ABCey’s #TechTuesday: Top 5 Smart Badges for Your Next Event!

#TechTuesday highlights the best and brightest ideas in the tech world. Technology is designed to make our lives easier, especially as event planners. With an innovative smart badge, you are able to make things much simpler for attendees, exhibitors, and yourself! Today’s #TechTuesday features a list of amazing smart badges we LOVE!

Why use smart badges?

Smart badges can simplify your event by promoting deeper networking connections between attendees, or by providing a simple method of sharing and exchanging contact information. They can also give event planners access to foot traffic and real-time analytics for their events. Exhibitors can benefit by easily sharing access to information to attendes, and can determine which guests are valuable prospects.

1. RFID Badges and LED Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JficYgaK8j8

With the addition of smart LED tech, you can enhance any attendee’s experience! Whether it’s a lanyard or a bracelet, it will come alive and you can decide when. You can choose to light it up at a specific moment, signal an upcoming segment, or set up to interact with sensors, too. You can see them in action in the Coldplay concert in 2016 featured above!

2. SmartTrac by Hubvents

SmartTrac benefits all. For exhibitors, it notifies them when potential prospects enter their booths. How? With an analysis of attendees’ profiles and behavioral attributes! Moreover, attendees receive and event journey report that includes all their connections, booth visits, and more. Event planners can get an overview of foot traffic and interactions to see which attractions were most popular and for future improvement.

3. eventBit by Experient

EventBit has many features your guests will love! We’re all guilty of checking Yelp to look for recommendations.. EventBit can do that for you, but for booths you’d enjoy based on your preferences. In addition, it provides networking opportunities for attendees based on matching interests. Goodbye to awkward small talk! When the event is over, your guests can receive links to access information relevant to their event journeys.

4. Proxfinity

Unique features of Proxfinity are the options to brand the badge and to program a specific topic of interest! This will elicit conversations that sponsors and clients intended for the event. Event planners love that Proxfinity provides useful metrics! It includes meaningful interactions made per person, connections between demographics, topics that drive connections and conversations, and much more!

5. LiGo by Limefy

Like eventBit, this badge signals to guests when someone with mutual interests are in close proximity with flashing lights. Now your guests can spend more time engaging in meaningful connections! Guests are able to easily exchange contact information with each other with a personalized timeline. Additionally, attendees are able to access exhibitor and fellow attendee portals with a messaging platform available if they want to contact them!

Will you use smart badges?

We love smart badges, and we hope now you do too! Are there any that we missed? Will you be using any of our smart badges at your event? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter! If you’d like to see our past #TechTuesday blogs, click here.

#TechTuesday:10 Tech Tools For Your Meetings Or 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! In today’s #TechTuesday, we present to you some of the best new Tech Tools for your meetings and events!

Tech has seen some pretty cool changes and improvements this year, and now it’s time to change up your tech tools so that you can produce better meetings and events. At ABCey, we have compiled 10 of our favorite apps and services that will keep you up to speed with all of the latest tech trends!

10 New Tech Tools That You Can’t Beat

1. Asana

Asana is a great overall web and mobile app for event professionals and others! You can track your progress from start to finish and stay on task! Team members will know exactly what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done. Not to mention, this app supports any collaboration and is free for teams of up to 15 people!

2. Meetoo

Got a huge conference coming up? That’s not the least of your troubles. Imagine the difficulty of when you’re trying to collect hundreds or even thousands of responses. Now that’s troublesome! Well, what better way to get that information than through Meetoo. Meetoo allows for real time messaging as well as live polling to get the information you need in the blink of an eye! Start your free trial today!

3. Hootsuite

You’ve got the schedule posts down for Facebook, but what about Twitter and other social media websites? With Hootsuite, you can manage your social media in the best way! Schedule ahead and leave it to Hootsuite to post and share information for you! After all, you can’t be on social media all the time.

4. HeyTell

Imagine a walkie talkie, but on your phone! That’s exactly what HeyTell is, except more modernized! You can add friends and know who you’re talking to. And to talk, simply hold and speak. “This is ABCey Events! Over.”

5. Super Planner

Have no fear! Super Planner is here! If you’ve got an iPhone, then go on ahead and download this business app. This app is great for event planners with a wide variety of tools to help with food and beverages, A/V, and venue capacities!

6. Pro Party Planner

Get all your planning needs in one place. With Pro Party Planner, you’ll be able to do a variety of tasks such as creating seating charts in a matter of minutes! You can manage all of your guests as well as track your budget easily. Also make sure to set reminders and build those shopping lists for anything that you need! Or, you can delegate your tasks to team members.

7. Monefy

As you’re planning your event, it’s important to keep track of your expenses. So Monefy them! Monefy can add expense records extremely fast and can be used on multiple devices. This app is also able to visually present how much you’re spending on each category.

8. Bizzabo

Another great overall app is Bizzabo! Bizzabo has done events right by knowing exactly what event profs need! Bizzabo also includes the website, ticketing, CRM, event app, email, agenda, networking, sponsors, updates, polls and reports. That’s a lot to offer!

9. Event Assistant

Need to check in guests? Create a whole new experience for checking in with this app! Event assistant is a custom check in flow app that keeps the line moving even if you’re offline. You’ll also be able to check the progress and see how many guests have checked in!

10. Event Farm

Organize your event before, during and after! Before your event, you can send out customized invitations, register your guests, and manage them. Check them in during your event and then after the event, and you’ll have reports and data ready at hand.

Have you tried any of these great tech tools? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!

Startup Monday: DoubleDutch-Live Engagement Marketing Platform

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! In today’s Startup Monday, we highlight a live engagement platform and mobile app: DoubleDutch!

As event professionals, we always try to create better experiences for our event attendees. It’s also important we have right tools for the event to run smoothly. Afterward, we really want to learn from the event, so that our next one is even better! So, how do we manage all this information? With DoubleDutch, you’re able to do all those things and more!

DoubleDutch Live Engagement Platform:

This company’s main product is their live engagement platform, which helps everyone from sponsors, attendees, planners, exhibitors, and marketers! Under this platform, there are 5 different sections: Studio, Event App, Lead Manager, Performance Manager, and Exhibitor Portal. All of these applications help to improve the event process and the overall success of the event!

Studio

First, customize your app and plan your event with DoubleDutch’s Studio! After you create the perfect app that matches your brand, use Studio to send out event invites to promote your app and event. In addition, manage your event content including: agendas, interactive maps, event information, user profiles, and more. And thats not all! You can help your sponsors advertise their posts, achievements, and activity to your guests!

Event App

Having an app for your event will be sure to impress attendees, but it’s also great for event professionals and will make your guests’ event experience so much easier! For event producers, the DoubleDutch Event app lets you give out attendee lists, surveys, polls, Q&A’s, direct messages as well as set up gaming aspects and forums. Also, attendees can create their agendas, and see profiles of sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers!

Performance Manager

Learn what worked and what didn’t with their Performance Manager! During the event, you can easily see how the event is going, what your guests like the most, poll/survey results, and more. Now you have tons of info that tells you how your event went and valuable insight for the next ones!

Exhibitor Portal

Your event exhibitors and sponsors will love Double Dutch too! Because the Exhibitor Portal lets exhibitors contact and understand their attendees, they are set to have a better booth and business! From customizing exhibitor’s app profiles and scheduling meetings to managing staff and giving offers to guests, there is nothing this app doesn’t do!

Lead Management

Finally, their platform has a Lead Management application to help you market your event! It looks at attendees’ actions, interests, and engagement, so that you can make informed decisions. Also, your attendees will love when DoubleDutch gives them recommendations on connections/sessions based on their activity at an event! Try their demo and see how DoubleDutch can improve your events!

Integration and Security

Are you currently using a different registration system? DoubleDutch has the answer! In addition to their platform, this company has added integration features that allow you to combine schedules, profiles, etc. from more than 100 other registration systems! They make it that easy!

You can also integrate with Salesforce and Marketo to have the best marketing campaigns and CRM services! Now you can use their platform with the info and work you already have. There are also security measures that make sure your data and event is safe!

Are you planning to use DoubleDutch? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter!