Essential Live Event Technology for Modern Event Planners

Decades ago, technology at an event meant getting a high-quality print of your business cards.

How times have changed! If you haven't attended a large-scale event recently, you might be surprised at the transformation. Interactive presentations, digital passes, and social media marketing lead the way.

If you want your next event to be cutting-edge, here's a look at some of the best technology solutions on the market. Read on for our definitive list of live event technology in 2024.

Cvent

Cvent is a popular event management software platform. The dashboard allows you to organize, manage, and execute a range of events, from intimate gatherings to week-long industry conferences.

Event managers like Cvent because it helps streamline and simplify their work. You can register and book venues in one place and track all attendees.

The software also has some helpful marketing features.

For example, you can create a personalized experience for attendees. It also has an analytics component that helps you measure and track the success of your event, providing valuable learning for the next time you plan.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is an events management platform. That means event planners can use it to manage an event's entire lifecycle, starting with creating an events page, selling tickets, and managing attendees.

It's valuable for various industries and has been used by event organizers for simple gatherings like an art class and massive events like a music festival.

One reason Eventbrite has proved popular is its ease of use. An event planner can create event details in minutes and use all the built-in marketing functions to promote the event to their audience.

It's also great for marketing, giving attendees an easy place to discover events and purchase tickets.

Hopin

Hopin offers virtual event support. It's a platform that replicates in-person events within a virtual environment.

Customers like Hopin for offering features that allow events to become interactive, like breakout sessions and networking spaces. This makes the event more meaningful and valuable.

Hopin is also combined with live events like conferences and trade shows. It can help connect virtual attendees with those who arrive in person.

Customers also like the intuitive design and find it easy to adopt. Plus, it has strong analytics capabilities, so event organizers can use it to improve their approach for next time and assess their performance after an event is finished.

Bizzabo

Bizzabo offers a comprehensive suite of tools that help event planners with all aspects of organizing the big day. In Bizzabo, you can launch in-person or virtual events.

There is an end-to-end setup to create events, sell tickets, and launch your event marketing strategy. There are also helpful features to engage attendees, like personalized agendas.

Customers like Bizzabo because it helps you create branded events, which are great for businesses that want to boost their profile.

Like similar event planning tech tools, it also has a robust analytics platform that an event planner can use to measure their success.

While Bizzabo can be used for all types and sizes of events, it's particularly popular for larger-scale events like conferences and trade shows.

Slido

Slido is used at events to increase audience interaction. It can engage attendees when speakers are on stage, integrating with presentations on the screen.

With Slido, you can find features similar to many interactive event apps. You can set up fun activities like real-time polling or surveys during a discussion or use it to host a live Q&A.

So, it brings more value to event attendees, letting them get involved rather than being passive audience members. It makes the atmosphere more inclusive and democratic.

Many users will tell you that Slido is easy to set up, which is an advantage. Participants can use any device to interact with Slido. Slido also offers analytics in the form of feedback to presenters, which can offer invaluable information.

Mentimeter

Mentimeter is a valuable presentation tool for any event. It's interactive and can help turn any talk into something more engaging for the audience.

With Mentimeter, you can involve your audience with features like word clouds, quizzes, and polls, with the audience adding their input via their smartphones.

Event managers have found that incorporating this tool into a presentation can improve engagement and retention, making it ideal for corporate training, sales, and educational information.

Mentimeter also makes a company look more professional, offering a usable interface for guests and a seamless way for a speaker to interact with the audience.

Whova

Whova is an event management app, another tool that focuses on audience engagement features.

It's ideal for business conferences because speakers can connect with their audience, and people can network with each other at an event via community boards, business card exchanges, and private messaging.

It offers other essential support for events managers, like logistics coordination and exhibitor management, so it's an all-in-one offering. It can also help event managers create the day's agenda.

Whova can be used virtually, in person, or both. Since it has real-time analytics, the events coordinator can adjust plans live on the day.

EventMobi

EventMobi is another major player in the world of event management platforms. It can be used in both in-person and virtual events and is offered as a mobile app.

With EventMobi, you can customize your event with attendee-friendly features like more streamlined registration or networking opportunities.

Like similar platforms, it also offers interactive features for speakers running presentations, such as polls and quizzes, so it's great for audience participation.

It also has gamified event options like leaderboards and challenges, bringing fun to a networking event or conference.

Within the tool, you can monitor the analytics suite to find out how these interactive features impacted your event and how to improve them next time.

Vimeo

Vimeo is best known for its video and streaming platform, and it has also begun offering live event technology.

Vimeo's video and audio streaming is powerful enough for any type of event, from a small-scale meeting to a large and busy concert, delivering a professional-grade broadcast.

Vimeo livestream also offers audience interactive features like live chats and polls, helping bring any event to life.

The platform is scalable, so you can get the dependable performance you need, whatever the size of the event. With that comes a robust analytics suite.

It also offers some unique monetization options for brands and influencers, like pay-per-view or subscription-based viewing, helping you to create a more profitable event.

OBS Studio

OBS Studio is a software platform for video recording and live streaming.

This open-source offering is particularly popular with the gaming community and online content creators. Still, it has also been adopted by educators and broadcasters.

It offers a zero-cost access model so professionals can get started without committing to a subscription fee.

The platform has features like screen capture, transitions, and visual effects, making it perfect for the online era of short-form video.

It is already set up with the major social media platforms, too, making it the ideal way to market an event. You can stream on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube.

RFID Wristbands

RFID wristbands are used at sporting events, conferences, and festivals. They are high-tech wristbands that use radio frequency to identify the wearer. It's helped transform access arrangements for large-scale events.

These wristbands offer contactless entry into an event or VIO area, and you can also use them to make cashless payments.

Furthermore, event organizers can use wristband information to track what people do at an event and use that as a learning tool.

More recently, these wristbands have become helpful to those wanting to integrate social features into an event by connecting attendees to their social media accounts. That can help market an event and generate some buzz.

Chatbots

Don't forget about AI and its potential to impact the world of events. The chatbot is the most common AI-powered feature in event planning and execution.

These tools can provide an AI-driven assistant, either on a mobile app or website, that's available for 24/7 support. Attendees can use it for many reasons.

For example, they could use the chatbot to find a speaker's start time, saving the hassle of looking up the information on an agenda. This would provide a better experience for attendees.

It can also help people navigate an event and handle basic requests like bookings.

vFairs

vFairs, the online version of a standard corporate or job fair, is a leading innovation in the world of virtual events.

This platform creates a 3D virtual environment for attendees, with images representing physical venues, providing visitors with a more immersive, real-life experience.

There are live webinar tools and interactive features such as polls. The tool also offers chat facilities to enable visitors to speak to the exhibitors.

It's ideal for a small company looking to increase engagement via a business fair without the underlying costs of an actual exhibition.

Live Event Technology: Transforming Your Events

If you are an event planner, you can start to see the breadth of opportunities available when you adopt live event technology. You can help plan the event, make it more convenient for attendees, and boost engagement.

If you want to learn more about event technology, your next step is to book a ticket for our next Event Planner Expo, the key diary date for anyone serious about events. Book your ticket now.