System And Method For Transferring Information Among Parties

Abstract

A system and method for transferring information among parties, such as an exhibitor and an attendee for an event, includes providing a near-field communication device to the exhibitor and a near-field communication device to the attendee. A computer server includes a processor, non-transitory memory, and a database. The near-field communication devices are coupled to the computer server in wireless communication. The exhibitor creates an exhibitor account on the database and loads it with information about the exhibitor. Similarly, the attendee creates an attendee account on the database and loads it with information about the attendee. A connection is established between the exhibitor and the attendee. The connection provides the exhibitor with access privileges to information in the attendee account and provides the attendee with access privileges to information in the exhibitor account.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to software-based communication systems.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Conferences are gathering events for people and business sharing a common interest. Trade show conferences seek to bring together retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and consumers in one place to promote the rapid, efficient, and economic exchange of information. Most conferences share similar characteristics: they occupy a large amount of real estate, vendors or exhibitors set up booths to display and advertise their goods and services, and people roam through the real estate visiting booths of interest.[0003]At each booth, the exhibitor will interact with the attendee. The exhibitor and attendee will typically discuss the exhibitor's goods or services, the exhibitor will answer questions from the attendee, and the exhibitor will gauge the attendee's relative interest in the goods, services, ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This system reduces the burden of physical literature, enhances relevance and accessibility of information, lowers costs, and enables objective evaluation of conference interactions and exhibitor effectiveness.

Problems solved by technology

The exhibitor and attendee, however, are not aware of how the other judges them beyond what was apparent during the interaction.

While the exchange of such literature does provide the attendee with something tangible to hold, read, and review, there are a number of problems with this established method of conference communication.

First, the attendee will accumulate a large amount of literature.

While the attendee could be attending the conference for the exclusive reason of visiting with one vendor, this is unlikely.

The bag can quickly become heavy, cumbersome, and annoying.

Second, the literature is generally non-specific.

Therefore, many attendees end up taking more literature than they need, because information relevant to them is bound up with irrelevant information.

The exhibitor simply cannot practically filter relevant information from irrelevant information to provide to the attendee.

Third, and related to the first two problems, most of the literature is usually thrown away.

Unfortunately, because the attendee ends up carrying around a large amount of mostly irrelevant information, the attendee usually will throw most of it away, rather than schlep it back home or onto an airplane.

Fourth, the literature is extremely expensive.

It is quite expensive to print, ship, and set up at a conference.

It is so expensive, in fact, that some exhibitors are known to search conference trash cans for discarded literature that they can re-use, rather than re-order or print more literature.

Fifth, there is no possibility for obtaining literature before or after the conference begins.

Similarly, an attendee cannot obtain literature after the conference, unless he writes to the exhibitor and specifically requests material, or requests some type of material that may or may not exist.

Sixth, there is very little objective means for an exhibitor to evaluate the conversion rates or effectiveness of a conference or a particular company representative.

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