Breeze Makes Tracks

The Breeze Event Tracker (or BET for short) is the new, innovative system from Breeze to track attendees at conferences. This tracking system is based on the Microsoft Technology stack including Radio Frequency Identification.

For many years, conference organisers have wondered: “Are people attending my sessions? What is popular?” Similarly, presenters on the stage are wondering, “What sort of audience do I have?” Often falling back on questions such as “Who here is a manager?” Many organisations often pay top dollar for the right to set up a stand at a conference, only to find that there is no easy way to track and aintain the valuable list of leads acquired on the day.

In mid 2008, Breeze worked with several teams from Microsoft both locally and at headquarters, while developing the BET solution. A solution capable of tracking attendees as they walked in and out of the different conference sessions. The attendees became involved through an opt-in process at conference registration time.

One of the many benefits of the BET system is that attendees did not have to get the barcode on their attendance pass read at each door, as in previous years. Instead, attendees were able to move freely about without the inconvenience of having to stop at every door.

Presenters at the conference were pleasantly surprised by the additional information they were given as the attendees walked in the door. Not only could the presenter see how many people were in the room; BET also showed their different occupations. Live data would flash up on the presenter’s screen informing them of conference demographics and statistics, such as job titles, job roles (e.g. Developers or Managers), territory, broader area of professional interest, how many people were IT Professionals, as well as additional information such as the favourite pastime of attendees in the room (e.g. preconference questionnaire profile).

Scott Scovell, co-architect said: “What separates the Breeze Event Tracker from other event management systems is the real-time data capabilities. Accessing real-time data creates a richer event experience for delegates, exhibitors, and organisers alike.”

BET Has Now Reached A New Level
The BET system has now hit the international market. With the need to understand how conferences are “tracking” in real time, Breeze have evolved the system that was initially piloted at TechEd Australia and is now capable of tracking conferences worldwide.

With the help of Microsoft’s “Online Services”, the system is now run on the Internet (in The Cloud). Essentially there will still need to be RFID hardware set up at the conference location. The data will be sent to The Cloud, allowing organisers and presenters to access real time data about their conference and sessions.

As an attendee enters a room that is being tracked in the conference, the RFID tag attached to the attendees conference pass is read by an RFID Reader. The entry and the tag are first stored locally at the reader, in a queue. This provides reliability if the connection to the main system is lost, then data can still be recorded as it has been stored locally. When the connection is restored, the data is sent to the system.

Amongst the management dashboard and screen displays available to the organisers, attendees and speakers, various levels of information are shown. If you are an organiser of a conference and purchase the BET system, you will use the management portal to access each of the display screens that are used within the conference, including:
• Walk-in displays that people see when they enter the room, showing the attendance figures and conference sponsors.
• Data charts for each conference room showing statistical information of the participants.
• Events Monitor showing the current movement within the entire conference.
• Session creation.
• Access to customise or modify the list of attendees or exhibitors.
• Add or remove sponsor logos on the walk in display screens.
• The option to create conference incentives, e.g. “Lucky door prizes”.
• Current attendance within each room.
Exhibitors also receive access to areas of the Silverlight solution, which provides contact details of all leads scanned throughout the conference.

Attendees and speakers gain access to the system through the use of the on screen displays set up in each room. The attendees are able to see themselves (as a customisable avatar), entering the room on a screen at the entrance, and the speakers access a local computer to view the session charts displaying the statistics of attendees within the room.

As an optional extra, the conference may also make use of the “Lucky Door” prize. The Lucky Door prize entitles the organiser to choose an attendee at random currently in the room when the draw is made. Then, the winner, prize and sponsor are all shown on the session display screen in the room.

This is just an example of how the technology can be used. If you are needing to keep track of your goods or stock then the BET solution may just be the answer for you. The BET application can be tailored to track and trace just about anything that moves from different industry sectors. The possibilities are endless!

For further information please contact:
info@breeze.net or call +61 (0)2 8012 4690