Can you 'digital detox' at music festivals?

Earlier this year Adele asked her fans to put phones away and enjoy the gig in real life. Not sure how many of them actually did exactly do that but I can see where see is coming from. Somewhere during the summer months I read an article about digital detoxing. People who make a conscious decision to go off grid for a while.

Turns out that a third of British internet users have tried this digital detox, according to a report from Ofcom. Now, I'm not ready for a complete detox yet but since the start of 2016 I no longer have the Facebook app on my phone.... too addictive. Am I a better person for it? Not really but I do look less at my phone, which was my main reason. 

How will this work for festivals? Fans want to be connected. They get annoyed when there's no wifi and want to post on Facebook and Instagram instantly. A good festival provides escapism. So isn't a festival a perfect opportunity for someone's digital detox? 

Some festivals are tapping into this market. Unplugged Festival and Off Grid Festival are two examples of UK festivals that allow people to switch off from the online world. And they are successful festivals. I guess festival organisers have to make choices...

Social media or social experience? Let's see if the trend continues.

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Startups and the event industry

Earlier this month I was at Event Tech Live in London. A conference of sorts but actually more a showcase of new event technology ideas. One of the areas at the conference was dedicated to startups who could pitch their company to potential investors. My favourite stage! 

Some ideas seem to already be out there, like that company that looked a lot like a new version of Eventbrite. But the majority of the ideas pitched were really good, really innovative, and generally inspired me. They offered solutions to problems they had faced in the event industry.

Perhaps you're walking around with some new innovative ideas as well. For example a problem you ran into at your last festival and you actually found a solution for it.

Earlier this year Startacus published this blog post about how to stand out with your new product when at music festivals. It's not the same as the products pitched at the conference but it might inspire you either way.

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How to make your conference appealing to millennials

The last time I went to a conference I noticed that the audience was quite "mature". The only younger visitors looked like students who were trying their luck with networking. 

But how do you attract a younger audience? How do you make sure they come back to your conference the next time? How do you make your conference appealing to millennials? You can read the article here.

Investment in event technology: the case of Social Tables

Event technology company Social Tables has secured another $15 million in funding. Social Tables provides innovative solutions to handle complex event problems (like check-in procedures, seating planning, etc). The company is said to use the investment for " a broader set of event industry challenges".

Here the article about Social Tables.