What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 23 February 2015

Welcome to another week at Cloud 9! 

After last week's blog on industry exhibitions and a guide to making the most of exhibiting, we thought this week we'd talk about the technology side of things for the industry.

There is a melange of smart gadgets and wearable technology, but how will it be applied in the MICE industry?

Augmented Reality Sourcing 
The focus of augmented reality headsets like Oculus Rift is on gaming, but in the near future, hotels will allow planners to view meeting facilities virtually, from the comfort of their desk or home. 

Interactive Venue Set Up
Leap Motion allows you to control a computer in 3D with your hand movements. This technology will be used side by side with AR head-sets and allow planners to create their meetings set-up virtually and in an interactive way. The Leap Motion Controller is the beginning, but there's a lot more stuff on the way. They're already working to extend 3D interaction into many other digital devices, and embed our technology in products from the ground up. 


The End of Translation Booths
Microsoft's Skype Translator translates your voice and video calls in real-time. There is

room for improvement on this beta version, especially with contextualisation of conversations. Nevertheless, this technology could replace translation booths. Delegates will be able to follow any presentation in any language by smartphone. Skype brings people together to make progress on what matters to them. Skype Translator will open up endless possibilities for people around the world to connect, communicate and collaborate; people will no longer be hindered by geography and language.

Contingency Planning for Rain
A new kickstarter campaign presented the 'air umbrella' an invisible umbrella which takes advantage of airflow and creates shelter from the rain. Useful for big outdoor events or even when your running from one meeting to another! Air is everywhere on the earth. The flowing air can change the moving path of the object. The faster the air moves, the greater the energy is. The jet airflow can isolate some objects. So when we make use of the airflow, we can protect ourselves from the rain drops. Then the airflow forms an umbrella without a visible cover - brilliant!




Blabroids
Social robotics will also find its place in the meeting industry. Post-event questionnaires might be replaced by robots collecting feedback - Blabdroids. Some are more likely to engage emotionally with artificial intelligence than other people as robots can be seen as non-judgemental. 

Another very interesting technological creation that has currently taken a hit overseas, is the Instagram printer by Social Playground. This device allows you to: 

Spread Content Organically: Inspire attendees to share user generated content from anywhere in your event and build online conversations about your brand.

Drive your Hashtag Further: Incentivise consumers to tag their photos with your brand or event hashtag, driving viral reach. 

Engage via Offers and Competitions: Integrate hashtag competitions or brand your printed photos with exclusive offers to engage consumers further. 

Post Event Content and Insights: Social Playground will provide you with a digital copy of all of your photos and a detailed insights report so you can see exactly how much engagement was generated from this device. 

We don't know about you, but that's enough for us to take in for one week! 

Have a good one folks!