IBM Think –
Know your audience. Track interests. Drive revenue.
Real-Time Tracking Data for Personalized Engagement
The Challenge
IBM wanted to take its global Think event series to the next level – with data. The goal:
- understand which topics truly resonate with participants,
- compare self-declared interests with real behavior,
- strengthen sales by enriching customer profiles with meaningful insights.
Our Approach
From Stated Interest to Real Behavior
During registration in the event app, participants selected their interest areas – from AI and Cloud to Infrastructure. These inputs powered the first layer of personalization inside the app. But IBM wanted deeper clarity: What do attendees actually care about on-site?
To answer that, we implemented a hybrid sensing setup:
- Bluetooth beacons attached to each participant’s badge,
- WiFi sensors across the venue,
- a detailed digital floor plan of all topic zones.
Every beacon sent signals in 15-minute intervals. If a participant remained in a specific zone for more than ten minutes, that topic was logged as “active interest” and added to the profile.
This dynamic interest enrichment triggered real-time changes in the event app: recommendations, sessions, and push notifications were automatically updated – tailored to what users truly explored, not just what they claimed to like.
After the event, all enriched profiles were synced with IBM’s CRM and marketing automation system. The result: a clear, evidence-based picture of participant interests – not assumptions, but measurable behavior.
Analytics &
Insights
Real-Time Tracking + Profile Data = Visible Behavior Patterns
Heatmaps
Aggregated movement data revealed the most visited zones and trending topics across the venue.
Individual
Path Tracking
Each attendee’s anonymized path was recorded and analyzed.
Interest
Scoring
Longer dwell times increased the score for corresponding topics.
Live Optimization
App recommendations updated automatically based on real-time behavior.
Interest Comparison
Initial preferences vs. actual behavior delivered precise corrections for CRM and Sales.
Budget Intelligence
IBM used these insights to allocate budgets across product areas like AI, Cloud, and Infrastructure more effectively.
The Results
Tracked
visitors
11,800
Avg. dwell time
per topic group
18 min.
Mismatch between
stated interest & actual behavior
34 %
Engagement score uplift
from live personalization
+27 %
Sales contacts with enriched profiles
6,420
Why this was
valuable for IBM
Four Levers for More Sales Success
Deeper customer understanding
A blend of self-declared interests and behavior-driven insights.
Enhanced sales enablement
Sales teams received profiles grounded in data, not guesswork.
Event optimization
Heatmaps and movement patterns informed future floor planning.
Measurable marketing performance
Clarity on which topics convert – and which touchpoints drive engagement.
Why this model works
You’ve read this far –
respect!
At this point, you might as well reach out. Because the full impact of this project is something you can’t truly capture on a website.
Happy to walk you through it in a conversation – including why this model works so well.
Discover the right solutions
Registration: capture interest selection right at sign-up.
Event app: personalized content and recommendations in real time.
Tracking: real-time movement data and dwell time capture.
Last updated: August 13, 2026
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