Skift Take
Emerging technologies like facial recognition are still far off from hitting the mainstream of event technology. But for now, there are a variety of options that can help meeting planners become more efficient and improve the quality of their events.
The event technology space is more complicated than ever, with dozens of technology providers offering competing products across a wide range of services.
A little experimentation can be a good thing, according to Richard Maranville, executive vice president and chief digital officer at event and brand experience company Freeman, even if the options available are daunting.
More powerful tools for both attendees and planners provide ways to ease pain points and provide a more memorable experience.
Skift spoke to Maranville about the explosion in event technology options, the new products or services that may prove most innovative in the future, and the challenge of spanning the digital/analog divide when planning an event.
This conversation has been edited for length and accuracy.
Skift: The event technology space seems to be evolving at a fast pace. Why is this happening now?
Richard Maranville: A lot of areas are changing. The meetings industry, in general, has been a little slower to adopt technology than many other industries. There does seem to be a change in perception now and maybe a bit of an inflection point of the recognition that technology can play a bigger part. Then maybe some of it is driven a little bit by the fear that somehow technology might replace the meeting itself as opposed to augmenting the meeting. It's making it easier to have meetings, and it's making it more productive and making them last longer. There's a
