The provision of robust Wi-Fi in a high-density environments is often a challenge.
However, for the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, providing high-quality Wi-Fi in a complex indoor/outdoor environment which experiences significant signal interference from passing yachts, wind, high tides and nearby buildings makes this an even more formidable task.
FLIBS knew that the success of the event was highly-reliant on the delivering digital connectivity for its more than 150,000 guests and vendors.
?For more than 60 years FLIBS has been connecting serious boat buyers and sellers from all over the world, and we?re always looking for ways to improve their experience at the show. Those connections include virtual ones over the Internet,? said Vladimir Danylyshyn, Director of IT and MIS at Informa Exhibitions.
?To ensure that vendors could access everything needed to make a sale -including targeted promotions and payments processing- we had to bring together the right team and provide the best connectivity solutions tailored to the unique environment.?
The company?s event management team leveraged the expertise of Ruckus Networks, QXC Communications and GoZone Wi-Fi?s marketing software to deliver a best-in0class user experience at the five-day event.
QxC Communications provided high-speed connectivity via Ruckus wireless access points, including R310 and R730 indoor APs and T300 Series Outdoor APs, which are well known for their ability to provide consistent coverage in high-density venues like stadiums and convention centers.
Wi-Fi marketing software enhances guest experience and event monetization
While having a robust Wi-Fi system in place was important to FLIBS, enhancing the guest experience also required having a means of engaging guests and gaining insights about their visitors.
A key part of the visitor engagement plan was GoZone?s Marketing4WiFi software which allowed the event management team to engage with attendees during and after the event and gain demographic and guest analytics designed to better monetize the event.
?We were able to provide event management with valuable data such as email addresses, demographic information break it down by day, time and location to better gauge interest from buyers for exhibitors,? said Todd Myers, CEO of GoZone in an interview with In-Building Tech.
GoZone?s marketing software provided real-time analytics to measure traffic across access points, identify the density of devices and enable the event management to better place exhibitors and plan for congestion by how attendees were moving from one area to another at the show.
Event management teams were also able to innovate and differentiate messaging based on whether visitors were returning or first-time attendees and apply loyalty messaging when appropriate.
?Better placed areas and detecting bottlenecks and using email and loyalty type systems were among some bigger learnings we had from previous years and places where we could add significant value to the event,? said Myers who has been involved with the event for more than four years.
Most importantly, GoZone?s advertising platform helped to monetize the network and allowed the boat show?s management to recoup deployment costs by re-directing guests and visitors to a landing page with advertising.
GoZone?s system also enhanced the attendee experience by providing one-to-one brand engagements and post-event email marketing to provide FLIBS and event management with guest feedback through surveys and reviews sent within 24 to 48 hours.
