Including Smartphones and Tablets at Your Next Event - the Good and the Bad

Today it seems everyone has a smartphone and/or a tablet. We use them for everything, from making and receiving phone calls to surfing the web to ordering flowers for your wedding or a gift for a conference speaker. Some of my clients have created personal apps to share wedding or reunion photos. Business clients create apps for their conferences through which attendees can track activities and speakers, connect with one another and more.

Last year I worked at a technology conference in Sun Valley. Attendees were instructed not to bring business cards, but to create a QR code with their contact information. They then scanned each other's smartphones to download contact information directly into their databases.

The technology applications are limitless. However, not all consumers have had good experiences. In May, Skava, a provider of e-commerce solutions for retailers, surveyed over 2,000 on-line shoppers, 744 of whom reported using their smartphone or tablet for shopping. Nearly 88 percent had experienced problems, some serious enough that the consumer will not again use his/her smartphone or tablet to place an order.

The most prevalent complaints included:

• difficulty navigating retailer websites
• images too small to make an informed decision about a product
• clicking the wrong buttons
• not able to use coupon codes
• slow connections
• security concerns
• difficulty with the check-out process

Thirty percent of respondents reported being so frustrated that they will not again shop on their smartphone, e-reader or tablet, preferring to use a computer instead.

At a recent local event where vendors were attempting to use a Square connected to an iPad or another tablet to collect electronic payments, some vendors could not establish and maintain an internet connection. Because they were depending on a new technology and didn't have a backup plan, they missed out on sales. I personally wrote two checks to vendors to pay for my purchase and that of a companion.

Bottom line, technology is great when it works and very frustrating when it doesn't. Until retailers make their websites easy to navigate on a mobile device and consumers are willing to risk sending Grandma a black lace negligee for her birthday instead of the intended more modest apparel, you may find yourself doing your ordering the old fashioned way - by computer or phone.  Don't take chances on a smartphone or technology malfunction creating a problem at your next event. Have a backup plan, just in case.