Six months in planning, and your event is in full swing. The key note speaker is addressing a hall full of your client’s customers and peers. The presentation is climaxing when – oh no! – certain members of the audience appear distracted. By what? They’ve just contracted a case of “nomophobia”.
What is nomophobia? The Daily Mail defines it as “…the fear of being out of mobile phone contact – and it’s the plague of our 24/7 age.”
Mobile device battery life is an obsession in our culture today. These devices are now portable life organizers, not simply phones. The Daily Mail article adds that ‘Millions apparently suffer from ‘no mobile phobia’ which has been given the name nomophobia. They have become so dependent on their mobile that discovering it is out of charge or simply misplacing it sends stress levels soaring.”
Providing a cure for nomophobia is critical to reduce audience distraction at an event. Allowing people to stay in touch with their offices or homes is essential. If attendees are concerned about an interruption in their data streams due to a loss of power, you can’t have the full attention an audience.
What is the solution? Several options exist, and there are pros and cons of each. Portable charging stations are useful for the ‘down times’ of an event, but that is often limited by event dynamics. Charging stands are a distraction as the attendee must physically disengage from the proceedings to find the charge point and then have to jostle with others to charge their device past two bars.
Some venues offer or rent secure charger lockers where again, the attendee physically disengages themselves from the event to lock their phone in a charging box. This presents a twofold distraction as they have to return to collect their phone – worried and distracted all the while.
An alternative and superior solution is to provide an individual charger that the attendee can pick up at the beginning of the event. The charger and their device stays with them throughout the event, thereby eliminating nomophobia in their minds and allowing them to completely focus on being present at your event. Options like the Pocket Power Charger can be used but are expensive and often ‘lost’ as they are reusable and can be recharged by conventional means. In addition, they must be fully charged in advance by the event planner – just another logistical duty that you may not need.
Fone Charger Plus is a system that covers all of your bases. Your attendee has a fully charged portable charger that cannot be charged without the proprietary charger base. In this way the chargers don’t get ‘lost’ as they can only be charged on the Fone Charger Plus system. The attendee can simply leave the charger on the table when they leave to be collected by staff and returned to the central charging point. Ford Motor Company used the Fone Charger Plus system at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. A spokesperson remarked that it was ‘…a convenient solution for media and guests. It allowed people to continue an ongoing in-room experience and let Ford tell their story while their devices charged in front of them.’
According to Gizmodo Magazine “It’s never fun to watch your cell phone die … and it’s no fun either to have little power when you’re nowhere near a charger.” So, stop nomophobia dead in its tracks at your next event! Keep your event audiences’ attention and focus by providing a convenient portable charging solution. Nomphobia won’t stand have a chance!
