Incorporating Drones At Your Next Event
Commercial drones have a lot to offer to the event industry and they are certainly becoming more popular year on year – UAVs are one of the biggest technology trends at the moment. Drones have quickly propelled and become accessible for all gadget lovers to get their hands on – no wonder they are one of the top-selling items online. Incorporating drones at your next event is an innovative way to make sure it will one to remember!
These days, drones are popping up in places that you may not expect. Commercial drone technology can be incorporated into almost any industry; from the military and tourism to healthcare or sport, aerial photography or videography all have a wide range of benefits to offer.
Commercial drones can be used in all kinds of innovative ways for events. Whether you are organising a conference, carnival, or outdoor festival, drones can provide advertising, security, and even entertainment.
While drones are affordable, it is important to consider how you would use them for your event before you invest. It is easy to fall into the trap of using a new piece of tech because it is ‘trendy’ and exciting. Of course, you will want your event to stand out from the crowd and generate as much excitement as possible, but you need to identify how your event will put a drone to good use.
Commercial drones have a lot to offer to the event industry and throughout this article, we will take a look at just a few of the ways drones can be utilised. The range of ways that you can use drones for your event is only limited by one thing – your imagination. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to take your event to the next level with the eight points we’ve outlined below.
How Commercial Drones Have Revolutionised The Event Industry
The use of drones within the events industry has been growing more popular over recent years, but many organisers may not know just how many innovative and creative ways there are to use drones at events. Not only can drones be used during the event, but also beforehand as well.
Drones may offer excellent aerial photography and videography that standard cameras simply cannot – it is how you use those images and videos that make all the difference. So, you get your hands on a commercial drone and plan to incorporate it at your event, what next? What kind of images and videos will you be creating and what purpose will they serve? Organisers can do so much more than pilot drones to take photographs and videos during their event.
To help get your creative juices flowing, here are some ground-breaking ways that you could use drones at your next event. Once you see how many ways you could utilise drones, there is no turning back!
Marketing Material
UAVs can produce fantastic images during your event in real-time for you to share on your social media channels. Generate excitement by engaging with those who were not lucky enough to get tickets this time. By highlighting what they are missing out on, you’re more likely to motivate them to buy a ticket for your next event before they sell out.
But the possibilities don’t stop there! During the weeks and days before your event, your ticket holders might enjoy seeing the process of getting everything set up and ready. So why not pilot a drone and take some incredible photos during the preparation stage?
Show off the decorations, how the stage area is looking, and more. Your attendees will get excited about coming to the event and might share the images on their social media channels, providing you with an effective form of organic marketing.
Furthermore, you could archive these images and videos to use as promotion for your next event. Share these images on your website, ticket sales page, social media channels, and blog to advertise any future events that you hold. By sharing the breathtaking images that were taken of your previous event, it will create excitement, social media shares, and ticket sales growth.
Finding a Location
Not only can aerial videos be used in marketing as mentioned above, but drone cameras can be put to great use during the event planning stage too. When you are scouting locations and considering your options, a drone will capture sweeping videos from above to help you see the whole space.
As many outdoor events require a huge space, it is often difficult to see the location on foot – this is where drone technology comes in. For example, if you are hosting a festival or outdoor concert, you may consider hiring a large field. To help you view the entire space, you could pilot a drone to scout the entire field from above – allowing you to have a complete bird’s eye view in minutes.
After capturing footage of all your possible locations, you can take the footage back to the office to show your team. You can watch the footage back and discuss the options in-depth to decide where would make the best location for your type of event.
Additionally, once you have decided on your location, a drone can also be used to map it. You could use a commercial drone to create a site survey in 2D or 3D to help save time and money, depending on the type of event you are organising.
Live Stream
More and more events are being live-streamed online these days – especially since the outbreak of Covid-19; utilising drones now makes more sense than ever. If you’re organising a theatre performance, festival or concert, why not try adding a live stream to add to the excitement? And why just stop at live streaming the show itself? Think outside the box and come up with new and creative ideas on how to offer an immersive experience.
Not only could you make this an experience for those at home, but you could also create anticipation among the crowd by hooking it up to a big screen on stage too. For many events – such as festivals and concerts – crowds can turn up hours before the show begins. You could fill this time with by streaming live footage from the crowd to keep everyone entertained while they wait.
You could also, for example, live stream announcements such as introducing new artists and revealing the line-up for the show. You could even take your audience on a tour of the backstage area and perhaps include a sneak peek into some of the artists’ dressing rooms. Or, if your event is attracting big social media interest, you could even start revealing bits about the show on the weeks prior. For instance, you could give people a virtual tour of the location and show off the stage set-up.
Security
With drones at your event, you never need to worry about being able to keep an eye on everything again. For event organisers, the security of the staff and attendees is a top priority. Why not add additional security and surveillance to your event by using a drone to act as a security camera?
Pilot this piece of tech to act as a mobile security camera by sweeping the drone over the area. Employ a member of staff to watch the footage in real-time to identify any risks. Your staff will then be able to get a close look at anything that appears suspicious, out of place, or if something looks like a potential threat. If a potential risk is identified, you can pilot the drone over that specific area to get a closer look.
For instance, if you have suspicions that some individuals have brought in items that have been banned from the event, you could keep an eye on their behaviour. If you feel it’s necessary, you can then send security over on foot.
Remember, be careful not to invade your attendees’ privacy. While you want to ensure everyone is kept safe, it is important to be considerate.
Monitor the Logistics
Have you ever attended an event that ended up having exceptionally long queues? Many events allow people to purchase tickets at the gates, upon entry, as well as pre-booking. With a big crowd all purchasing tickets or showing their tickets to gain entry, it can often be a slow process and before you know it, the queues are out of control.
Thanks to drone technology and by incorporating drones into your next event, that never has to happen again! Before opening the gates or doors to your event and throughout the entry timeslot, you can launch your drone to fly over the entry gate.
By placing staff at monitors to keep an eye on the queues in real-time, if the queue ever gets too long, you can dispatch workers to help within minutes. With aerial footage, you will be able to identify how many additional workers you need to keep the queues down.
Drone Shows
Not many event organisers (or attendees for that matter) are aware that drones can offer their own form of entertainment. You could incorporate an aerial show into your event, to create a memorable moment for your audience that will be shared across social media. You could either incorporate it into the actual show or in an intermission – depending on the type of event.
If your event is outdoors, why not wait until evening when it is dark and put on a drone show featuring lights and music? Your audience will be captured by the drones and will likely take videos of the performance to show their friends.
Mobile Internet Hotspot
If you have ever been to an event that had a poor wi-fi connection, then you will know how frustrating it can be – especially when you want to share photos and/or videos of you having a good time!
Many outdoor events are often situated in the middle of the countryside, where there is very little internet connection. You may not have realised before, but incorporating drones as mobile hotspots can give your staff and crowd a better internet connection.
Providing free internet, rather than them using up their data, will allow them to get sharing in real-time throughout the event. This may be an expense to event organisers, but it will give your future events some word-of-mouth marketing – which will pay for itself. By offering a simple hotspot for your audience, it could generate future ticket sales.
Delivery Service
Have you ever been to an event and found it difficult to find your way out of the crowd to the nearest food truck? This can often be off-putting for crowds and they will buy as little as possible to avoid the inconvenience or rush at the food and drink stalls.
With drone technology, you can give your audience a convenient way of enjoying food and drink, with a delivery service that comes directly to them! The added bonus is that it can boost your secondary income. As the inconvenience of trying to navigate their way through the big crowd has gone, your audience is likely to purchase more often. You could even use drones to drop off goody bags or merchandise – what you choose to use them for is all down to your creativity! But one thing is for sure, this innovative delivery service will make your event truly stand out.
Now, there is just one last thing to think about. How will YOU use commercial drones for your next event?
Are you looking to incorporate drones in your future event planning? If you have an exciting project coming up and would like to incorporate commercial drones, get in touch with us today!
We regularly advise clients from a wide range of industries, including fire services, the local government, professional sports, real estate, aerospace, and many, many more! It would be our pleasure to hear from you about your new and exciting project. We can advise you on the best commercial drone that will suit your needs and the requirements of your project.
If this article has got your creativity flowing and you are ready to find out more about commercial drones and how you could use them in your event planning, contact us today.
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