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In this post we had mentioned a RE-AK Technologies, a Canadian start-up that has successfully carried out a pilot project linked to the use of Artificial Intelligence during events, in order to detect the mood, moods and emotions of the participants, thanks to some wearable devices .
Sounds almost unbelievable, right?
But no!
We reached Frédéric Simard, no less than the CEO of RE-AK Technologies inc., and we asked him to tell us a little about his company and, above all, the potential of the new technologies they are developing which could already await us at the next event we will participate in.
Let's start right from the beginning: what is RE-AK Technologies and how was it born?
RE-AK has been offering its expertise in emotional and cognitive analysissince 2018. Back then, the limitation was that facial expression analysis, essential to capture emotional responses, was done a webcam. For all but a few exceptions, our services were limited to sitting stations and involved mostly software and video games UX and small physical product review. We began imagining smart glasses that would replace video-based facial expression analysis with muscle activity sensing. Combined with the other modalities, that are electroencephalogram, electrodermal activity and heart dynamics, we could then produce the same value results as our sitting station product, but could now operate with a fully mobile system.
All we needed was a first opportunity to demonstrate the system, and that's then that we met with Geneviève Leclercof the Palais des congrès de Montréal, during an open innovation challenge (Coopérathon 2020, Montréal). The mission of their Event labconsists in offering a proving ground for new solutions, and our approach provides a new take on the return on experience of the participants, a topic of growing interest.
What are the potential and criticality of working with Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning make it possible to extract advanced relationships by automatically processing the available data. We use it on two levels: to transform raw biosignal data into interpretable emotional and cognitive metrics; segment the results in order to simplify their interpretation.
To put it simply, I don't think our approach would be possible without the use of AI (i.e. Machine Learning). The type of relationships and the time it would take a human expert to find them would prevent this project from existing.
It should be noted that working with AI and machine learning is not without its challenges. In our case, experiment design is a key factor in making sure we can trigger the right state of mind. The electro-mechanical configuration of our sensing system is also critical in reaching the performance required.
The case study: RE-AK Technologies was part of a pilot project at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, with the aim of collecting the biometric data of participants during an event. How did it go? Did you encounter any difficulties during the realization phases? Were the results what you expected or were they a surprise?
It went verywell. We were experienced in executing this type of study, but one element was done differently. Instead of recruiting participants ahead of the study, we opted for a recruitment process on site. The goal of this process is to reduce the preparation and the friction to adoption for the hosting event, while sampling from the real population of participants. The question was, however, whether people would accept to participate when asked on the fly. We were happily surprised by the results. In one event, around 70% of the participants agreed, while for the second event - a hackathon / tech festival - the participants were lining up to test the device. So, this turned out fantastically well.
As for the results, this test was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of what we were proposing. However, one result stood out. We had predicted that the best predictor found where people would spend the most time during the first event, i.e. a public hall, would be engagement. This metric correlated with overall satisfaction when studying video games, immersive experiences, and movies, so we expected to find that people would find themselves in this state of mind. Surprisingly, that didn't happen. L'excitement it was a much stronger predictor. Arousal is associated with emotional intensity and awe, but tends to be antithetical to involvement. Our hypothesis is that attendees of a public event are looking for excitement, surprise and emotion, rather than a cognitive connection like when watching a movie. We plan to address this issue in a follow-up study.
The other event we studied was more in line with our expectations, but the kind of event was different. Basically, there might be different recipes for success, based on the participants expectations.
What conclusions did you draw and what lessons did you learn from that experience?
One thing that keeps on coming up on our radar: people are genuinely interestedin the topic of emotions and state of mind. This event led us to propose a new service, which consists in studying the various state of minds associated with entertainment and leisure, with the aim of reaching out to the general public and opening a dialogue between the experience creator ( or the organizer) and the participants. These activities take the form of an experiential marketing stunt. We called this project Mindscape-Emotions. More to come on this.
In regard to this project, we are still at an early stage, but this first study delivered on its promises of showing that the biometric data in the wild is possible, and that there is the pontential ti captur the triggers (trigger) of participants behavior.
It is important to notice the openness shown by the Event Lab of the Palais des congrès in partaking in this project. Without this kind of initiative, I don't think it would be possible to conduct this type of experience in such a simple way. This case study is only one example of what they are doing to support innovation, exploration and the development of novel ideas. This model is bound to be find worldwide adoption by the various congress and reunion centers.
In the future, what should we expect from the application of Artificial Intelligence in the events sector?
Our work aims at capturing the ingredients of a satisfying event. We want to understand what people's expectations are when they attend a professional congress and public events, and use this knowledge to guide the promoters and exhibitorstowards delivering exceptionally satisfying experiences.
We anticipate that the solution to this challenge will not be as simple as "make people happy". Based on our past and present work, we often find that great experiences are a mix of state of minds.. A balance of emotional and cognitive states that satisfies a wide range of people.
Very interesting, right?
We already know that AI is giving a great contribution to the events world, and still it is a very broad horizon in which there is still space to experiment, create, invent, improve, so that the organizers are able to obtain the best results with the least efforts.
We sincerely thank you Frédéric Simard for your kindness and availability, as well Genevieve Leclerc of the Palais des congrès de Montréal for making this fascinating pilot project possible, which has all the credentials to give us great experiences in the future.
