Event ticketing has evolved. It's no longer just about creating an online ticket order/registration page and processing payments and RSVPs. Event Farm is at the cusp of the shift. Are you leveraging technology to target specific audiences to ensure your event is not only at capacity but has the RIGHT people in attendance? How are your guests interacting with your brand? Are you using mobile applications to make event operations more efficient? Welcome to the new world of ticketing. Welcome to the Farm!
| Non-Profit Organizations | Corporations | Venues/Bars/Restaurants | Conferences/Trade Shows | Festivals/Special Events |
|---|
Awards Season 2012- A Reflection
For most people, awards season is about watching hours of red carpet coverage and predicting who is going to win Best Picture. But for those of us in the events industry, we know that awards season is a whole lot more. To execute a successful event during this time takes no less than perfect planning in combination with the right people and the right tools. As another awards season comes to a close, we tend to look back and reflect on what worked this year- and what didn't.
What We're Loving:
*Awards Season Events for a Cause- Many events are now attaching a cause to their awards season parties, and we couldn't be happier. Non-profits now see this as the time in LA to have their voices heard and their purpose recognized. It's a time for A-listers to give back, and a time for the events community to highlight important issues.
*Adaptation of Technology- Paper tickets and guestlists are making fewer and fewer appearances at red carpet events, and with all of the features and functionality in the marketplace...we aren't at all surprised!
*Focus on the Event Experience- Event producers always have to compete to make sure they have the most exciting and talked-about parties, but never more so than during awards season. With so much competition and multiple parties every night, event organizers are becoming more and more innovative and creating ways to stand out in the crowd. For attendees, this just means better events.
...And What We're Not:
*Events Without a Clear Purpose- Believe it or not, there are still events that are "parties for the sake of a party". Perhaps more troubling, there are events that have a purpose but aren't able to communicate that purpose to the guests. Especially in LA and especially during awards season, these events just don't measure up.
*Transferability of Tickets- Nothing says "high-profile red carpet event" like an exclusive guest list. Unfortunately, handing out paper tickets effectively negates that exclusivity. Even worse? Electronic tickets that beg, "please do not forward this invitation, it is non-transferable." If your guest list is truly exclusive, make sure that your invitations are truly non-transferable.
*Poorly Designed Event Sites- If there were a Fashion Police for event sites, there would be a number of offenders and we would have some words of advice! A-list events should have an A-list event site, electronic ticket, or RSVP process. Without mentioning names, we came across some that were less than fashionable.
With awards season behind us, many of us in the events industry are finally breathing that long overdue sigh of relief. But before you know it, we will be in the 2013 Awards Season and ready to do it all again!
|
In just a few months, Siri has become the most successful voice recognition tool for consumers we have ever seen. I guess its not all together surprising that this an Apple product. As usual, they did it right. Siri is fun, simple, and efficient. Recently in a brainstorming session at Event Farm we began to consider the possibilities of Apple releasing an API allowing developers to integrate and leverage this technology. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could have Siri shop online for us? She would know our sizes, know what we like, and even have our credit information and shipping addresses. Could Siri order pizza for take out? Could she pay our bills? Could she become the candidate the Republicans are so desperately seeking?! Well that's pretty far off at this point but you get our point. We believe that voice recognition software has the ability to completely change the world we know and live today. Traditionally though, Apple has not been a completely developer friendly company. Steve Job's vision was to control every aspect of Apple products (hardware and software) so they could ensure their quality and user experience. They even go so far as to review and approve every software application developed for IOS devices. Can you imagine how many people are on that review team today? While this certainly produces what we've come to expect from Apple, awesome gadgets, it limits the evolution of their products. In the other side of the aisle, Google has been very developer friendly. The Droid platform and marketplace are much easier to work with and today developers are focussing more and more energy on Droid products. We wondered then - when is Google going to step up to the voice recognition plate? Apparently its not so far off. After some research it seems that project "Majel" is in the works and could soon be Siri's new competition. See Mashable Article . We're not picking a dog in this fight quite yet, we're just glad to see Google adding competition to the market - as it can only make both companies stronger and bring an API to the market quicker. While its obviously pre-mature, you cant fault us for dreaming of the day when Event Farm will be able to allow users to have Siri or Majel purchase tickets to events, invite guests to private events, create ticket blocks for sponsors, transfer extra tickets to friends, and entirely control our software platform from voice commands. We embrace creativity and innovation at Event Farm. Its one of our core values as a company. We're not ready to vote Siri for president quite yet but we can't wait to see her and Majel mature and become a bigger part of software development. I know we'll be an early adopter!
|
1. They are always at the forefront of technology. The New York City market is one of the fastest to adapt new technology and jump on board with new features and functionality. And in this industry, there's a suprisingly large amount of it out there right now. From mobile check-in apps to RFID tags to paperless ticketing, the list is endless.
2. The events community is alive and connected. New York City plays host to some of the most involved PR firms, production companies, and vendors. It's not difficult here to find a Meetup group, and events like PlannerTech and BizBash have increasingly high attendance. With all of these opportunities to share information, connections, and ideas, these groups are always the leaders.
3. The competitive nature of the industry pushes event planners to evolve. Whether it's picking the hottest new venue space, booking the best entertainment, or getting the best press, the New York events scene is always showing the rest of the world what's possible.
4. Diversity in the event calendar. In New York, we are long past the days of the entertainment industry dominating the events community. On any given night, NYC can play host to a variety of corporate, non-profit, political, art, or music centered events. This gives event planners even more opportunity to engage their attendees.
5. Exclusivity of events. With 8 million people in this city and the large number of events every day, New York still manages to create an events world where being invited to an event means something. Event planners are continually thinking of ways to promote this idea of exclusivity. We've seen secret locations revealed the day of the event, increasingly strict guest list policies, and the evolution of the hard coded non-transferable electronic ticket.
We would like to give special thanks to some of our NYC clients who helped inspire this article: Facebook, Splendid Communications, Foundation Events, Liz King Events, Time Inc., Council of Urban Professionals, Hearst, The New Yorker, BizBash, Hermes of Paris, Valentino, Conde Naste, MKG, New York Magazine, NBC, Columbia Business School, Fashion Forward, Ducati,and Medici Events.
