onyx beacon: 10 ideas from ibm interconnect 2015

10 ideas from

IBM InterConnect

2015

in Las Vegas

www.onyxbeacon.com10 ideas from IBM InterConnect 2015 in Las

Vegas

Onyx Beacon conducted recently its first large-scale deployment implemented on a

large and prestigious event of international scope.

We placed a complex infrastructure of 50 Beacons controlled by the Onyx Beacon

CMS at the largest high technology conference

organized by IBM in America, InterConnect 2015.


Vegas

This was a four-day event, which has seen more than 20,000 participants that witnessed the future,

reinvention and innovations of cloud, mobile, DevOps, security

and more.

This event included over two thousands technical sessions,

42 tracks, 8 streams, and 3 general sessions and was hosted by Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand

resorts in Las Vegas at the end of February.


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Beacon One, placed on

the official sign of the event,

in the hotel lobby


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Here are the 10 key findings we gained

through this experience.

We would like to share these ideas with you, in order to improve your future projects

in the sector of public events.


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1. Create a complete event scenario

Build a complete scenario script before the entire event, considering its program and agenda. Anticipate, define clearly the schedule

segments, imagine where the groups of participants will

be hour by hour and minute by minute.

Try to imagine on what will they focus their attention on every defined interval of time, and what types of

interaction expectations have they regarding the event’s program.


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2. Think about full coverage

Try to cover with your scenario all the 24 hours of a day,

the whole period of the event and all the areas where the attendees will walk during the event.

In addition to the areas where the event takes place, you must include in the sectors covered by

beacons also the accommodation, entertainment and leisure sectors, the

restaurants, lounges, bars and cafes, and even the vehicles that provide transportation of participants

between locations.


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3. Use a detailed map

Get or create a complete map of the entire location hosting the event and the attendees, study carefully the dimensions of the rooms, the layout of

the furniture, the accessories and event mobile infrastructure and study walls’ thickness.

This map will help you to intelligently place the entire communications infrastructure and insure that all

your iBeacon devices are perfectly functioning and fulfill their roles.


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Beacons infrastructure,

covering the public spaces

of the event locations


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4. A powerful communications plan

Segment the general audience according to the program of the event and the special sessions

included in the program.

Use the aforementioned scenarios and draw relevant and meaningful sub-programs of

communication for each identified audience segment.

Try to put yourself in the place of guests and imagine what messages / offers / coupons /

incentives would they like to receive and what might pleasantly surprise them.


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5. Smart and effective layout of beacons

Create a beacons’ layout that covers all the areas, all the scenarios and needs mentioned in your

communications plan.

Calculate precisely the range of action for each beacon, ensure complete coverage of all areas and

avoid duplication of coverage for the beacons belonging to different groups (tags) and which will

have to carry different messages and to reach different targets.

This layout will also help you, at the end of the event, to recover all your equipments.


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6. Take advantage of “dead times”

You already know that in all “dead” moments, meaning those segments of time in which nothing

important happens, all eyes are on the screens of phones and tablets.

Take advantage of the breaks between sessions, the periods in which visitors are transported from one

place to another and the moments spent by them in common areas.

For this purpose, place beacons in buses, lounges, cafes, restaurants and hotels’

hallways.


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Different Onyx Beacon positionings in the event

area


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7. Preserve/protect your beacons

When you place the beacons, make sure you place them in positions in which they can deliver

signal without obstruction or distortion, but at the same time they should be masked by some elements of decor or be placed at a sufficient

height.

Participants in such events are funny guys, very passionate about technology, extremely curious and creative and they will definitely want to know what

are these tiny-trendy-toys and especially to discover what lies beneath their nice casing.


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8. Be relevant and engaging

Adapt your entire communication plan to the context of the event and to the participants’

typology. Fully understand and assume their insight. Forward them valuable information, entertainment

and incentives. Avoid spamming your guests.

Offer a pleasant experience and useful and interesting information that they will appreciate and voluntarily distribute to their colleagues, friends

and social networks. Live the event together with them and adapt the content delivered through

iBeacons depending on the quality of moments that take place.


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9. Be optimistic when planning

At this edition of IBM InterConnect we discovered that the public exceeded the most optimistic

expectations in terms of adapting to new technologies, professional quality

and individual attitude.

97% of participants have downloaded the mobile app specially built for the occasion, and

80% of them actively used this application, opening their Bluetooth connection and receiving the

content created by the organizers. The rate of engagement achieved through mobile application

was excellent, being double than the initial expectations of the organizers.


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Beacon One discretely inserted

in a directional banner


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10. Analyse data and project next steps

The beacons infrastructure administrated by our iBeacon CMS

is offering a rich database of analytics, regarding the participants’ quality, behaviour and

interests.

All this very accurate information could be very valuable for your future marketing plans and

programs.

At the same time, this data could be very useful in order to improve the layouts, the

communications techniques and the marketing content for your future activities.


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Enterprise Beacon placed at the entrance in The Grand Garden Arena, before the

Aerosmith concert


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+++ Bonus idea: Build the future

At the end of the event, when your guests are leaving the Grand Garden Arena, where the rockers

from Aerosmith offered an extraordinary show, make sure that you extract the well-deserved

benefits of a successful event and you capitalize on the enthusiasm generated by an energizing

concert.

Exactely when they are leaving the concerts hall, send to the participants an invitation to your

next event or a “take it or leave it” offer with an attractive

discount for your newest or next product.


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Our Enterprise Beacon at the exit of Grand Garden Arena

after the Aerosmith

concert


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Onyx Beacon participated in this event through a partnership with AllianceTech, one of the market leaders in organizing and monitoring events within

United States.

Many Fortune 500 companies usually select Alliance Tech

to meet their attendance tracking needs in public conferences and fairs.

We are grateful to our partners at AllianceTech for their confidence, support and excellent

collaboration in this partnership.

http://www.alliancetech.com/


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Aerosmith concert, an extraordinary experience.

Our beacons were there, trust us.


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Thank You.

[email protected]

http://www.onyxbeacon.com/

mailto:[email protected]

onyx beacon: 10 ideas from ibm interconnect 2015

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