July Convene—Meeting Technology

 Enhance the Attendee Experience -- Digitially

By E.J. Siwek, CMP

Vividot’s Web-based photo technology simplifies the planner’s job and achieves valuable goals for organizations.

Those of us who plan meetings day in and day out often forget the special effort that our attendees make to come to our events. Some can attend only a few days each year due to family and work commitments, and they often break weekend plans and leave their spouses at home.

We owe it to our attendees to make our events memorable. Sometimes making a meeting special can be as easy as providing a photo or a memento they can share with their friends and colleagues back home.

Thanks to continued advances in technology, providing this added value option is simpler than ever. One solution is found at Vividot.com.

In the past, you hired a photographer to wander throughout your event snapping pictures. You probably had to color-code the name badges of VIPs of whom you needed a photo for an upcoming publication. One of your staff had to follow the photographer around to record names and titles for each and every picture -- whether or not it was used.

The Vividot solution makes the process much easier. After ordering an event kit from the vividot.com Web site, you’ll receive Vividot identification stickers along with an attendee instruction card, personal access codes for each guest, a handbook, an instruction booklet for your photographer, film processing for up to 100 people per kit, and technology for scanning and transferring photos to a secure Web site. Kits are reasonably priced at about $1 per person. (The actual price is based on the number of people and kits required.) Because there is no limit to the number of kits you can purchase, the technology can be used for mega-sized meetings, as well as smaller sessions. The minimum price is only $85.

So how does it work? Each attendee is asked to wear a unique Vividot sticker, usually worn near their name badge. The stickers, distributed at registration so that staff can assign unique access codes to each attendee, work similarly to bar coding technology. With Vividot, the sticker becomes your attendees’ digital fingerprint. The photographer is free to take pictures without needing additional support to log names. Once the photos are captured they are sent to the Web site for scanning. The technology then provides automated grouping and sorting, driven by the unique Vividot id.

After the event, attendees can log onto your Web site and view and order their photos or other event merchandise. Because the Vividot sticker provided to the attendee is keyed to their access code, the process eliminates the need for identifying, sorting, and distributing photos.

The benefits of this type of relationship-building technology are far reaching. We are always looking for ways to further the experience of our attendees after a meeting, as well as for ways to enhance the exposure of our organizations. Adopting a technology such as the one provided by Vividot achieves several goals for our organizations:

  • It updates the gathering and distribution of event photographs.
  • It provides added value by helping you build non-dues revenue well after a conference is over. You can include merchandise, such as mugs or T-shirts or other photo-related items, on your customized event Web site.
  • It is a fun way to introduce members to online transactions.
  • It provides an opportunity for you to position other electronic marketing in front of your community by allowing what is termed as “opt-in.” Attendes can opt to give you permission to send future electronic notices and promotions, thus building a more efficient marketing effort.
  • It enhances a viral marketing program while building brand awareness. In other words, when one gets a digitized photo, often she will print it or send it to others. If properly designed, your organization’s logo could be positioned in these downstream markets.

    • For further information on Vividot, contact ImageID US, One Penn Plaza, Suite 2212, New York, NY 10119; phone: (212) 268-9595; fax: (212) 268-9596; Web site: www.vividot.com

     E.J. Siwek is president and founder of Flashpoint Technologies, LLC. Forward your questions about technology to him at ej@flashpointtech.com.

    CONVENE - July 2001 - Meeting Technology
    ©2001 Professional Convention Management Association