How wearable biometrics are shaping the future of events

The event industry, as we know it, is changing rapidly – thanks largely to the ubiquity of smart devices that influence and shape our day-to-day lives.  

If you’re curious as to how the way we orchestrate, market and execute events is being influenced by technology (who wouldn’t be?), here’s what’s happening on the cutting edge of the events sphere:

The most notable changes event professionals can expect in the (very) near future are all influenced by biometrics, wearable tech and virtual technology. Also known as ‘Intelligent Events’, these tech-driven experiences harness the power of intuitive technology to make events more engaging than ever.

Emotions become actionable guest engagement tools, thanks to wearable biometrics.

If you’re an owner of a Fitbit – a watch-like gadget that measures and analyses physical functions like your blood pressure and heart-rate to help you optimise your exercise routine, you’ll know just how much insight you can garner from one small, seemingly simple device. And it’s this kind of wearable biometric tech that is also shaping the event industry in some fundamental ways.

The end goal of any event is to create an experience that forges emotional connections. Up until now, however, measuring the emotional power of your events was largely delegated to guesswork. “As the synergistic worlds of biometrics and wearable technology advance, event marketers are finding that accurately quantifying emotion is no longer a distant dream, but an attainable reality,” reports Event Marketer.

Brands are using this data to glean insights into how their consumers feel about their products, their experience at events and the brand as a whole.

And they’re able to gauge these emotional responses astonishingly accurately. Acura’s Mood Road activation, as seen at the most recent Sundance Film Festival, took data-driven engagement to a whole new level.

Combining both VR (virtual reality) and brain wave technology, attendees were treated to a simulated ride in an NSX supercar. This “90-second engagement, dubbed Mood Roads, created a one-of-a-kind experience for each attendee based on emotional, cognitive and physical cues and reinforced the brand’s position as an innovator”,  says Event Marketer.

Participants donned 30 biometric sensors that measured 24 signals, including their heartbeat, brainwaves and facial expressions. Based on their mood, the landscape, music, speed and colour changed accordingly. The end result? They experienced a personalised experience that was unique to anyone else’s.

Thanks to advances in biometric and wearable tech, brands are now able to create more intuitive and increasingly personalised interactions with their guests, and as a result, forge deeper, more meaningful relationships with their attendees.

Make sure that your corporate events are specifically designed to resonate with every single attendee. Contact us to find out about our world-class offerings used by leading international and local brands alike.