The Impact of Big Data on Event Management

By CIOReview | Thursday, October 3, 2019

FREMONT, CA: The marketing sector has taken long strides in digitalization, employing robust tools and solutions to enhance their capabilities. The utilization of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and predictive analytics has enabled marketers to monitor the impact of digital marketing. However, many organizations find it challenging to adopt the right technologies when it comes to event management.

Research shows that organizations spend upwards of 25 percent of their marketing budget on meetings and events, yet many fail to evaluate the impact of their investment. The traditional approaches leverage qualitative data, anecdotal evidence, and rough estimates to assess the impact of events.

Big data shows excellent potential in event management, which generates troves of unstructured information regarding attendees, speakers, event staff, and partners. The data can be consolidated and analyzed. It will enable marketers to gain insights about the spending habits of participants, the general attitude toward vendors, audience engagement, and so on. It equips marketers with robust capabilities to achieve a data-driven view of event performance, and enhance the experience for both the attendees as well as sponsors.

The technology grants access to data that was previously beyond the reach of marketers. The incorporation of wearable technology and mobile apps has led to the generation of large amounts of data in real-time. However, the challenge lies in making sense of the data and using it to draw value for the business.

Organizations can leverage robust analytics platforms to identify patterns in the unstructured data and draw relevant insights. Big data enables marketers to collect unique user data and consolidate it into unified databases. The insights generated from the big data can be utilized for planning future events.

The robust connectivity offered by digital devices enables marketers to gather valuable information from attendees, including their opinions and feedback, without much effort. AI-based systems can be used for storage, consolidation, and processing of data, allowing them to identify the fine details hidden in the information, especially the preference and behaviors of the audience.

The insights will enable precise planning and budgeting for future events, helping the marketers to reach their audience with greater precision. The data regarding demographics and psychographics will bolster the marketing strategies, empowering organizations to reach the right people. The insights can be used to identify prospects and accurately estimate the people most likely to attend.

The integration of big data in event management offers a comprehensive view of the planning process, enabling planners to identify the potential challenges. It will allow organizations to forecast changes and achieve cost-effectiveness. Also, the data can be successfully used to efficiently apportion budget time and investment for the events, thus increasing ROI.

Big data has enabled organizations to witness an increase in registrations by ensuring audience engagement. Robust data analytics systems can be leveraged to visualize the activity, allowing marketers to adjust their investments accordingly. The integrated mobile apps enable the planners to boost engagement before, during, and after the events.

The data analytics systems provide measurable outcomes, enabling marketers to optimize value after the event with quantitative reports for sponsors. Marketers can also share information regarding booth traffic and attendee interests. A data-driven approach enables marketers to measure event success based on the key performance indicators, allowing them to assess the viability of the events, and the level of engagement.

The addition of real-time insights into marketing strategies can facilitate a greater understanding of customer prospects. It will enable the marketing teams to deliver relevant content which can drive better connection with the prospective customers, thus achieving the business objectives long after the event.


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