New year, new you? Pledged to start paying attention to the latest event technology trends in 2019 but already struggling to separate your AI from your AR? Don’t panic! The world of technology moves faster than Geraint Thomas on a downhill, but luckily, Team Noodle love nothing better than scanning the latest headlines to keep track of all the biggest event technology trends and news. From smart toilets to 8K TVs, we’ve been swatting up on all of it and we’ve picked out the biggest event technology trends for 2019.
Event Streaming
Started live streaming your events? In our busy, multi-tasking lives, the market for live streams is booming and the tech is becoming increasingly affordable and available. Streaming your live event means larger potential audiences and increased sponsor opportunities. If your event is full to capacity, live streaming opens up the doors to thousands of potential viewers at a reasonable price point. It’s predicted that the live streaming market will be worth $70 million by 2021. Live streaming sites such as Twitch have nearly 10 million active users a day. In 2019 we expect huge growth in the number of viewers who opt to live screen events.
Smart Speakers & Display Screens
Smart speakers were everywhere at this year’s CES (one of the world’s largest consumer electronic shows, held in January every year). It looks like speakers and television display screens are rapidly becoming increasingly clear and increasingly intelligent. This is great news for exhibitors as it means better visuals and sound, more intelligent interactions and easier transportation.
What should you be looking out for? Well, LG are ready to launch their rollable OLED TV screen, with an 8K display screen that neatly folds away into its base. Great for transport and also a good way to reclaim some much-needed space on your exhibition stand!
Meanwhile, Samsung are also releasing a microLED TV with detachable pieces that can be used to create a massive 219-inch television – incredible for eye-catching displays and demonstrations.
Smart Event Venues
The Internet of Things has been a hot event technology trend for a while, and it’s finally becoming a real reality thanks to a growth in connected smart objects and advancements in artificial intelligence. You can now buy everything from smart television display screens and speakers to smart headphones. The physical world is becoming more interactive and reactive as more and more of our possessions come with internal connections to the internet. These connections allow the objects to behave intelligently – life fridges that can order new light bulbs for themselves from Amazon before the old bulb has even blown.
For event venues, this means touch screens that can tell you which exhibition stands or seminars are most popular, robots who can suggest exhibitors that might be of interest based on your previous preferences and personalised welcome messages or information booths.
At Noodle Live, we’re excited to see smart event venues become a reality. Our RFID name badges can instantly create interactive environments by providing every delegate with a name badge that allows them to tap to activate information points, register on arrival and even swap contact details with exhibitors. A cost effective way to make your event venue a lot smarter.
5G
Yup, it feels like only yesterday that we were all talking about the arrival of 4G, but the countdown is now on for the arrival of the latest generation of mobile communication – 5G. The arrival of 5G promises faster data transfer times, high capacity for information transfer and reduced costs. It also allows for the possibility of millions of new connected devices (that could be a necessary step to accommodating the proliferation of new devices coming online thanks to the internet of things).
1G, or first generation mobile connectivity was introduced in the 80s and involved the ability to connect analogue devices and allow them to wirelessly carry audio. It was followed by 2G connectivity in the 90s which allowed for the introduction of text-based messages. Post-millennium, 3G devices began to offer video-calling capability and finally, 4G arrived ten years later with the offering of high-speed internet connectivity directly from your mobile device. Experts say that 5G will represent a significant leap forward in terms of speed and data transfer. Some people even claim that 5G could be up to 100 times faster than previous connections.
It’s unlikely that we will see 5G in the UK this year, but South Korea, China, Japan and the US are all looking at ways to rollout the tech as soon as possible. Higher connection speeds will open up a range of new possibilities for event tech and mobile apps for events. Expect real-time updates on what delegates are talking about, searching and enjoying as well as increased possibilities for digital interactions and data downloads.
Wearables
Wearable tech has been touted as the next big event technology trend for nearly a decade, but so far it’s failed to live up to that promise, with smart watches never really capturing the public imagination. 2019 could be the year that it all finally changes, as the promise of 5G and the growth of connected smart devices opens the doors for a variety of high tech products that we can simply attach to our person.
In terms of event technology trends, this means increased potential for gathering data about what goes on during your event. Our RFID name badges allow #EventProfs to track attendance, session numbers, exhibitor lead capture and many more data points. With faster internet and more connected devices available, it’s likely that we will see delegates who are more used to interacting with data touch-points and who are able to supply their own tech to do so, potentially lowering the cost of event tech systems.
Social Robots
The robot invasion is coming, and it’s surprisingly adorable. Over the past few months, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of personal assistant robots and companion robots at tech shows. ElliQ robot offers companionship for seniors, whilst Honda’s bipedal ASIMO has become an icon of friendly robotics. Implanted with AI and also sporting adorable humanised features, the social robots are designed to have social interactions with humans. Creators do large amounts of research to ensure that social robots trigger our empathy drive. Often being made in child-like sizes and equipped with the capacity to admit when they don’t have an answer, they’re carefully created to elicit our compassion and trigger a protective response. Watch out for social robots entertaining guests at live events, replacing information points and even serving our drinks or escorting guests to their taxis.
Cognitive Technologies
AI continues to grow in relevance and presence in the tech world. But although the AI superstars like Alexa and Siri get a lot of air time, they’re actually just one part of a much wider tech trend known as cognitive technology – or technology that can start to be able to think for itself. Other cognitive technologies include machine learning, robotics, neural nets and natural language processing. In 2019, we expect to see more practical applications of cognitive tech for our day to day lives, including live events.
Want to know more about the latest event technology trends? Keep an eye on the Noodle Live blog! We love talking about all things Geek and high tech (just ask our long-suffering office dog. Sorry Dusty. We know you’re bored of hearing about anime and blockchain.)