At the Event Technology Awards 2016, Circdata was awarded ‘Best Exhibition Technology’ for our work with CloserStill Media and the London Vet Show. Here we reveal details of our winning entry, including the thoughts of CloserStill Media’s Alexia Maycock and Charlotte Ellicott about the challenge they faced, and how our technology was able to help.

Rebooking innovation

How do you increase on-site visitor rebookings? Organisers put a huge amount of time, effort and energy into attracting visitors to their events. It is no surprise that maximising the number of ‘rebooks’ is high on their agenda.

“CloserStill Media has a number of paid-for events and it is important for us to achieve year-on-year growth,” says Alexia Maycock, marketing director at CloserStill Media. “At this type of event we are always looking for new ways to increase delegate numbers and to enhance the overall event experience.”

Traditionally, CloserStill Media have processed a relatively small percentage of forward bookings during their live paid-for events, with the onus for any ‘rebooks’ falling to the delegate sales team in the months and weeks leading up to the next show.

It was during a conversation over a cup of coffee in the run up to a previous London Vet Show that Alexia and Charlotte Ellicott, marketing manager at CloserStill Media, raised the question with Chris Clipston, Technical Director at Circdata, as to whether he could think of a way to help improve on-site rebookings.

How do you solve a problem like rebookings?

“Problem solving through innovation is hard-wired into what we do,” says Chris. “When the London Vet Show team described their rebooking challenge, I was certain that we could help.”

Within a few days, Chris and Circdata’s team of developers had created a new piece of desktop software which would enable CloserStill Media to automate on-site rebookings for the London Vet Show. The process was simple. An operator would first scan a visitor’s badge to display their current registration details. Once the visitor’s details had been confirmed, the operator could submit the information, take a card payment and the receipt would be emailed.

“To take full advantage of the new software that Circdata had developed for us, we decide to set up a dedicated delegate rebooking area for the following year,” explains Charlotte. “We wanted to give the trial every chance of success, so we also incentivised delegates to rebook on the day by offering them an early-bird rate.”

The results are in!

The result of this joint approach was staggering. At the close of the London Vet Show 2015, CloserStill Media had received over £65,000 of on-site rebooking revenue, an uplift of 550% when compared to the on-site revenue from previous shows without the software.

“The technology has revolutionised the way we rebook delegates on-site and has determined how we begin the next show cycle,” says Charlotte. “Being able to rebook 500 delegates for next year’s show has put us in a fantastic position for 2016. Circdata have created a tool that has made a dramatic impact on how we are able to run our paid-for events.”

Due to its success at the London Vet Show, CloserStill Media is rolling out the technology across its growing portfolio of paid-for events, including Acute and General Medicine, France Vet and Therapy Expo.

“The software is user-friendly, enabling our delegates to seamlessly sign up for next year’s show,” adds Alexia. “It’s had a real impact on delegate revenue across our portfolio of paid-for events, helping to ensure future shows start in a much stronger position, and making forecasting and planning much easier.”

“Our event registration technology is driven by customer needs,” says Chris. “Our clients are under constant pressure to increase visitor numbers year-on-year, improve return on investment and to provide the best possible event experience. We believe that innovation through technology can help to deliver positive results against many of these challenges.”