The Future of Event Connectivity: Leveraging Passpoint-based Wi-Fi Platform

Meet Emily Davis, the tech-savvy IT Director of a bustling convention center. She is caught in a perplexing scenario. During events, attendees, exhibitors, and event organizers frequently express issues about the convention center’s Wi-Fi connectivity. Even after getting Wi-Fi installed from the best ISP in town, it feels like the network cannot keep up with the busy activity, leaving attendees and exhibitors disappointed. Furthermore, in the age of data breaches, security, and data privacy have become paramount concerns. Emily also finds encouraging attendees to download event-specific and networking apps challenging, often resulting in a cumbersome and less engaging experience. It seems like the convention center’s Wi-Fi infrastructure is struggling to keep pace with the demands of modern events.

Introducing Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) for Convention Centers

Enter Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) technology, the savior for Emily, and convention centers worldwide. HSC’s Next Generation Hotspot is a Wi-Fi onboarding solution based on Passpoint, aka Hotspot 2.0 specifications, that sits on top of your existing infrastructure to deliver seamless and secure connectivity in high-density public spaces, thus revolutionizing user experiences at events and venues. It simplifies onboarding, enhances security, and optimizes network performance to meet modern connectivity demands.

NGH provides a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to address these pressing issues, transforming convention centers into technology-forward innovation hubs. This article will look at each of Emily’s issues and see how NGH’s capabilities can help give effective solutions, resulting in seamless and satisfying event experiences.

Tackling Connectivity Woes

One of Emily’s most persistent problems during each event is delivering dependable and trouble-free Wi-Fi connectivity to attendees and exhibitors. The current Wi-Fi infrastructure requires the event participants to log in via complex passwords, and choosing between multiple SSIDs results in irritated calls to IT support. Emily knows this issue not only degrades the attendee experience but also strains the IT support team.

The solution to Emily’s issue lies in using Seamless Onboarding with NGH, which provides more straightforward onboarding methods. Attendees can now connect to the Wi-Fi network with a simple QR code scanner or a one-time login. This minimizes the load on IT support and increases attendee satisfaction. Instead of dealing with internet connectivity concerns, NGH allows guests to focus on networking, learning, and enjoying the event.

Addressing the Absence of Attendee Insights

For convention centers and event organizers, understanding attendee behavior and preferences is essential to improve future events. However, Emily faces significant hurdles in effectively using attendee and exhibitor data. She lacks the tools to consolidate and monitor data meaningfully, preventing her from making informed decisions based on data-driven insights. Emily recognizes the potential of gaining valuable insights from attendee interactions, which can significantly enhance event planning strategies and marketing tactics. Without this information, organizers struggle to allocate resources efficiently, sche­dule popular sessions at optimal times, and tailor marke­ting efforts to highlight the most engaging aspects of the event.

The comprehensive Network and location-based analytics NGH provides can help Emily get thorough reports and heat maps, providing convention centers with crucial insights into attendee behavior. Emily can now get all these insights on attendees, from popular spots within the venue to the most engaged with event materials, and on top of it, she can see it on a single dashboard which makes it even easier to make better data-driven decisions to cater to the participants better in future, thereby increasing the desirability to event organizers.

Elevating Attendee Engagement

Emily recognizes that while providing reliable Wi-Fi connectivity is of utmost importance, so is engaging with the attendees for event organizers. Event Organizers find it challenging to hold attendees’ interest and keep them informed of crucial event updates and promotions in the busy setting of the convention center. Attendees risk missing intriguing chances or important event information without effective communication.

Now this is where NGH can help Emily and the event organizers engage with attendees better with its Impressive ‘Proximity Marketing’ feature. Proximity Marketing empowers Convention Centres like Emily’s to target Attendees based on their real-time location within the facility. It enables them to run personalized campaigns and push notifications with custom-crafted messaging when they enter a particular zone.

Let us see how Emily can utilize this feature through a simple example. Imagine Emily’s convention center is hosting a massive technology event. Although attendees might not be aware of all the amenities available at the site, they are eager to check out the newest advancements. Emily can set up location-based notifications using NGH’s proximity marketing features. As soon as a visitor enters the “Virtual Reality Zone,” NGH recognizes them and gives them a message that reads, “Experience the Future of Tech in the VR Zone – Exclusive Live Demos at Booth #7.”

Custom-crafted notification recipients are likelier to stop by exhibitor booths and attend sponsored sessions. In addition to enhancing the attendee experience, this level of interaction increases exhibitor ROI and event sponsor satisfaction. With the help of proximity marketing from NGH, traditional engagement is transformed into a highly effective and beneficial experience for everyone involved.

Ensuring Security in Shared Networks

While providing seamless connectivity is critical, it must never come at the expense of security. In crowded gatherings such as convention centers, one of the cyber threats that people need to be aware of is Wi-Fi Spoofing or the presence of Rogue Wi-Fi Access Points. This happens when malicious individuals create Wi-Fi networks that resemble the existing ones. One CAIDA study concluded that almost 30,000 spoofing attacks happen each day. Emily is aware of the growing concerns in the digital era about data breaches and cyber dangers. The convention center must protect guest data and provide a safe browsing experience.

Ensuring enterprise-grade security is a crucial aspect of Emily’s network setup. With NGH, she can guarantee secure network authentication and establish robust and encrypted data link connectivity. NGH utilizes the industry standard WPA2/3 enterprise-grade security protocols to protect data from unauthorized access or spoofing atte­mpts. Additionally, NGH employs a centralized management platform to safeguard guest data, creating a safe and secure environment for participants to browse the web and confidently use applications. By implementing these stringent security measures, NGH maintains the convention center’s reputation and fosters trust among attendees and exhibitors. These measures include encryption, authentication, authorization, and the utilization of certificates per Passpoint specifications.

Streamlining App Access for Attendee Convenience

Emily also finds it difficult to encourage participants to download event-specific and networking applications. It frequently entails time-consuming app store searches, downloads, and account settings, resulting in a less engaging experience and a less successful networking experience which leads to unsatisfied event-organizers.
Emily can leverage NGH’s app integration feature which makes it easier to access brand apps. Attendees can use these apps without having to download anything. Instead, the platform integrates these apps with the NGH portal, and participants can access them via push notifications or via the NGH Login Portal. This simplified approach improves the attendance experience, increases participation, and avoids the need to create another profile on the application as the application uses the same one-time login used at the time of connecting to the Wi-Fi.

In conclusion, Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) technology is transformative for convention centers like Emily’s. It goes beyond resolving issues and revolutionizes these venues into technology-driven hubs. NGH redefines how events are experienced and organized by providing uninterrupted connectivity, invaluable data insights, robust security, and simplified app access. With NGH, convention centers become irresistible destinations for event organizers and attendees, fostering innovation and enhancing the overall event experience. Technological challenges that Emily Davis and convention centres worldwide once faced are now a thing of the past as they wholeheartedly embrace NGH—the future of seamless event connectivity and engagement.