We live in a world of real-time data. The internet has propelled us all into the information age. Waiting any length of time for anything is becoming increasingly unfashionable. This is no different for those of us who manage events. It has never been more important for event management teams to be able to access event data remotely.
I’m sure we’ve all been there: greeting guests at an important event when there’s a sudden rush of arrivals. There’s one printed guest list which you’re ticking people off on. It’s difficult for more than one greeter to use it at the same time.
Suddenly, there’s a problem. One of the guests isn’t on the list. Is the list wrong? Or has the guest turned up uninvited?
The queue is getting longer and the team are having to consult a laptop with a spreadsheet on it. Panic sets in. You have to resort to asking colleagues whether this is the most up-to-date spreadsheet. Someone vaguely remembers another colleague changing something back at the office earlier.
Nobody knows what’s accurate and what isn’t. And still the queue of increasingly impatient guests grows.
The scenario we’ve described above is imagined. But, it isn’t unusual. And it happens to event teams more often than they’d like to admit.
Any event management team still using standalone systems and processes – in other words, a heavy reliance on spreadsheets, email and printed lists – is vulnerable to these sorts of embarrassing problems.
The hallmarks of an inefficient, inaccurate process are easy to spot. You and your team will be spending a lot of time checking, re-checking, correcting and de-duplicating information. It’s bound to be negatively affecting your productivity. All in all, that’s a lot of wasted time.
What’s more, everyone attending your events and enjoying your hospitality is fully aware of the digital world we now live in. They’ve all got smartphones with apps that give them access to their bank accounts, file sharing tools, messaging applications and more.
All those guests still standing in that queue are likely to be valuable clients, suppliers or team members. They’ll have their smartphones with them, connecting them to colleagues and the information they need access to in their daily lives.
They will therefore know that you should be able to answer the question as to whether the mystery guest was invited or not. In short, your event is off to a terrible start.
Your organisation is likely to have invested a fairly significant sum of money putting on the event, which only makes things worse. You know they expect results and yet, because you cannot access event data remotely, there is a danger of the event not achieving what it was intended to.
All of this puts unnecessary pressure on you and your team and reflects badly on your brand.
Luckily, there is an easy solution: Eventrax.
Eventrax offers event management software that allows your entire event team to easily track, manage and report on their inventory and entire events programme on any device with a web browser and an internet connection.
The software offers you a single place to plan, manage and deliver your event programme. Imagine being able to send invitations, receive confirmations, view and manage ticket availability and coordinate with colleagues through one interface.
Then imagine generating reports at the click of a button which show what return on investment each event achieved.
With all data updated in real-time, you’ll be able to rely on what you’re seeing on your screen at all times. No more emails, spreadsheets and confusion. No more disgruntled guests waiting in line because nobody knows if the printout they’re looking at is accurate.
To find out more about moving your events team onto a system that allows you to access event data remotely, get in touch or explore what Eventrax offers in more detail.
