« If we could have it a little more often, when we go shopping, when we go to a fast food restaurant, etc. so we do not have to line up. It’s a good time saver. »
DuckTheLine users at VivaTechnology 2018
With 1150 trade fairs and 21 million visitors in 2016, the event sector is doing well in France. A valuable opportunity for businesses to present their latest product to those who are curious or already convinced or just to pamper their customers or employees, the multiple formats of events offer many benefits to businesses. But their success also depends on the comfort of the visitor. And for events that, by their nature, are of limited duration, the management of waiting becomes a major issue.
At the entrance, the Facebook, Google and Orange stands are installed and ready. “This is the first stand that we did as soon as we arrived,” said this visitor at the Facebook booth where the test of the Oculus Rift attracts many people.
Because the trend is virtual reality and many exhibitors have decided to offer this at their stand. But this success has a downside. Large lines are likely to form and to disrupt the path of visitors. And that is what DuckTheLine understood.
Anticipating this downside, DuckTheLine went in search of interested exhibitors. And quickly found a real interest. Visitor satisfaction and decluttering of the space soon became a powerful argument for businesses wishing to take advantage of these moments to present their company to attentive and casual interlocutors. And for the visitors having only one day to discover the 2000 start-up exhibitors and the large groups present, the benefit is obvious.
“Personally, I did not know the system, I think it’s very innovative, I can do something else in the meantime to avoid wasting time unnecessarily. In a fair like this, it’s good to be able to see other stands,” explains this DuckTheLine user at the RATP stand.
Time saving is the first argument of the users when one is aware that to test an experience in virtual reality lasts almost 10 minutes per person. “When we arrived, we did not even have two minutes of waiting, after the person finished, we were there!” explains a visitor at the Facebook booth. But the purpose for the event organizers is to offer an experience without waiting to their visitor, allowing them to enjoy all of what is on offer. “Rather than wait an hour on the spot, it allowed us to go to other stands and talk to other people.” says Arnaud, on the Lenovo booth. When we know that nearly half of the companies include fun, cultural or sporting peripheral activities at their event, ensuring the management of visitor flow becomes necessary.
A word from the team
Participating in this fair was a real pleasure on the one hand, because of the richness of the interlocutors we met. Entrepreneurs, administrative representatives, start-ups, students, journalists, all were unanimous as to the usefulness of our solution. On the other hand, because we have set ourselves a challenge: manage waiting at prestigious stands. Challenge raised, since we have completely virtualized the wait at the RATP, Facebook, Lenovo and TF1 stands. In total, on Saturday, 850 visitors used DuckTheLine to release, on average, 2 hours of waiting each or 71 days of waiting transformed into free time. For your events, you now know who to think of!