Open Your Filter in GIMP
First, open your new filter by going to File → Open → Select Filter PNG. After, go to Select → By Color and click the white portion of your filter. Proceed by going to Colors → Color to Alpha. Finally, go to File → Overwrite nameofyourfilter.png.
Step 5: Go to Snapchat
Login to Snapchat.com and follow the steps on their website to upload your filter, select the location and time you want your filter to be active.
Happy Snapping!
Do you plan on using a custom Snapchat filter for your events? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook or Twitter!
#TechTuesday: 5 ways to use drones for events
#TechTuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world. ABCey has compiled 5 innovative ways event planners are utilizing drones!
Although they were first used for military purposes, drones are becoming extremely useful tools for the event planning industry. Drones are not only used to capture stunning aerial images, but also in previously unimaginable ways that go beyond just pictures and videos. Here are 5 great ways to use drones for your next event!
1. Aerial Event Photos and Videos
Drones are now a popular tool for event planners, because they can capture amazing aerial footage from an infinite number of angles. They are also extremely versatile and can be used at conferences, trade shows, galas, festivals, and sporting events! This tech allows for extraordinary 360 degree views of all attendees, as well as close ups of speakers and performances.
2. Choosing the Perfect Venue/Site Selection
Drones can also be used for pre-event prep to collect venue images. Photos and videos make it so easy for clients and planners to choose the perfect site for an event! From images of massive event properties to inside meeting rooms, there is almost no place a drone can’t fly!
3. Entertainment Drones to Wow Your Guests
Companies have outdone themselves by using drones as a new form of entertainment for their guests! Intel is one company that impressed their guests and set the world record by having 100 drones create a unique light show! Others, like Amsterdam Drone Entertainment, have programmed their drones to dance for crowds which has truly set a new standard for event entertainment!
4. The Best Delivery Service
Some other ways to use a drone? How about deliver food, drinks and invitations! This interactive way of distributing items to people is mostly used by restaurants to give food to their customers. But, this kind of delivery service can just as easily be adapted to fit the event industry’s needs. Using a drone to deliver items to guests is extremely innovative, interactive, and a great way to make your event stand out!
5. Extra $ From Advertising and Sponsors
Drones can also be lucrative for your business! If you are hosting an event, sponsors may offer to pay you if you use drones to promote their business. Attendees are often drawn to drone tech which is seen as a great opportunity for companies to advertise. Because drones can drop off samples/products, hold up company posters, and display a brand logo, they are becoming the newest advertising trend!
Apps are also being made and adapted to incorporate drone technology. Facebook recently announced they have updated their live video stream application, Facebook Live. This update allows users to stream videos live from a drone. Twitter‘s similar live video streaming application, Periscope, also announced this feature.
By capturing stunning footage, helping venue selection, entertaining and serving their guests, delivering items, and increasing revenue and an event’s wow factor, drones are the new must-have gadget for anyone in the event industry!
Know any other ways drones are used? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and on Twitter!
StartUp Monday: Loopd, the Event Marketing Wearable
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
Loopd, an event marketing wearable, provides personalized data to enhance your event strategy using the Loopd badge. By simply downloading the Loopd app, everyone at your event – guests, clients, vendors, planners, and you – can receive real-time data and analytics about your guests and event on your mobile devices!
Loopd caters to everyone at your event! The event marketing wearable allows the event’s exhibitors to identify and collect leads automatically while attendees can use the app to connect with others and trade information in place of business cards. The app will remember when and where guests connected so there will never be any of those awkward re-meeting conversations again!
Why We Love Loopd: Loopd is perfect for event planners, clients and attendees! It works in real-time by measuring traffic flow throughout the event and can significantly improve marketing campaigns because it shows what guests are most interested in. Not only that, but all of its valuable insights is provided in easy-to-understand analytics. This device is well-rounded and perfect for event planners!
Would you use Loopd? For what type of events? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Tech Tuesday: TuneTug, the Interactive Party Music App
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world!
Ever been at a party or event and wanted to choose the songs being played? TuneTug is a new party music app that allows guests to check out the event’s playlist, add music from their own online libraries and ‘tug’ up and down on their favorite songs for the DJ to play next!
How it works: Just download the free app, upload your playlist from iTunes or Spotify or create a new one from scratch, and let your guests do the rest! As long as they can use internet on their mobile devices, your guests can access the link you’ve shared and start ‘tugging’ on songs they want to hear or even add their own to the mix. The more popular a song, the quicker it will get played!
Why we love it: Instead of worrying if your guests will like the music, TuneTug takes away that anxiety by putting the music in their hands, literally! By giving your guests the choice of what songs to play on this party music app, they will be more involved in and committed to the event because they are choosing and listening to the music they want to hear.
Would you use TuneTug to involve and entertain the guests at your next event or party? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Start Up Monday: Double Dutch
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey Events!
Today’s Startup Monday post features DoubleDutch, a company that specializes in data-driven mobile technology. They use engagement data from the mobile event app to ensure that each event is better than the previous one. Located in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, DoubleDutch features applications for events, conferences, associations, and trade shows worldwide.
We love that this company has all our event essentials covered with their award winning data-driven event app. Having the event agenda, surveys, and attendee networking options all available on one application makes it super easy for us at ABCey to keep up to date with all the latest event logistics!
How it Works: DoubleDutch allows each client to design their app to look exactly how they like. They make it easy to fully customize the branding of the app and easily configure layout. With the mobile agenda option, event participants can access the up-to-date mobile guide at any time and easily create their own personalized agenda with a few simple taps of their mobile device. DoubleDutch can also facilitate both digital and in-person networking. Attendees can connect with others based on interests, professional titles, and more! And to keep attendees engaged and interested, DoubleDutch features a survey and poll option within the app to provide feedback.
Why We Love It: As event professionals, we know last minute content and schedule changes are inevitable. However with DoubleDutch’s content management system, our job becomes a lot less of a headache! Throughout the event, valuable information about attendees’ whereabouts, interests and sentiments is collected. The DoubleDutch CMS allows organizers to see this information in real time and make any necessary adjustments to the event. DoubleDutch also provides concise and specific event analytics so you can identify which sessions, speakers, and exhibitors are buzzing, and which ones need extra attention before it’s too late. Having all of this information and features included in one application makes DoubleDutch a company that we think will definitely have a positive impact on the event industry!
Will you be using DoubleDutch in the future for your next event ?! Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
Tech Tuesday: Event Farm
Tech Tuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. ABCey would like to recognize these up and coming technologies for their innovative ideas and impact on the event world!
As event professionals, we often face many registration challenges before, during, and post event! From creating the attendee list to sometimes mailing out invitations, a lot of work goes into pre-event planning. This is where Event Farm can help! Event Farm is an innovation focused company that offers a customized, online invitation, ticketing, guest registration, mobile check-in and digital activation platform designed to make planners more effective. They provide creative solutions to promote brands and engage targeted audiences making the event planners job way less hectic!
We know Eventbrite is the current main ticketing source for events, but Event Farm provides real time check-ins for guests allowing for additional guests on the fly and arrival alerts to keep event planners in the loop and up to date! We also love that Event Farm provides post event data to help us improve for the next event!
How it Works: Pre-Event | The first step with Event Farm happens before the event. This includes the customized invitations and ticketing sites. When planning an event your brand matters. The invitations are what guests see first so they better look great! Event Farm also allows planners to see a 360 view of the event, tracking realtime read-rates, RSVPs, and guest responses.
How it Works: During Event | During the actual event a planner has many things to worry about and keep track of. With Event Farm, the guest check-in is taken care of with their mobile app. No barcodes, no paper. Quick and effective!
How it Works : Post Event |Post event is all about gathering data. Event Farm provides planners with a multitude of data information on the event to help foster long term guest relationships and to improve on future events while measuring guest engagement.
Will you use Event Farm for registration at your next event? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!
StartUp Monday: Hyperfair
Startup Monday is ABCey’s weekly post that features some of the best and brightest companies in the Bay Area. They are often companies that we have our eye on or have worked with in the past & would like to share with friends and followers of ABCey events!
Do you ever wish you could be in two places at once? We sure do! This week, ABCey would like to showcase San Francisco based Hyperfair, a startup with a platform for running online trade shows. This immersive 3D virtual expo & tradeshow experience dynamically revolutionizes the way we collaborate globally and allows everyone to attend or host an event from anywhere in the world!
How It Works: Select if your hosting or attending a virtual expo, trade show, conference, or a career fair. Once the event is set up, Hyperfair allows you to move your avatar around a three-dimensional space. There’s also features that include chatting with other attendees (either via text, Skype, or voice), browsing products, and exchanging business cards. What a unique and cool way to expand your networking skills!
Why We Love Hyperfair: This 3D experience recreates real world dynamics that would be found at a physical event by giving users fully customizable virtual avatars that facilitate lifelike interaction. Hyperfair also enables global audience participation with an event that anyone can attend just by logging into their computer! Imagine being able to attend an overseas trade show right at home on your couch! This is definitely a company we can’t wait to see grow and evolve!
Will you be checking out Hyperfair!? The idea of a virtual trade show isn’t new, but the practice hasn’t exactly taken off . Watch Hyperfair Video Here! Let us know what you think of Hyperfair via Twitter or Facebook, or leave us a comment below!