The ultimate event tech stack: getting your data architecture right

The recent UFI Exhibition Barometer shows digitization is proving to be a major challenge for conference, events and exhibition organizers.

It’s clear that all types of organizers are using various technologies to run events, or series of them, which is delivering a fragmented user experience. A multiple number of log-ins and an increasingly complex data architecture is resulting in a sub-optimal experience for organizers, exhibitors and visitors alike.

When it comes to simplifying things, organizers often find it difficult to know whether their particular data architecture is suitable for their size and shape and if the challenges they face are unique or widely shared.

This white paper provides clarity on what we believe is the best possible structure for organizers of different sizes and shapes. This will hopefully help structure your technology stack, the various data architectures that are possible, and where you might be able to streamline your processes.

While the examples are based on learnings about hundreds of different data architectures across the events industry, they are generic, and there will be nuances in the structure, based on the unique objectives of your business.

‍

Data architecture fundamentals

The first hit on Google links to a fabulous article on data architecture which defines it as follows:

‍“Data architecture translates business needs into data and system requirements and seeks to manage data and its flow through the enterprise.”

This is a great way of thinking about data architecture, it is there to serve the needs of the business. This also means that as the needs of the business change, so does its data architecture, which is a situation that many event organizers find themselves in today.

Data architecture is the foundation for effectively managing data. In order to understand and make decisions about it, organizations must be able to represent their organizational information at different levels of abstraction so that users can comprehend its complexity while still being capable enough in making informed choices with what they find through analytics tools or business intelligence reports for example.

Why is data architecture important?

There is a range of reasons why a strong data architecture is important for event organizers, they include:

• Operational efficiency: Organizations end up wasting a lot of time bringing data from one system to another. As labour becomes increasingly expensive, and event teams are required to do more events (virtual and in-person) with less people, a streamlined way of creating and managing events will become even more important.
• Cost reduction: With the looming recession across the western world, organizers will have to review their systems and whether there is room for consolidation, a strong understanding of the needs of the business and whether existing or new suppliers can take on the function of various providers is an obvious way to cut costs.
• Customer experience: Every organizer will know about an exhibitor complaining about having to upload the same information multiple times and having to remember multiple login details. Strong data architecture and understanding of the customer journey will result in a superior customer experience.
• Competitive advantage: Data gives a competitive advantage and can lead to a greater understanding of customers and their behaviours resulting in better business strategy and customer experience, as described in this Harvard Business Review article. The potential for so-called ‘data network effects’ is also described in our white paper The New Competitive Advantages of Event Organizers.

For a deeper dive into optimizing your event's data architecture, download our comprehensive white paper. You will:

• Learn data architecture best practices
• Access example architectures for exhibition, conference and hosted buyer events at different scales
• Discover event technology solutions to power your own stack

‍
Download now!