Interview - Nicholas St Hilaire, Head of Creative Services Europe and Middle East at PSAV

Do new technologies have an influence on meetings and seminars?

Nicholas St Hilaire - Over the last four years, with the use of smartphones, tablets and other technological tools that allow the audience to be involved, we have seen the traditional model of meetings evolve very rapidly. This interactive use is completely integrated by Generation Y. As a result, they expect to find the very latest technology at events. From being mere spectators of the meeting, they are becoming genuine participants.

How are organisers taking this development into account?

N. St H. - The style of meetings is moving towards greater participation. Today, many meeting organisers are planning their events around technology with, for example, audience engagement through live polling via smartphones. Group activities using tablets are also becoming increasingly common.

What emerging technologies should be involved in the high-tech evolution of events?

N. St H. - Beacons, and in particular Eddystone, Google's new programming interface, will play an important role in disseminating information at events. NFC - near field communication - technology should also be used. It won't be long before an application such as Periscope, which lets you share live videos, will be used at professional events, alongside the more common webcasting and videoconferencing solutions.