Event Production Software Trends

While technology has had a vibrant effect on your day to day life, it has introduced profound ramifications for live events, and the event industry as a whole. Following the release of the iPhone 3GS, Apple popularized the term “There’s an app for that” in their marketing for the phone which aimed to show that technology has an answer for everything and that any problem you wanted to solve could be answered with an app. Now, seven years and millions of apps later, you can hail a cab from your watch or create your next rockstar event from your tablet.

Access and adoption of the internet has increased exponentially in the first decade of the new millenium. Following Y2K, only about half of all Americans were online, with a majority of those being stuck with dial-up and only about 3% having broadband. Fast forward to today, and 84% of Americans are online with 63% of American cell phone owners using their smartphones to go online.

With this rapid adoption of internet access, events have seen an explosion of new technologies just in the past few years. As internet access & mobile devices have become the new standard, event organizers are no longer printing massive event schedules… they use apps like Dropbox, Box & Shoflo. Social networks like Instagram and Twitter keep your fans & attendees engaged before and after the event. Big and small brands are eager to be on the forefront of implementing and testing this technology on their own events.

The 2016 Super Bowl introduced cutting edge event technologies to increase fan engagement and satisfaction including:

• a ticketing app that can also bring you hot dogs and tell you how long the bathroom lines are
• 2,000 iBeacons scattered throughout the stadium offering step-by-step instructions to your seat
• fans in attendance could watch the commercials airing on television & replays of the game happening in front of them

“They can use push notifications to manage demand—a flash sale will clear out almost-stale buns in a hurry, and a warning in the app will keep people out of too-long lines.”

VenueNext’s ultimate goal is to expand this technology to venues and experiences outside of sports. The company is slated to bring their platform to hotels, hospitals, universities, and others to create a complete experience for guests to find information on anything they want, anywhere they are.

Large-scale displays and interactive screens, have grown in popularity – and in pixel resolution. There have been some really innovative, interactive work using infra-red bars that transform any surface into a mobile like touch experience. Virtual reality continues to gain popularity as well, with devices like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, and Magic Leap offering never-before-seen ways of interacting with visual content.

“There is no doubt that the production industry is seeking software innovation & solutions… we can’t keep doing it the way we have forever…”

– Keith Oberfield, KBO Production Group

Shoflo’s customers, event planners & production teams, leverage the real time edits & cloud collaborating to build run downs & scripts while continuing to utilize Dropbox and Box to keep their schedules and contact lists up to date amongst their crew members.

“I think Shoflo Works great for us. With a complicated event like Rolling Stone LIVE San Francisco, we have multiple live artists, several sponsors and dozens of vendors all sharing one loading dock. It’s quite the challenge staying organized and Shoflo keeps us all connected on the same page in real time.”

– Todd Cooper, Executive Producer, TOAST

While new apps are coming out daily for consumers, event production software for event planners & production coordinators is just getting started. Productions teams continually are looking for an alternative to paper and solutions like Shoflo can help.

“Our big goal this year at Shoflo is to become the comprehensive event production and management tool. We want you to build schedules, run downs, lists and more…all in the same place. A single destination to send your event team to get what they need.”

– Stephen Bowles, Founder of Shoflo