Month: August 2019

Manage events in real-time, not just after the fact

We know that dedicated mobile apps can help businesses manage all the admin hassles that come with large events: notifications, attendee lists, and locations. We also know that you can use those apps to analyse the data after an event to see who went where and when, providing insights into what your attendees want, need and think. But now things are getting even more sophisticated – and Celadin is at the forefront.

We recently created an app for a major global technology business that is running an in-house event. Many of its top salespeople would be attending and, most importantly, so are dozens of their biggest clients – CEOs and senior executives from some of the biggest brands in the world.

Rather than tracking attendees’ activity and interests after the event, it is vital to do so in real-time. Those salespeople need to know which areas are of the most interest to individual clients. So they can work with and advise them there and then, while the subject is fresh in their minds.

So, as well as all the usual technologies to keep the event running as smoothly as silk, we designed the app to hold information on the key areas the business is covering in its various presentations: everything from cloud and quantum computing to AI and blockchain. There are short articles inside the platform, plus links to more information on the business’s own website.

In real-time, the salespeople can access the app during the event and see what their clients are attending in terms of presentations, as well as which subjects are attracting their attention and are nearest and dearest to their hearts. This type of real-time analysis is valuable for any event organiser that needs immediate information on their attendees – not just what they’re doing, but what they’re thinking about.

Outside of the technology sector, imagine a toy manufacturer able to immediately see which products its retail partners are most interested in, or a consulting firm whose experts can see at a glance which of its service lines are of the most interest to clients for potential cross-selling.

Any event can use this app-based technology to provide invaluable data and insights to the organiser while it’s still happening, rather until waiting until later when interest might have cooled.

If you’d like to know more Celadin and how we continuously support event organisers through technology, before, during and after the event itself, please get in touch with us.

Perfect timing: Optimising events for your business’s most important people

Not too long, not too short, but just enough to keep your most successful and ambitious star performers at the top of their game: Celadin is working with IBM’s events’ teams to deliver the VIP recognition events high-flyers have been crying out for.

When it comes to recognising exceptional performers, the VIP events Celadin helps IBM deliver don’t hold back. 

“At their heart, these events must ensure that IBM’s best people have access to world-class business speakers and the industry’s most renowned thought leaders,” explains Celadin’s Simon Walker. “But rewarding excellence is not just about training and development. It’s also about delivering unforgettable entertainment and leisure experiences that high performers value.”

But how do you really satisfy the company’s most competitive people? These are major players who need to feel rewarded without compromise, but at the same time, the work challenges that drive them are the very things that large scale VIP events take them away from.  Take the top 1% off the field for any length of time and everyone starts to get tetchy.

This is why IBM and other world-class operations are using technology to deliver high spec events within tighter timeframes.

Typically, IBM’s big recognition events have been staged over a period of six to eight weeks. Since they take place in premium locations across the Americas, EMEA and Asia, the company’s event planners tended to organise things in a serial fashion. Everyone on the event team would fly out to the same location, set up, manage the event, pack up and move on to the next location.

Now things are changing: “Pressure on these events is becoming more intense so the whole event team needs to do things smarter,” explains Simon. “We’re finding that the team is splitting up into smaller micro-teams and running big global events in parallel.”

Using technology smarter has almost halved the timeframe of IBM’s VIP recognition events season. App-based information sharing means time-consuming and costly printed materials are no longer factored into project planning. And as events staff become more open to the technical benefits Celadin can deliver, more of them are using the event technology in new ways.

Environmental benefits, cost savings and efficiencies realised through smart tech means organisers have more to invest in the high-end rewards and experiences that make these events special, and as technology’s role widens, Celadin’s event apps are supporting more functions and being used for longer, explains Simon:

“In the past, being innovative with event tech usually meant offering dynamic programme calendars, planning and networking apps. These days the online-offline experience is fusing and we’re supporting the entire event experience from early logistics and planning to digital experiences that take place well beyond the live event itself. Currently, we’re seeing up to 95% of delegates opting to download our event support apps up to two months before the event itself, with the apps’ lifespan extended to approximately 12 weeks.”

If you’d like to know more about Celadin and how we support event organisers and speakers through technology, please get in touch.