Last week we joined our connectivity partner Citymesh at their 20th anniversary event at the Wintercircus in Ghent. Among 500 industry leaders, technology representatives, and keynote speakers, we looked back at two decades of telecom and digital innovation at offline events - and presented our own case: the importance of connectivity and how we leverage technology to create holistic event experiences.
Leveraging advanced technical infrastructure has become vital for enhancing modern offline gatherings. As digital innovations continue to evolve, attendee expectations for live experiences shift just as quickly. Connectivity across multiple touchpoints is how we meet these expectations, enabling seamless platform integrations that streamline our event operations and the overall experience for attendees. This foundation creates a holistic experience by connecting physical venues with digital spaces, fostering togetherness, active engagement, and overall community growth. To achieve this, we implement various connectivity solutions.
Thousands of people, multiple concurrent tournaments and activities, as well as partners operating stands: our events encompass many moving parts that require different connectivity solutions to elevate our events:
Venues often present network challenges, with substantial walls and crowded halls obstructing mobile data. To overcome these hurdles, providing open Wi-Fi across the facility is essential. This infrastructure enables attendees to remain connected with friends and update them about their tournament run, check their next tournament match-up, and register for additional competitions without disruption.
Event apps are pivotal to seamlessly connect players with their tickets, tournament info, and all tournament experience offers. Especially our very own event- and tournament administration platform, my.fanfinity, has improved our events for attendees tremendously as a one-stop platform to register and plan your event-weekend.
With thousands of visitors on-site, partner and vendor merch booths quickly experience heavy traffic. The implementation of POS payment terminals speeds up transactions, bypassing the usual friction and delays associated with physical cash. This does not just minimises queue times it also vastly improves the overall purchasing experience: smaller queues obstructing the venue, quicker sales for vendors, less frustration waiting for attendees waiting to purchase their chase card or merch.
Connectivity, quite literally: connecting screens with tournament software for quick and high-impact in-hall messaging to share relevant tournament and event information keeps us on track. This measure improves clarity for attendees drastically, helps avoid confusion thus alleviating the work of staff and support team on-site, and overall ensuring the event progresses smoothly and timely.
Integrating high-grade audiovisual setups connects the tournament admin team to every attendee at the venue with a single microphone. Instant broadcasts with high-quality sound ensure critical updates remain perfectly clear, even over loud venue noise. Additionally, local staff utilise radio networks for real-time coordination, enabling us to immediately respond to emergent situations across the floor.
Tournaments like the ones we organise would not be complete with a broadcast. Our live streams straight from the venue include many segments, live as well as pre-recorded. A stable broadcast connection is pivotal to connect with thousands of people following the action online. We rely on stable broadcast connections to deliver high-quality content and keep a coherent stream that engages our audiences.
Thank you to Citymesh for having us at the Wintercircus and our continued partnership shaping connectivity at Fanfinity events throughout Europe. We’ve taken all insights received back to our HQ and will continue to find new ways to improve our events through technology.
If you want to learn about our events first-hand, check out our events near you. Can’t find an event close to you? Soon you will also be able to connect with us in person (more frequently) in North America!
