The data revolution currently taking place in the events industry will offer organizers new capabilities to personalize engagement and curate experiences. But with this new capacity comes a duty of care—one that must be shared by organizers, their technology partners, and the industry as a whole.

Protecting User Data

First and foremost, organizers have a responsibility to protect the data and privacy of attendees. In some cases that might include abiding by international data standards, like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and in others it may require surpassing them by prescribing privacy protections that have yet to be written into law.

In this context, the event industry is not unique. At a certain point all industries that have been revolutionized by data have had to address data privacy issues. The highly fragmented nature of the event ecosystem, however, can create some additional problems for event organizers when it comes to remaining compliant with GDPR and providing stakeholders with confidence that their personal information is being protected.

“Big organizers are not using one or two technologies on their shows; big organizers are using on average 15 to 20 different technologies per show,” says Marco. “That means each technology activation is a potential challenge, and organizers need to make sure that every one of those technologies is solid, serious, and respectful of data privacy.”

One solution for event organizers is to have a stated policy regarding how attendee data is managed (most do) and to be transparent with attendees about the kinds of data you're collecting on them (and why), as well as offering the opportunity to opt out. Furthermore, users shouldn't have to go digging for that information or jump through hoops in order to opt out; it should be explained, in plain language, followed by a clear choice between opting in and opting out. We feel that this above-and-beyond level of transparency is vital in today's world of tech-savvy consumers.

Another way for organizers to live up to their data privacy promises is to select technology partners whose data privacy policies align with theirs. In GDPR parlance, software providers, referred to as data processors (as opposed to organizers, who are considered data controllers), pledge that all the data that is gathered from attendees at their events remains in the organizer's control. It also means that technology firms agree not to use data collected on behalf of organizers for direct marketing to attendees or to enable derivative products or services that the partner might be interested in developing.

Testing Organizer Resolve

Of course, these alliances between organizers and technology providers are being managed in an environment that remains fluid. Not all event technology firms are on board with these types of data concessions. Plus, leading technology companies are in the process of restricting the amount of data that digital platforms (including virtual events) can collect from users.

For example, at the start of the pandemic there were very few restrictions on adding cookies to browsers. Organizers could track the attendee's journey across an events platform, from the sessions they attended and the length of time they spent viewing presentations to the advertisements they were served and whether they clicked on them. One year later, both Apple and Google have announced plans to effectively remove those capabilities on iPhones and the Google Chrome web browser. These restrictions can effectively prevent organizers from tracking their attendees' end-to-end journey across the event marketing tech stack.

These changes will undoubtedly serve to slow the industry's progress along the data maturity curve, but they will also serve as an important litmus test on organizers' relationships with their communities.

As Devin Cleary puts it, “When there's the possibility of so much data, and then it starts to get restricted, this is the test that says, ‘Do we truly have the followers and the fans and the community that we think we have?’ If we do then they'll go along with authorizing us, every single time, to take that data. And they'll do so because we've made it clear what we do with the data, and they trust us.”

While organizers devise ways to protect data privacy, they also have to manage data security. Recent years have seen countless exposés, documentaries, and feature stories about all the ways users are tracked and followed on their devices, and how even the most secure organizations—banks, defense departments, government institutions—are not immune to cyberattacks and data breaches.

After more than a decade of unfettered access to their data, consumers are waking up to the dark side of the data economy and demanding more from the technology platforms that collect them. Again, the appropriate vetting of technology partners will help organizers protect customers and meet their growing security expectations.

In addition to privacy concerns, the event industry must also grapple with the issue of data silos, which the organization behind VSef, a universal data format for hybrid and virtual events, describes as “pots of data that don't talk to each other or contribute to wider business insight” (VSef, 2021). Silos prevent organizers from analyzing data from multiple virtual platforms and transferring it into other business systems, such as CRMs, marketing automation, and other components of the marketing technology stack.

“If we don't find a way to collaborate on data exchange and data capture in a way that's easy for everyone, it's going to take a long time before it's relevant for the organizers,” explains Marco Giberti. “If you go from one vendor to the other and you're unable to capture data and consolidate data with formats that are standard—as you can see in other industries—if we don't have something like that in the event industry, it's going to be difficult.”

The industry's data silo problem has far-reaching implications. Silos make data more vulnerable and less useful. Breaking down those data silos between vendors and organizers, and between the events industry and other sales and marketing platforms, would enable the industry to share benchmarks and KPIs as an events community, provide a more personalized attendee experience, become better integrated into ABM strategy, close the Event Impact Gap™, and ultimately drive higher ROE.

Despite these challenges, the industry is still much further along than it would have been without the pandemic. Across industries, event organizers are beginning to take a harder look at data utilization and the potential for collaboration.