DIGITALISATION OF EVENTS

DIGITALISATION IN THE EVENTS INDUSTRY

3 MONKEYS’ RUDI BUCHNER PONDERS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW EVENTS ARE MADE AND ANNOUNCES A NEW SOFTWARE PROJECT THAT AIMS TO ADDRESS THE EVOLVING NEEDS OF LIVE EVENTS PROFESSIONALS.

Can you envision how people produced events before we had computers and mobile phones? I do not have to envision it, because I remember it. When I started to work in this industry in the mid 1980s, computers were around but loads of the work still happened with paper and pen. Technical and creative design tools have evolved significantly, making work easier and more efficient. Standard office software helps to keep lists, tasks, and communication organised. Cloud and collaboration tools allow us to work in distributed teams and share information more easily. Project Management products structure and organise our workflows and processes and help us with budgeting. CRM, CPQ and ERP software builds the backbone of business and financial operation. So, is digitalisation of the event industry a done deal? I do not think so. Information and communication are spread over multiple tools, files and possibly clouds. If you look at a speaker booking, how many lists and locations do you have to visit to get the full picture of contractual obligations, travel and accommodation schedule, transfer services, technical requests, presentations and stage treatment, rehearsals, call time and finally the plus ones coming with this speaker and all their requirements? How nice would it be if all of that would be only one click away when you select a speaker booking? And this is just one tiny example out of dozens of workflows and processes when you plan an event.

We have spent the past 12 months analysing the data and communication generated during the lifecycle of corporate events. To get an unbiased picture, we have conducted interviews with specialists in the industry, covering roles in the development, planning, production, and operation of events. Beside gathering loads of valuable detailed insights, we found a few overarching topics.

Event professionals are desperately looking for an integrated, event-focused tool to keep information collected and allow them to see and work with information structured to the needs of their role in the production, and the production phase the event is in. The information needs to be available in different depth levels without losing the bigger picture within a specific role or the event.

Information needs to be transparent and accessible between different roles and departments to reduce information loss, friction, and cater for dependencies between roles and departments. The aim is to resolve the paradigm between ‘duty to collect information’ and ‘duty to provide information’ and ease the process of briefings and approval cycles.

With all this information gathered and analysed, we started a software project in March 2022. Right now, we are halfway into this first development cycle, and we explore and find new aspects daily. As it stands, we hope to make an alpha version of this tool available to the industry in Q2 2023 to further what we consider a never-ending process: understanding of how events are made.

Events are exciting no matter what work you do and how you do it. Photo: 3 Monkeys www.3monkeys.net