AV Event Solutions reminds planners that good Wi-Fi for attendees and other event stakeholders is no longer an optional perk.
The California-based event services company says the following questions give planners and others a non-tech approach to determining whether a venue can provide the proper Wi-Fi for their event. The questions are useful whether you’re interviewing venue staff, a Wi-Fi company or a Wi-Fi consultant:
Step 1:
- Have they done similar events?
- How many people attended those events?
- Were attendees using multiple devices?
- How much dedicated bandwidth will be available to your group?
- Will Wi-Fi be available 24/7?
- Will there be a qualified technician on-site, who you can easily reach, during the entire event?
- Will Wi-Fi be available in hotel rooms and conference rooms or just conference rooms?
- What is the capacity in each of the rooms?
- What is the minimum signal in each room?
- Will the network be actively managed during the event?
- What is the backup plan in case things go wrong?
- How will they deal with any outages?
- Where are the access points?
- Is the Wi-Fi coverage consistent in all areas or are there weak areas of connectivity?
- Can you provide hard lines for each of the meeting rooms for speaker needs?
- Can you separate Wi-Fi for rooms or for different groups?
- Can we bring in a tech from an outside AV company as an additional resource?
- Will we be allowed to have access to the site prior to our event?
- What type of Wi-Fi security is in place?
- Does the bandwidth provide the same uploading and downloading speed?
If you are satisfied with the answers to those questions and the information leads you to believe their system or expertise fits with your needs, then go to Step 2.PageBreak
Step 2:
Ask for reports from previous similar events. They should be able to provide reports on previous events which include bandwidth, numbers of users and any problems that were encountered. Make sure the reports are from events that are similar in scope and attendance to what your event will be.
Step 3:
Ask for references from similar events that they handled. Actually call the references to get their perspective and ask a few questions about how easy or difficult the staff is to deal with and if the venue fulfilled everything they said they would.
As an event coordinator or planner, keep in mind that Wi-Fi is something you can negotiate and you should do so up front which means it cannot be an afterthought.
The upside? Well planned and implemented Event Wi-Fi means that attendees can live-stream and blog about your event, right then and there; media can quickly and easily get their stories out; and product announcements can go viral in real time.
All of that adds up to a powerful buzz-factor which becomes the most positive type of marketing and hype for your event.
