HITEC: 900 iPods Provide Sheraton Waikiki Event Attendees with Schedules, Maps & More

Delegates attending a recent convention held at the Sheraton Waikiki in Honolulu were greeted like never before. As each of the 900 attendees registered onsite, they were presented with an Apple iPod Touch preloaded with a new meeting app developed by PSAV Presentation Services and QuickMobile that greatly improves, extends and differentiates the experiences and outcomes of the events they serve. By leveraging the power of mobile technology, PSAV was able to deliver real-time information to attendees and event organizers, thereby greatly enhancing the overall convention experience.

 

"Everyone was extremely pleased to be able to interact with the event program, its producers and each other via an iPod Touch device," says Aki Almario, Sheraton Waikiki convention service manager. "Through PSAV's event app platform, important information was easily accessible, which helped to enhance each person's stay and experience at our hotel. In addition, the meeting planner was able to truly create an environmentally conscious, green meeting event where less paper and waste was accrued."

 

Because event information was provided via mobile device to attendees, Almario says the hotel did not need to physically post signage throughout the hotel; everything attendees needed to know was literally available in the palms of their hands. "PSAV did an outstanding job in getting the event attendees connected quickly and making the broadband service easy to understand," says Almario. "The entire mobile device experience was user friendly and convenient. This truly is the way of the future, and we are grateful to PSAV and QuickMobile for their support."

 

PSAV's event app solution enabled attendees to view their personalized schedules and identify which specific session he or she signed up for based on the time of day; provide maps of and directions to hotel and venue locations, since the facility is comprised of three cluster hotels; upload photos and videos taken on each iPod to a central server; receive messages from event planners informing them of last-minute changes or gatherings; send messages between attendees for reinforced networking and team building; and, participate in event-driven surveys.

 

While all this activity was happening on the front end of the event, the Sheraton Waikiki had to ensure the HSIA network was robust enough to handle the expected number of devices on the back end.  PSAV’s Our HSIA team installed an additional 20 wireless access points throughout the facility, building a far more robust wireless network environment in order to support this event.

 

PSAV continues to partner with QuickMobile to develop mobile device applications that are immediately available for all events and venues worldwide.