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Earn one clock hour of certi;ication credit. Once you’ve
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› The Next Big Opportunity: Mass Personalization
and the Art of Brand Experience, a white paper from
Freeman, available for free download at
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freeman-personalize.
› “The Psychology of Personalization: Why We Crave
Customized Experiences,” a blog post from marketing
company HubSpot, at
convn.org/hubspot-psych.
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and other event venues will be among those
imbedding sensors.
Beyond the physical world, there is
another space where personalization will
increasingly come into play: virtual reality. Cavanaugh points to VR’s explosion as
another opportunity to give attendees more
individual control over their experiences.
“VR gives attendees the ability to decide
which path they want to take in a virtual
world,” he said. “They can physically do
something that has a cause and e;ect. There
will be new ways to infuse a greater degree of
personalization into a range of experiences.”
For example, Cavanaugh points to medi-
cal trade shows. “Imagine putting on a pair
of goggles and being transported into an
operating room,” Cavanaugh said. “Instead
of watching an experience, [each attendee]
will be part of the experience, and that cre-
ates a new world of opportunities for orga-
nizers of face-to-face events.”
Sinclair agrees that event organizers are
“only scratching the surface of the possibilities
of personalization.” Over the next few years,
he said, “technology will continue to evolve
and be able to do the thinking for attendees.”
Once event organizers leverage technol-
ogy e;ectively, they’ll be able to influence
the most important thought process of all:
whether or not to attend. “If organizers can
make it easier for attendees to find content
and connections that appeal to their personal
interests and needs,” Sinclair said, “they’ll be
more likely to return the following year.”;.
Contributing Editor David McMillin is a writer
for PCMA.
Park Yourself Here At IBM InterConnect’s ‘The Park,’
attendee interaction was aided by both the casual
environment and beacons.
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