Managing facilities that host events presents unique challenges and opportunities for the facilities/event manager.
Many large hotels also have convention/event related facilities collocated whereby they can rent out convention halls, conference rooms, speaking podiums, AV equipment, F&B services etc. along with the traditional hotel rooms for the attendees. By the nature of this type of business where each event is customized in terms of speaking halls, conference rooms, food stalls, exhibit floor etc., the facilities managers have to plan meticulously and assist the attendees who are easily overwhelmed by the sheer size of these facilities – it is not just Vegas that has these mega-hotel/convention facilities, they are now in every major city in the world. These events bring in much needed room rentals at hotels and allow for more predictable revenues throughout the year, hence these types of facilities continue to thrive.
So how does one navigate such a facility? Today, if you are an attendee at one such event, you arrive at the lobby of the facility; seek help from the receptionist to locate say room 403 where you wish to attend a talk; if they have the resources, they will have someone accompany you, typically they will give you printed map with directions. Or they might say ‘take the elevator at the end of this corridor to the 4th floor, turn right, at the end of that hallway, turn left and then look for signs to room 403’. When you get to the elevator, you have forgotten the rest of the directions and you have 5 mins
left before the keynote commences, you would eventually figure out the directions after asking multiple well-meaning but ill-informed people and you arrive ten minutes late to the talk.
In other facilities, there is a separate entry way to the event center, there is no reception area per se but you are greeted by two screens/kiosks the first screen has the event menu, you scan the list, find the event you wish to attend, click on it and it might say that the event is held in the Santa Monica conference room; next you look at the second screen which depicts a static map, you scan the map until you find Santa Monica Room, sometimes it is possible to understand the map,
often times, you will be back to looking for a human to give you directions. There are many disconnects. We have all been there.
There is a better way. In the most useful version of an automated kiosk with the event app (like InMapz), there is a single screen that does it all. You locate your event, click on it to show the Santa Monica Conference Room, click on the room and the kiosk shows step by step directions from your present location to the conference room, you can grab those directions via a QR code without having to download any app, the blue dot shows your location and stays with you until you walk to your destination, on time. You don’t have to be late to any session, no frustrations with seeking directions, no getting lost in large facilities. You are in control. Less cost, greater customer satisfaction.
About InMapz
Founded by MIT and Caltech engineers, InMapz created indoor mapping technology to convert static floor plans into digital twins through an automated process. Each structure shown on the floor plan can become a smart object with its own attributes such as GPS location, model number, serial number, photographs, and so forth. For example, conference rooms, HVAC equipment, IoT sensors, etc. can be extracted from the floor plan. Users can easily add, edit, and delete other mechanicals. Rather than having to go to the office to pull up paper floor plans and cross-reference spreadsheets, users can access their building’s digital twin via the InMapz app or web browser on the phone, tablet, or laptop. Through selection and filtering options, users can both visualize on the digital twin and see a list of whatever smart objects are specified.
InMapz saves time and money for facilities managers, building auditors, third party maintenance teams, emergency response personnel, airport travelers, trade show organizers and attendees. The company has mapped hundreds of millions of square feet, including over 300 international airports, 1500 worldwide malls, hospitals, schools, universities, trade shows, office buildings, data centers, factories, and hotels.
To InMapz your building, please visit www.InMapz.com.