Mitigating Event Confusion with Interactive Maps

In 1988, hundreds of thousands of guests attended the World Fishing Fair in Springfield, Missouri, sponsored by Bass Pro Shops. Thirty years later, CEO Johnny Morris was determined to reignite the magic of the World Fishing Fair in 2022. This year’s fair featured fishing and outdoor gear, food vendors, and musical guests like Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley. It’s a place for guests to gather for community, concerts, and conservation. In fact, 50% of the proceeds from the fair go towards wildlife conservation efforts.

Forrest Buckner, The Operations Visual Specialist at Big Cedar Lodge, had experience with Interactive maps through one of Concept3D’s partners in the guest experience space. They were over the moon about their experience with the product and were confident referring Concept3D to Buckner in a different use case than how they were using it.

Since the 1970s, the World Fishing Fair event organizers have wanted to enhance the event experience for all guests. That’s exactly what they did with their Interactive Map from Concept3D. Initially, the team found that parking organization was where they really needed the most help.

After that, the team used their Interactive Map to label where their visitors could find bathrooms, concert areas, food vendors, and entertainment and merchandise locations on- and off-site. Linking the map to their website, and vice versa, helped guests find information quickly at their fingertips.

Since implementing their Interactive Map, the World Fishing Fair team was able to understand guest behavior and concerns through data in order to mitigate confusion before it even arises. They’re improving the guest experience, one category at a time.

They found parking was the most used information category within their Interactive Map, they were able to analyze this by looking at search keyword analytics afterward. They also learned that the Interactive Map was also helpful for the fair employees. Staff used the map to familiarize themselves with the venue which helped the event go as smoothly as possible.