Offline/Online Integration

. Monday, September 28, 2009
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How do you integrate online applications into an offline community event?

This is the question the the Gastown Business Improvement Society asked the MarketR team when they were planning the 1st Annual Gastown Blues and Chili Festival.

The event would bring together 20 Gastown Restaurants to compete for the Best Chili in Gastown award. The main voting would be done by a panel of celebrity judges; however, there would also be a people's choice award.

The MarketR team decided to integrate the people's choice award with Twitter. This allowed people on the day to use Twitter to vote for their favourite chili.

A large LCD screen was set-up to display, in real-time, the number of votes for each restaurant. Participants could vote online or at the People's Choice Award booth.



The live-voting was a huge success with participating restaurants checking the screen and encouraging people to vote. The live-chart could be viewed online allowing attendees to check who won when they got home. Over 100 people voted for their favorite chili and the Gastown Business Improvement Society is looking at using the live Twitter voting at other Gastown event.

Contact MarketR to see how you can integrate online applications at your offline event.