How to use augmented reality for events

The big buzz words in the tech sector today is augmented reality, it’s been around for a while, and it’s been the staple of sci-fi but now it’s finally starting to mature and find it’s feet. With the advent of Google Glass beta testing, we’re seeing augmented reality (AR) getting that one step closer to being an everyday reality.

AR is all about enhancing your surroundings using a device that’s got a camera, GPS and access to the internet – Google Glass are glasses that have a computer running on the Android system used to millions of phones and which house a small screen for the user to look through that overlays information on the things around you, but it could just as easily be a case of holding up your camera’s phone to retrieve the information. Related this kind of technology to your events could give you some fairly unique ways of interacting, engaging and communicating with your customers.

Isn’t Augmented Reality just a fad?

OK – so far their have been some fairly gimmicky applications of augmented reality over the last year or so. It’s reasonable that you may think AR is just a fad it’s likely we’re going to see AR included in more and more every day apps in the coming months and years. Ultimately as long as it drives sales it’s likely to be here to stay.

How The Events Industry can benefit from Augmented Reality

AR allows a greater level of user interaction and engagement. Imagine being able to show the an event goer the set list whilst they’re looking at the DJ, or see a plan of the venue allowing the attendee to easily find the other stage/bar/toilets etc, or the ability to go into much greater detail by looking at a poster than that poster could ever hold (allowing you to concentrate on brand building in your artwork).

If you want to think about revenue benefits think of bar price information, where the user might in the direction of the bar to find the kind of functionality that allowing you to up sell or cross sell before the punter’s even spoken to anyone, or enabling you to sell virtual ads around the venue that don’t have to be printed and stuck on a wall. As you can see the possibilities for AR in the events sector are vast and it’s something that every event promoters should start putting some thought into.

RapidScan: Real time stats in the events sector

In the same way that our entry management solution RapidScan provides real time stats to enable events to have increased security and better flow of attendees at events, augmented reality pushes it to the next stage, enabling the event promoter and venue to really understand what users want from the event. This provides valuable indications of how events can be improved to deliver optimal attendee experiences and maximise revenues.

AR maybe a bit of a future tech but it’s coming and when it hits the ground the live events industry needs to be aware of it and ready for it. You can rest assured when the technology is out there a bit more Skiddle will be at the forefront, leading the charge in developing solutions that will maximise the opportunities.

To find out more about our entry management solution’s real time stats to benefit your events, please visit: http://www.skiddle.com/promotion or email actmanagers@skiddle.com