Integrating touchless experiences into experiential events can help re-engage in-person event attendees while prioritizing their health.
What is a “touchless event”?
The goal of a touchless event is to minimize human contact to maintain safety. The use of touchless features not only ensures the safety of attendees and staff members but is also considered a more efficient alternative to standard registration, payment, and event practices. Among the touchless features is the use of QR codes rather than physical passes or the use of an app to order food rather than visiting a counter to place an order.
Touchless experiences are indeed sanitary, but the focus here is on the user experience. When you integrate touchless experiences, your guests will be able to connect with your event’s key “touch” points that you desire them to remember.
Creating Touchless Experiences At Your Experiential Events
Every stage of your event can be modified to become touchless if you put your mind to it. From pre-event registration to post-event CTAs, every moment can be optimized to enhance the attendee experience.
The key to success here is to lead with an experiential mindset. A successful transition to total touchless can be completed with the tools that you already possess as an experiential event strategist. Consider this transition just another step in making your event as unique and safe as possible.
Think of touchless technology as an extension of the attendee experience by incorporating it into your event to tell your brand story. Using your creative toolbox, you can create a compelling and memorable experiential event for your attendees – without them lifting a finger.
Touchless Events
You have several options when it comes to the design of your touchless experiential event to help you create the most meaningful and engaging event possible. When creating a touchless event, you have two options: either choose a touchless format and concept that you find compelling and apply it to your event’s purpose or start with your event goals and shape them into a touchless event. It does not matter which route you take; you will get to where you want to be at an event that is unique and touchless.
Walkthrough Experiences
An experiential walkthrough consists of an interactive event in which attendees are guided by an event app on their phones or by touchless audio proximity activations to navigate exhibits and features on their own. Walking experiences are a convenient way to structure a touchless event because they are familiar and do not require attendees to touch anything other than their shoes. Think of these events as museums; they provide a less structured experience than other types of events, which can be beneficial for companies seeking to offer highly customized events.
Drive Through Experiences
A once-thought-extinct drive-in movie theater has made a tremendous comeback because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the traditional movie act that, during the pandemic, it was unsafe for people to view movies in traditional movie theaters and far safer to view them in the privacy of their cars. Drive-in movie theaters and holiday light shows have increased as a result.
Provide attendees with unexpected and unique experiences without them having to leave their cars. You should think outside the box here and create an event that provides value and intrigue to your audience – something they will want to be a part of.
A walkthrough experience has the advantage of staggered entry, which naturally promotes social distance. You can include signage in your event space to promote distancing while experiencing the walkthrough experience, regardless of whether it takes place inside or outside.
Virtual and Augmented Reality
We typically associate VR with large headsets, goggles, and handheld controllers, which are not exactly touchless (or particularly hygienic). Google Cardboard is more effective than sanitizing VR sets in between uses.
Using Google Cardboard, you can bring the VR experience to your event attendees without sharing the actual VR devices. You can use Google Cardboard to deliver a customized, touchless virtual event experience to your attendees using a structured piece of disposable or recyclable cardboard that holds your phone and covers your eyes. It’s one of the many compatible VR apps that can deliver this type of experience.
You can be confident that you are providing your attendees with a unique touchless experience using augmented reality since it is an innovative and infinitely customizable technology. Your attendees will only need their cell phones and the event app to begin their AR journey.
Touchless Payment
With the rise of touchless payment options such as mobile wallets, key fobs, Apple Pay, and direct payment apps like Venmo and PayPal over the past few years. It is important to invest in contactless payment options for your event if you intend to offer attendees the opportunity to make purchases on-site in addition to the standard event fees which are usually paid virtually and ahead of time.
RFID wristbands have become increasingly popular at events in recent years as a method of touchless payment. Upon entry to events, RFID wristbands are synced to attendees’ bank accounts and used for all payments during the event. At checkout, simply tap your touchless payment wristband rather than pulling out your wallet. With the rise of touchless payment options such as mobile wallets, key fobs, Apple Pay, and direct payment apps like Venmo and PayPal over the past few years.
These RFID bands can be used to track event metrics as well, like attendee spending patterns and habits, which sessions were the most highly attended, or which event activations received the most traffic and interest. You can leverage the information obtained from this type of touchless technology when planning future events and will be able to increase your return on investment.
Touchless Registration
Let’s begin with the most basic step of the event process to transition into the realm of the touchless: registration for the event. Pre-event registration can all be completed online, so all you need to do is keep registration and check-in digital to prevent attendees from having to share devices or materials.
Touchless registration technology can be used in a variety of ways depending on the technological sophistication of your attendees.
- Registration that allows attendees to choose a time slot for checking in on the day of the event to reduce crowd sizes.
- An email confirmation with all necessary instructions for the touchless protocol will be sent ahead of the event, so attendees can come prepared and with their devices fully charged.
- Check-in at individual kiosks using a self-scanner to eliminate the need for shared touchscreens and close interactions between staff and attendees.
- Guests may sign in using personalized QR codes on their digital badges.
While QR codes will not be the most unique aspect of your touchless event, they can serve as a very useful tool that can be creatively dispersed throughout the event for use as agendas, brochures, and sponsor materials. Activate your brand with QR codes to take your use of QR codes to the next level. An event-wide scavenger hunt might be a useful way to encourage attendees to engage fully with the event venue.
Touchless Event Best Practices
How well you implement touchless features and how well you communicate those features to your attendees will determine the success of your touchless event. Post-COVID-19, events should be designed with empathy more than ever before. Consider the human experience when creating touchless interactions. During the first in-person events following COVID-19, consider what activities attendees will be comfortable participating in and which ones they would prefer to avoid.
Consider these touchless event best practices when planning your event to ensure you provide an inclusive experience for your attendees:
- Whenever possible, replace all high-touch traffic physical items with touchless counterparts, such as QR codes or event apps that allow attendees to access all the information they need on their smartphones.
- Ensure that every aspect of your event is planned with intention. This first wave of in-person events should contain a limited amount of fluff and excess in order not to overwhelm attendees.
- If touch is off the table, focus on fulfilling the needs of the other four senses to make your event interactive.
- Prior to going completely digital, be sure it is worth the investment and will pay off in the long run. Touchless technology can be costly, so be careful what you invest in.
- CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 protocols for in-person events should always be followed.
- You should consider developing an app for large events, such as conferences, to guide attendees through the event (apps are particularly useful for hybrid events to bridge the gap between in-person and remote attendees).
Event strategists will have to be more creative than ever as in-person events ramp up again post-COVID-19 to meet the world’s new expectations for gatherings.
When planning your event, MaxAutomation can create a touchless entry for your attendees’ safety so they will have an inclusive experience
