Trade Show Badges Trigger Targeted Messages

According to Lewis, an event organizer can decide whether Alliance Tech should provide exhibitors with direct contact information (such as phone numbers or e-mail addresses) of attendees whose badge IDs are collected as part of the Lead Potential service. Some organizers, he explains, prefer that all attendee data be shared with exhibitors as part of the Lead Potential offering. At the RSNA convention, however, only information printed on the badges—the attendee's name, job title and company—will be sent to exhibitors. An exhibitor looking to contact an attendee might choose to research the company and determine that person's address so it can send a mailer. Alternatively, exhibitors may opt to dig further and acquire an attendee's phone number or e-mail address.

Alliance Tech generates customizable reports for exhibitors based on the tag data collected. These reports are designed to inform an exhibitor regarding which attendees visited its booth, how long they stayed and the positions they hold within their companies. Another offering the solutions provider is developing is called Smart Notification, designed to alert a company's sales force—via text message, for example—when anyone from a predetermined watch list enters its booth area. For example, if the CEO of a firm to which an exhibitor targets its products were to enter a booth, the sales force would be alerted to locate and approach that individual.

Lewis emphasizes that when they register for an event, attendees are made aware of the presence of an RFID tag in each badge, and told that some exhibitors might contact them or send personalized messages based on data collected from a network of tag readers in both the exhibit hall and educational sessions. Attendees uncomfortable with such an arrangement can remove the tag, he says, adding, "We generally see a 1 percent opt-out rate."

That extra value does not come gratis, however. Exhibitors will be required to pay up to $12,000 for the Smart Messaging, Lead Potential and reporting services, depending on how large a particular booth is, and how many readers are required. The event producers also benefit from Alliance Tech's offerings, Lewis says, by having interrogators stationed at the entrances of large auditoriums and smaller breakout rooms so they can track the types and numbers of attendees for various panel sessions and keynote speeches.

Steve Drew, the RSNA's assistant executive director, says his organization believes the use of long-range, passive tags in event badges will help it and event exhibitors better understand the needs and preferences of attendees. In addition, he states, it will also offer a means of getting more value from event participation.