Successful Meetings’ Roger Sands published an article that serves as a primer on the terminology associated with event wifi and the questions to ask of your venue before your event. Sands makes the valid point that if there’s trouble with the network, your entire event could be derailed.
Sands starts his article by familiarizing his readers with some of the lingo that will be important to them when seeking out connectivity solutions for big events. He dives into concepts like bandwidth and latency – terms that you might be familiar with but not know the definition of off the top of your head.
He then goes on to map out the most common sources of trouble, from inadequate bandwidth to general infrastructure problems. Sands argues that most of these potential headaches can be solved by asking the right questions upfront from any potential provider. He elaborates, “Give whomever you work with plenty of time to test the network and ensure that its design goes above and beyond your expectations.”
Optimization is a big concept, and there’s a lot that goes into it. We wanted to do a deeper dive on some of the points that Sands makes in his article, and offer our own expert perspective on some other factors you might want to consider. Firstly, it’s important to remember the concept of density. Most of us, especially at a conference or event, will have more than one device on us. Not only do you need to have a reliable wifi network set up, but you also need to make sure it can bear the load of attendees who want to connect from multiple devices and locations. And don’t worry – we have a bandwidth calculator you can access here to help pin down just how much bandwidth is enough for your specific event’s wifi needs. The other thing we would advise you to focus on is analytics. You want to be confident in your network support system, and be clear with the venue about your needs and expectations.
What data do they have to show you from previous events? Are they sure they can support the number of attendees you’re expecting?
The bottom line is, you can have the right speakers, the right venue, the right everything, but shoddy wifi might still be what people bring to the water cooler with them when they talk about your event.
Does this answer all the questions you may have about how to make sure your next event is set up for success? Of course not. But it does a great job of outlining the basics, and giving even those who have never attempted to put on an event like this the tools they need to get started.
Read the rest of the article for specifics on how to optimize your event’s wifi today.
For more insights and information – applicable to both live and virtual event services – check out our latest blog posts or contact us to learn how Brown Pelican WiFi can deliver rock solid connectivity for your next event.
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