26th October 2011

Event associations and members gather to seek optimum WiFi solution for exhibitions

A meeting of 28 senior delegates from members of the AEO, ESSA and AEV gathered at Reed Exhibitions' head office in Richmond for an open dialogue about the needs and requirements of WiFi provision for exhibitions.

A meeting of 28 senior delegates from members of the AEO, ESSA and AEV gathered at Reed Exhibitions' head office in Richmond for an open dialogue about the needs and requirements of WiFi provision for exhibitions.

Following discussions on LinkedIn and an exploratory meeting at the Event & Exhibiting Show 2011 a cross association Technical Committee was conceived and has now held its first meeting. The importance of this subject to all parts of the exhibitions industry was in evidence when the meeting drew attendance from the chairs of the AEV, ESSA and the EIA, as well as senior executives from all member companies.

Piers Kelly, operations director of Reed Exhibitions said: “This began as a discussion on Reeds Ops LinkedIn Group and seems to have struck a chord with all parties within the industry. Technology will become an increasingly important part of exhibitions and we need to have reliable, available and cost effective solutions to providing WiFi irrespective of size of event or location.”

The open and frank discussion explored the experiences of all parties and their customers, their ideas and plans for the future and an overview of the current WiFi landscape. The discussions identified a need to define the requirements of the key users of exhibition WiFi services – visitors, exhibitors and organisers and each of the key stakeholder groups. The outcome from the meeting is a number of research projects to accurately record the needs of these users and the existing provision which will feed back into the group at its next meeting.

“The seniority of people attending this meeting is indicative of the importance this subject has to our industry. It is encouraging that the associations are able to bring together a meeting such as this to seek practical solutions.” concluded Kelly.

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