Avoid that panic moment at your next event

As event organisers, we know there will always be the odd hairy moment in the unpredictable world of live events.  Spinning plates and dealing with last minute updates to presentations or overcoming technical glitches on the day is part and parcel of the job.  According to CareerCast.com, event planning has been found to be the sixth most stressful job in 2019, only beaten by enlisted military personnel, firefighters, airline pilots, police officers and broadcasters!

There will always be moments of panic for any event organiser, no matter how much experience you have under your belt; we will always face the unexpected!

In this blog we share our top tips on how to be prepared as possible when it comes to integrating your chosen event technology into your event and avoid those panic inducing moments on-site.

Remove any technical barriers before you get on-site

Have you considered the Wi-Fi infrastructure at your venue?  Without a reliable, fully tested Wi-Fi, your delegates, speakers and teams’ experience are all in jeopardy.  If your CEO is doing a live presentation or demo using Wi-Fi on stage, you’re going to want to ensure you can trust the Wi-Fi and it will deliver.  Always test the Wi-Fi at your prospective venue under similar conditions and user numbers, if it isn’t up to scratch this can be a deal breaker.  We’ve put together our top 5 Wi-Fi questions to ask your venue, you can read it here.

For complete peace of mind, we offer a detailed Wi-Fi audit of your venue’s Wi-Fi infrastructure and will advise on its suitability for your event.  Alongside this, when the client requires it, we provide our own crew of Event Technology Specialists and take responsibility for delivering the Wi-Fi ourselves, leaving you free to manage the other areas of your event. 

Familiarise yourself with your chosen tech

Familiarise yourself with your chosen event tech, know its features and functions and the results of each feature, don’t leave it until you get on-site.  Consider how the tech is going to improve your levels of audience engagement?  What’s its purpose and how will it make your meeting better?  Once you know the answers to these questions, tell people! 

Brief your speakers well in advance and allow them time to familiarise themselves with the tech.  Explain the benefits and why it’s being used to get them on board.  Giving them the opportunity to incorporate it early in their own planning processes will help improve audience engagement, and help you avoid that panic moment when the speaker is on stage and has no idea how to the work the technology!

Once you’ve briefed the speakers, make sure you introduce the technology well with your audience, before and during the event.  Pre-event communications are an important way of introducing the technology, allowing attendees to download an event app or submit questions to a speaker, as well as gaining a better understanding on what tech will be used, how to use it and its purpose.

Giving a clear introduction on how to use the technology in a topical, jovial way at the start of the event will help warm up your audience and will set them up for the rest of the event.  For more ideas on boosting audience participation see our previous blog.

Consider who will manage the event tech on-site

Do you have enough hands on deck and technical on-site support if something goes wrong?  Who will manage those last minute updates to speaker presentations or oversee any voting and polling you may be undertaking? 

When problems arise, they need to be resolved quickly and seamlessly.  Exceptional on-site technical support is a must when using event technology.  Having an experienced team on-site, with all the technical know-how and real-world experience to manage the deployment of the technology on-site, and deal with any last minute hiccups, will ensure you have complete peace of mind. 

At Crystal Interactive, it’s our job to make sure you look good!  From helping constructively in rehearsals and reacting in the moment to ensure your audience and speakers have the best experience possible, our team of Event Technology Specialists will guarantee everything runs smoothly on the day. 

The team will ensure everyone is fully briefed and confident in the technology before the event and will be able to adapt the technology to keep in step with changes to the agenda and presentations when the show goes live.  

If you have your own in-house team to support you on-site on the day, we also offer pre-event training sessions to help empower your team to feel confident in deploying the technology on-site, should you require this.

To learn more about how we can help you avoid those panic moments please contact one of our event professionals today to discuss your next event.