Developments in the real‐time evaluation of audience behaviour at planned events

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore recent technological and methodological developments in the evaluation of audience behaviour at planned events and discuss the implications for researchers in this field, particularly the advantages of evaluating in real‐time. The creation and staging of the event experience – the realm of event design – is predicated on an understanding of the psychosocial domain of the audience. By understanding the motivations, the behaviours and the predispositions that the audience brings to the event, and how event design principles and techniques can be applied to influence audience behaviour in real time, the event designer is able to more successfully create and stage the event experience to meet the aims and objectives of the event.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses international developments in the evaluation of the psychosocial domain of audiences at planned events and the range of research methodologies being used from a practitioner academic pe...

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