Member Article

Six futuristic tech gadgets to wow your audience

The world of technology is changing fast and there are a host of hi-tech gadgets on the market that you can use to really impress and wow your audience when you are planning your next event. Mike Walker, is Managing Director of MGN Events. Here he looks at his top six event tech gadgets for events that he believes can really impress today’s millennial generation:

Virtual reality: with costs coming down, this technology is fast becoming a realistic option for events. Delegates can use an Occulus Rift to transport themselves to where-ever the event organiser wants to take them. If they want to take a swim at a new hotel pool in Jamaica, ski down a mountain in Switzerland or play football with the England football team, they can. Virtual Reality technology really has the potential to make your event extra special.

Drone technology: drone footage is a great way of drawing delegates immersively into videos and photography because they capture shots that traditional cameras simply can’t reach. Drones can also be used to capture the action at an event in an interesting way that can then be made available remotely to those who are unable to get the venue themselves. At the extreme end of the scale, drones can deliver packages or gifts to delegates creating excitement and a real wow factor.

Glisser: This is an amazing and really simple to use website that allows you to really engage with your audience during presentations. Glisser allows you to log in and conduct online Q&A, live polling, and share content socially during an event, as well as analyse data coming back from participants. The best thing is that it isn’t expensive to use and it is really simple to set up. We thoroughly recommend it for an easy to use way to engage with your audience and capture valuable data from them.

Climate change booths: this is a clever piece of kit that can mirror the weather conditions of different destinations around the world. A great piece of technology if you want to run tasks at an event where you transport people into a different country or experience products under different climate conditions.

Digital Graffiti Wall: The digital wall is a stroke of genius (pardon the pun) and can be used for drawing or for break outs with delegates all able to contribute their own views. It can also be used as a hi-tech guest book, a creative colouring-in exercise or doodling board for the guests in attendance.

One final gadget that we think has the capability to change large meetings or conference spaces is the Microsoft Surface Hub. This is a large interactive whiteboard and videoconferencing screen which is incredibly flexible allowing you to use the screen to write on like a whiteboard, remotely connecting and sharing with colleagues around the world at the same time and with the ability to connect to third party apps. More than one person can write on the screen at the same time and the display is incredibly clear, ending worries about fuzzy video conferencing and difficult to read flip charts or whiteboard notes.

These are my personal favourites but new products are coming onto the market all the time and by harnessing some of what is out there, you can create a really immersive event that will appeal to the Generation Y.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by MGN Events .