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A System for Effective Program Management of Tradeshows and Similar Large Events using Microsoft .NET, Windows Mobile Technologies, and Wireless Technologies

A Technology Report by Huelix Solutions Pte Ltd

Summary

It is a great challenge to effectively and efficiently disseminate information in typical large-scale events like tradeshows. Usually visitors need to cover a huge area to get to their booth of interest. As a result, many participants miss potentially important clients and many visitors end up not deriving full benefit from their visit. In this white paper, we present an overview of a system to make use of the rapidly maturing mobile clients, PDA’s, web services and wireless technologies that benefits everyone concerned. We demonstrate how such a system can be deployed effectively, efficiently and affordably using Microsoft .NET technologies.

Introduction

With large number of participants spanning huge areas, it has always been difficult for the organizers as well as participants to communicate with prospective client visitors. It is desirable to target prospects specifically depending on their profile. Promotional offers and other dynamic information also need to be disseminated appropriately. In this white paper, we outline a cost-effective and simple-to-deploy system, primarily using Microsoft .NET technologies.

Handheld devices – Effective vehicles for reaching visitors

Nowadays, most people have powerful handheld devices with multimedia and wireless capabilities. Mobile phones have richer displays and good connectivity apart from their native network capabilities. Pocket PC’s with and without phone capabilities, Smart Phones and other PDA’s are omnipresent. These devices present a viable vehicle for reaching clients on the move.

Cell Phones

For simple mobile phones, SMS and MMS based communication is appropriate, though it doesn’t offer the same degree of flexibility as richer PDA clients. It is possible to register the phones through a manual system or using straightforward IrDA beaming.

Newer mobile phones offer a richer interface, and often, Bluetooth connectivity. This makes it possible for these phones to discover Bluetooth kiosks and access the information in a variety of formats. This is primarily a “pull” operation. It is also possible to “push” information to visitors who have registered their interest in the appropriate category.

This has the advantage that the telephone network resources are not utilized, nor does it require the visitor to reveal his cell phone number.

The other interesting possibility is to take advantage of ability of some of these devices to access web services. We will discuss more about it when we discuss PDA’s.

Pocket PC’s and PDA’s

It gets better with the newer generation of Pocket PC’s, Smart Phone’s and other similar PDA’s. Typically, these devices have a larger display area that makes it possible to present information effectively. Apart from IrDA and Bluetooth capabilities, most of these devices sport WiFi (Wireless LAN, a.k.a., IEEE 802.11) connectivity. WiFi provides faster access to information over a much wider area. Custom Web Service clients may be installed on these devices at the venue. These rich applications enable the visitor to view and access information that is of interest to her. Participants and organizers populate the Web Service with dynamic content, which can be accessed flexibly by the visitor.

Participants of the event will themselves be able to update the Web Service through their secure accounts.

Visitor Handheld Registration

Depending on the device, manual registration of the device is either not required or may be kept to a minimum. Mobile phone users who prefer to receive MMS and MMS register their device at an IrDA, manual assisted kiosk. The visitor enters his profile and preferences and uses IrDA communication to send his details to the kiosk. Otherwise, the visitor chooses to just enter his cell phone number manually and keeps rest of the information confidential.

Visitors with Bluetooth-enabled cell phones and PDA’s need not go through this process. They will be able to discover access points and browse information, which is of interest to them. There is, however, an option to receive push information, again tailored to a known profile, which will involve pairing with known access points. This configuration, as it exists today, is overly complicated and widely different across different devices.

WiFi devices are much easier to configure and operate with a much wider range. To register, the visitor downloads and installs a web service client appropriate for his device. Once this client program is run, the web services provide a wide variety of options and a rich user interface to gain access to information, offers, and news flashes.

Implementation

The entire system, though quite advanced, can be implemented efficiently with a few modern PC’s, WLAN routers, and other wireless peripherals. Registration kiosks could be PC based or custom embedded devices with necessary wireless capabilities. Obviously, if the agency envisions a general reusable system, the latter is the way to go.

Core System - Web Services

The core of the system is a server running .NET web services. The web service presents a categorized menu of facilities it hosts. A variety of clients connects to the system and retrieves information from the web service. To the visitor, it appears as though the application is running locally on her machine, which offers all the advantages of a typical native application. For example, the participants are organized by their industry, technology used, type of products or services offered and so on. It is possible to perform keyword searches to locate products and services that the client is interested in. Modern Windows CE handheld devices such as the Pocket PC and the Smart Phone support a cut-down version of the .NET framework known as the .NET Compact Framework that makes building such applications a breeze.

 

Participants of the event, similarly populate the web service content from a typical desktop application, a web service client, again blissfully unaware of the server. The information is typically stored in a database, which is retrieved and presented to the client depending on the nature of the client request.

.NET Simplifies Development

Building web services is a snap with Microsoft .NET. The system authenticates users (typically organizers and participants) and exposes an appropriate set of services, depending on the user. Participants have a different view of the system compared to the event organizers. Rich web service clients running on desktops make it easy for even non-technical persons to update and maintain their data. The data is transparently captured in a database like SQL Server. When clients connect to the web service, the database is queried appropriately and results are presented to the user. This is a win-win situation for the provider as well as the visitor; the provider is able to tailor its communication effectively rather than using a fat general purpose brochure while the visitor can access this data selectively and make maximum use of his visit.

Serving Cell Phones

The server, in addition to hosting web services, also manages push activities such as sending SMS and MMS messages. The client registration info is fetched from the database and a schedule is created to deliver the push information. The server also manages Bluetooth kiosks, from which Bluetooth enabled devices can pull messages.

.NET Brings More To The Table

The choice of .NET framework offers several advantages in addition to the easy development and deployment of web services. Rapid development of server and client sides is possible by making use of a rich variety of languages that are integrated into the framework. The deployment, updates, and maintenance of client applications are also made simpler. A lot of development effort may be shared across desktop and mobile platforms, reducing overall cost and development time. This is particularly important for the mobile devices – a single executable runs in many devices with different CPU’s typical of the mobile platform.

Conclusion

We presented a system that is useful in effectively managing information dissemination in the large event management industry. The system makes use of recent advances in technology such as web services, powerful handheld devices with rich user interface capability and versatile connectivity, wireless connectivity such as WiFi and Bluetooth. Participants of the event are able to provide more organized information at a fraction of the cost and are able to reach more potential clients. Out of the box, they can also effectively disseminate dynamic information such as promotional offers and other snippets. The clients are able to focus better due to the rich amount of data available to them and make good use of their visit. The organizers have the benefit of a system that is centrally managed and potentially reusable with minor modifications across events. Finally, we have outlined why the Microsoft .NET framework is an ideal platform for this kind of applications.

 

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