Microsoft gold partner Satalyst worked together with the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) in a pilot project that counted, monitored and analysed the flow of 5500 people attending the Adelaide Fashion Festival.
To learn about people's experience at the event, the project used movement trackers powered by Microsoft's Azure IoT and Power BI.
Perth-based services provider Satalyst used its People Movement Monitor to collect data from any mobile device within the event venue that had its wi-fi settings enabled.
Data was gathered by positioning a number of collection points around the catwalk and feature marquee, which provided insights on which catwalks and stalls people visited, when and how long they stayed for, and whether they visited any other sessions afterwards, Microsoft stated in a blog post.
Michelle Stokes, ICT manager at SATC said the insights would be crucial in helping SATC achieve more in the future through technology.
"In the span of five days this year we’ve put on 20 events featuring industry workshops, designer markets, new season hair and makeup looks, and food and beverage sampling stalls, as well as ten international standard runway shows. It was important for us to be able to understand how our guests were interacting with each program and look into how we can improve our future events," she said.
"There really is no limit as to how far intelligent data insights will be able to take us."
The decision to use Perth-based services provider Satalyst's tool over others was based on the requirement it did not collect any personal data, Stokes said.
"This gave me the confidence our tracking wasn’t affecting the customer experience," she said.
Satalyst's tool replaced handheld counters at the same time it provided more precise data.
With the data collected, SATC expects to identify trends and patterns that will influence future decisions on marketing and staffing events, space optimisation, merchandising and broader infrastructure.
"Looking at how long someone is spending in an area, who is returning to the event or who is attending our different events will, in the future, help with the placement of refreshments, seating and other facilities. Ideally, it’ll help enhance our guests’ experience," Stokes said.
SATC plans to collect more insights at coming events including Santos Tour Down Under and Tasting Australia next year.
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