With 250 expert speakers from the tech and startup field and almost 6000 attendees, the Tech in Asia conference in Jakarta sought to bring the Asian tech community together. Having run this conference for many years, Tech In Asia looked for new ways to change things up.
This was done with a new segment, called the Roundtable sessions. With six different sessions covering a wide variety of topics, such as marketing, HR, and legal, the Roundtable sessions aimed to bring attendees closer to subject matter experts by allowing them to ask in-depth questions to spark a discussion of their choice.
However, the format made it tough for shy audience members to speak up. Christy, the events organiser of Tech in Asia Jakarta, said that the more intimate setting actually made it tougher for reserved attendees to ask questions.
“Sometimes the audience member who asked the question doesn’t want to be mentioned. Or, when the facilitator asks who the questioner is, they don’t raise their hands.”
To ensure that questions were asked and make the new format a success, they needed an audience engagement tool that allowed anonymous questions to be asked. That’s where Pigeonhole Live came in.
“(Pigeonhole Live) made the Q&A session in our Roundtable session easier. The facilitator, speakers, and the audience communicated very well with the help from Pigeonhole Live.”
Engaging shy audience members
Event organisers like Christy are familiar with the shy audience problem. If an intimate Q&A session like the Roundtable sessions relied on the usual microphone method, more reserved attendees would rather hold back than engage with the expert panelists.
By utilising technology, shy audience members were given a voice. Instead of vocalising their questions, they simply keyed in their questions into Pigeonhole Live’s Audience Web App on their devices, and these questions were then immediately shared with the organisers and panelists.
To make things easier, attendees had an option to stay anonymous. This gives them the freedom to ask hard-hitting questions that they care about, while staying within their own comfort zone, thus creating new layers of engagement. Those hard-hitting questions are also what makes events like the Roundtable sessions interesting, creating a win-win situation for conference organisers.
One of Christy’s favourite features was the Admin Panel, which allowed the stage facilitators to select the questions that are most relevant to the panelists.
“It makes the Q&A session faster and easier, since the facilitator can directly pick which questions are good to be asked to the experts.”
Improving two-way communication at conferences
When asked if they would recommend Pigeonhole Live to other conference organisers, TIA answered in the affirmative.
"Pigeonhole brought our conference to another level by improving the two-way communication between our speakers and our audience,” said Putra Setia Utama, COO, Tech in Asia Indonesia. “If you want to get more quality interaction at your conference or event, Pigeonhole Live is the right choice; easy setup, complete feature, and top customer support."
