Once cutting edge, online invites and e-registration have become mainstream. Gone are paper invites, registration forms, and onsite agendas. Yet somehow those cumbersome, clumsy, antiquated three-ring binders full of content are still finding their way into meeting rooms. If you want to achieve the holy trinity of savings—time, money, and the environment—it’s time to adopt e-content.
Replacing binders with content on iPads is the next natural evolution in the paperless process. James Rota of Dazzle Creative Events adopted a paperless plan for his meetings almost four years ago. “The hours we used to spend printing and reprinting, assembling, packing, unpacking, I can’t even believe that was the way we did things for so long,” he says.
Having a dynamic interface between your content and your audience captures your attendees’ attention and empowers them to communicate questions and comments in real time. Behind the scenes, the technology also makes it possible to update content in on the fly—and what planner doesn’t know a thing or two about speakers making last-minute changes
“Putting the content literally in attendees’ hands and giving them the ability to take notes, ask questions, participate in surveys and overall provide live interaction during the presentations through the iPads is an extremely valuable tool to both the attendee and presenters, as well as the planner. Most people are already familiar with how an iPad works. This built-in comfort factor goes a long way to a smooth adoption,” says Sanece Marie Poolas of SMR Events.
But before you set your binders ablaze, remember that not all e-content solutions are created equally. “We asked a lot of questions before we chose a partner,” Poolas adds.
One solution is the EM Array, an onsite iPad technology provided by Educational Measures. Attendees access the content via their email address, and all of their actions are linked to that email address, so they can use any device throughout the event. Attendees can interact with the speaker-provided content on the iPads, take notes, participate in polls, and provide feedback.
For a marketing team, the technology can provide data on which content, speaker, session, or topic garnered the most attention with the participants. Presenters can then use this information to adjust presentations, and attendees receive personalized PDFs post-meeting.
Educational Measures CEO Marc Crawford adds, “Planners now have the ability to measure audience engagement levels like never before, which provides priceless insight.”
If you want to avoid the cost and time associated with onsite printing, investigate the benefits of content delivered right to attendees via iPads. You can use the time you save to get to the gym—you’ll need to get there as there will be no more heavy boxes of handouts to lug around!
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