Engaged data is where the heart is

Newbridge Events look at the challenges involved in maintaining engaged audiences and avoiding engagement drift.

We have previously shared some thoughts on the pros and cons of Artificial Intelligence (AI) vs Real Intelligence (RI) for matchmaking. As a follow up, we wanted to talk about some key challenges from the pandemic where everyone was relying on digital events in the absence of any live or even hybrid shows – and that was keeping audiences engaged with and responsive to the brands, the shows, and the ecosystems they support.

For live shows, buyer and seller engagement as part of an event cycle is tried and tested. In truth, we have all taken audience engagement with our events for granted and, until the pandemic, there were few compelling reasons outside of a show launch for devoting a disproportionate amount of effort to reinventing the wheel.

When you take a similar expectation of engagement into a digital or hybrid environment, the reality turns out to be very different. In our experience working across the UK, Europe and the Middle East, the challenge very quickly becomes how to engage (and re-engage) with buyers and sellers when all around their worlds were rapidly changing due to the COVID crisis. If you then add predictable show propositions, multiple virtual meeting mediums, fierce competition for people’s online attention, real fatigue with the virtual world and the lack of live face-to-face interaction to this mix, then you had all the ingredients for engagement drift.

One of the unfortunate economic side-effects of the pandemic for many industries, is that they too had to redistribute their people and refocus their businesses. They furloughed their staff and made redundancies, teams were merged and condensed, and people changed jobs often taking on multiple new roles. Frequently this meant that registration data could no longer be considered as current and engaged, and as most shows in during that period did not take place, the normal and dependable methods for building and revalidating data was weakened.

We were lucky enough to collaborate on several shows during the period and saw this trend appear across small live events and large virtual events. We also found that data from previous years including pre-registrations for live shows during the period which did not happen, was already cold and unengaged. The implications are self-evident.

It is not all gloom and doom though. On the plus side we have also seen shows where the proposition is clear, the offering delivers value and the audience has a compelling reason or need to attend, and then engagement is strong – however the challenge is that audience engagement can come late, sometimes only 2 weeks out!

Campaigns we have conducted to engaged data for our specialist VIP meetings programmes have hit open rates approaching 70%; those to unengaged data by contrast have rarely achieved 20%. The onward effect on conversions is entirely predictable.

So, the tremendous opportunity which arises is to re-connect with audiences starting with bellwether buyers and sellers. In our opinion the time is right for a 365 solution which nurtures these individuals, provides for their specific wants and needs, and which fosters networks and connections – in short one which aims to retain their engagement and builds loyalty on a year-round basis.

We have been working on collaborations on a handful of such programmes where our role involves understanding key buyers and sellers evolving challenges and requirements, and then providing a programme of year-round engagement based on what they need, when they need it – not just when events happen.

The world is now a very different place and events still matter, so continuing to rebuild confidence is so important. We believe that year-round programmes which provide layered and cohesive engagement for buyers and sellers on their own terms, which create and maintain loyalty, and which keep audiences engaged with and responsive to the brands, the shows, and the ecosystems they support are the way forward.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) vs Real Intelligence (RI)

Newbridge Events look at the pros and cons of both methods of matchmaking.

A line from Jonathan Dufton’s article in an edition of EW on ‘The time is coming for real digital alternatives’ struck a chord with us when reflecting on digital, live and hybrid events:

“And, despite the emergence of AI-powered matchmaking solutions, recreating face-to-face networking remains a challenge”.

We could be overlooking some of the original strengths of serendipitous and arranged face-to-face networking especially when we’re tempted by the myriad of AI-powered matchmaking platforms promising instant solutions.... if not a panacea for face-to-face networking.

Since we started Newbridge Events 14 years ago, we have helped a growing number of event organisers deliver a superior customer experience for their VIP visitors and improved ROI for their key exhibitors. We have done this by going back to basics and ‘talking’ with and ‘listening’ to all parties involved; real human-to-human interaction that is ‘supported by technology, not led by technology’.

We’re not saying that there is no place for AI-powered matchmaking and indeed we use it to support our services. When developed wisely and in sync with organisers' objectives for their events, AI-powered matchmaking can benefit many visitors and exhibitors as long as everyone involved accepts that the information submitted by participants will limit the overall success.

However, for the top visitors with detailed buying requirements, this is not enough. We know the only way to truly understand what they want is by speaking to them. During lock-down we reaffirmed through projects we have been involved in, that these principles also apply in digital and hybrid environments.

There are additional benefits to this human interaction which are overlooked time and again. One of the most important is that it delivers real insight into what visitors and exhibitors are looking for, where they see themselves, their companies and their industry going, and why they want to attend events. Another terrific benefit is that we establish a real human connection rather than just another artificial electronic interaction. We have found that this builds loyalty and trust with both visitors and exhibitors which can only be a good thing during the current unprecedented times for the events industry.

Our final thought is that there can be a good case for combining AI and RI when implementing matchmaking programmes whether for live, digital or hybrid events. Together, if implemented as we’ve recommended above, they could provide a solution where AI sweeps up the majority of the audience in a low cost and low maintenance manner, leaving RI to work at a human level with those high value customers with very specific or complex buying needs.

On its own AI is undoubtedly a fantastic enabler and works for much of the audience provided they really engage with it. But it’s not a panacea because no matter how clever the platform, junk in = junk out.

By contrast, RI is human, it understands top exhibitors’ and buyers’ needs, it brings insight and makes connections, and it delivers genuine face-to-face networking.