Automation of events - digitization in the MICE industry
When it comes to digitizing conferences, meetings and events, the same questions often come up. Can such an individual "people business" really be automated? Or isn't the event industry much too specialized and therefore spared from digitization?
- Aren't events and meetings far too individual to be automated?
- How do creativity and digitization of the MICE industry even go together?
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Meetings and events are incredibly individual. Every customer is different. Every inquiry has its own peculiarities. But does this mean that every event has to be designed by hand and that the wheel has to be reinvented every time? Or the other way around: Why configure cars, but not events?
Every customer briefing must be answered with a tailor-made quote. The wishes of the event planner must be considered in detail, individual needs must be implemented.
How many event inquiries actually have such special requirements that they are fundamentally different from previous events?
However unique each meeting, kick-off event or marketing conference may be, they are all composed of building blocks from the following areas:
- event location, meeting rooms, event spaces
- catering, food & beverage
- hotel rooms, accommodation and transfers
- program material, content or entertainment
- technical equipment, decoration and infrastructure
- services such as participant management, planning services or support
All event services and disciplines can be standardized, building blocks can be developed.
The combination of standard modules from these sections results in such a large number of variants that 100% of all normal event requests can be put together to fit exactly - and are thus configurable. Regardless of whether it is a simple conference or an elaborate product presentation. The decisive factor is the underlying, standardized event modules.
What meetings and events do we actually sell?
In the first step, the most important thing is to sift through the portfolio of offerings and structure it clearly. In the second step, the event modules are provided with content, prices and rules and offered for selection in the conference or event configurator.
Complex prices are calculated at the click of a mouse, quotes are automatically created in perfect design. All results are individual, the standardization remains hidden for the customer. A win-win situation for the MICE provider as well as for the inquirer of a meeting or event.
And what about creativity?
Good meetings and events are a lot of work. The planning and organization effort is usually great - even if you may not even see it in the result. Where should the time come from to develop creative ideas?
How can an event be creative that was configured by a machine?
Creativity is at its best when event planners have freedom. When they are not trapped in monotonous planning processes or have to create time-consuming quotes as if on an assembly line.
The key lies in the automation of event planning: If an event is already put together and calculated with just a few mouse clicks, this creates a lot of free time. Time that the event planner can invest in concepts and details.
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