What’s Hot in Sound, Staging, and Event Technologies According to the Experts

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | November 2, 2016 | Feature

Warren D'Souza SOUND.com Harman Professional Solutions Modern Stage Service Pratik Wadhwa

We all know that technology in general is constantly advancing, and that staying on top of your game, whatever that is, involves not only keeping up with new developments, but learning how to effectively use new technology and equipment to achieve the desired results.

When it comes to events, there are so many facets to creating an experience and nearly every dimension of an event provides an opportunity for technology integration. This includes sound, visuals, staging, engagement, event management, and so on. 

Here, we talk to experts on what’s cutting edge in Sound, Staging and Engagement Technology. These are among the most important aspects to planning and managing an event, as the sensory experience of any audience draws directly from these.

Sound

Talking about what’s cutting-edge in sound equipment and technology for events, Warrren D’Souza, Founder and Managing Director, SOUND.COM said,  “Sound Technology keeps evolving all the time, and I can see tremendous growth in every aspect of sound technology right from loudspeaker systems, DSP built within the amplifiers to drive them & major advances is easier rigging. However the most significant thing is how digital consoles under a lower price category can offer features that 5 years ago could be only on the expensive side of the console market.”

Prashant Govindan, Senior Director - India & Sri Lanka Operations, HARMAN International (India) Pvt. Ltd. adds, “The industry is constantly changing and we have seen some top notch solutions evolving over a period of time. The development of smart line array technology, wireless high fidelity in-ear monitoring systems, onboard plug-ins, sound transmission through fibre optics to minimize sound loss, digital mixing consoles like the Soundcraft Vi7000 with advanced mixing and sound processing capabilities are the most preferred solutions by today’s artists.”

Staging

According to Pratik Wadhwa, Owner, Modern Stage Service, Virtual Reality (VR) is the most exciting staging technology at the moment.  Talking about the technology, he says, “Virtual reality basically means near-reality which is a 3 dimensional interactive computer generated environment that lets you experience a different reality. Virtual reality stimulates as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch and even smell. It can teleport you to places.”

Brands that presently manufacture this technology include Oculus Rift, Microsoft Hololens, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR, Sony and Google Cardboard.

Soham Sarcar, Co-Founder, Transhuman Collective, agrees that VR and Augmented Reality (AR) are among the most exciting technologies for events right now. “Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are the most cutting age technologies today and they are the future of interactions with the audience. Augmented Reality enhances the present reality, makes it more dramatic and all the action is around the audience’s immediate reality, while Virtual Reality takes the audience to a different reality all together and detaches them from the immediate reality.” 

Augmented Reality is more of software based tech and there are lot of companies building platforms for it. Vuforia is one of the leading AR software development company.

A few recent events that have seen the use of this VR globally include the Samsung S7 launch in Barcelona, and the Audi Q7 launch in Russia. In India, this technology has only been used for demo zones of various product launches. Sunburn also saw the use of VR.

Events that have used AR include Make in India in Hannover Germany, and Banda Singh Augmented Reality in India, both executed by Transhuman Collective.

Engagement

Talking about what’s new in event technology, Lalit Chadha, CMP Chief Curator, Strategic Engagement and Event Solutions names Sli.do and TINT as two of the most effective engagement technologies being used in events today. He says says, “Attendees are at the core of all meetings. An evolving demographic that is increasingly tech-savvy buoyed by wider internet availability & increased mobile penetration & a demand of individual ROI from attendance to meetings have led to a shift in today's Attendees expectations from meetings. They want to be more participative as against the passive listening of yesterday.”

Sli.do

Sli.do is a path breaking technology that addresses this unmet need and is taking the meetings world by storm. It is easy to set and use, accessible via Attendees' own hand held devices' browser (no need to download anything). It empowers ALL attendees to be able to ask questions, choosing to be anonymous if they so wish, in a live session, that show up in real time on all logged in devices.

TINT

Describing what TINT offers to events, Chadha says, “TINT is one such easy to use, best-in-class solution that allows channelling of User Generated Content about your event across various social media platforms, funnelling the targeted social media into a single feed, that is customised as per your needs and used variously to boost 'Attendee Talk' about your event.”

If these three elements of your event – sound, staging and engagement -  are not orchestrated perfectly, your event, no matter the scale, will be considered sub-par and remembered for not meeting expectations. And as we have seen, with all the technology that’s available in the market, there really should be no reason for anything but the most mind-blowing experiences!

To read more of what these experts had to say on how to use these technologies, read the complete feature in the Sep/Oct issue of ExM Magazine.