Royal Jaarbeurs: the friendly, sustainable and innovative host for all of the Netherlands. A place where you meet, inspire, learn and grow. We'd love to tell you what's going on at Royal Jaarbeurs and the way we do things. How? By getting to know our strongest point: our people. Rogier van de Hoef has been head of digital at Jaarbeurs since November 2023. He is responsible for improving our digital products such as the Jaarbeurs app, exhibition websites and registration and matchmaking applications. What is it actually like to work within this department at Jaarbeurs? We step into Rogier's world and take a look behind the scenes at the digital department.
The secret recipe
Rogier has been active in the digital world for more than 35 years. With his extensive experience, including as former director of digital at cooking channel 24Kitchen and National Geographic, he knows exactly 'the secret recipe' of how to turn technology into added value for organisations. Last year, it was time for Rogier to take up a new challenge. He saw the vacancy at Jaarbeurs and immediately thought: 'this job is tailor-made for me!' After the interview, Rogier and Jaarbeurs turned out to be the perfect match. "The dynamic nature of the event world appeals to me. The Jaarbeurs brand is an authority, it fits within Utrecht. For me, Utrecht feels like coming home."
"Jaarbeurs feels like a family business and a warm bath"
The moment Rogier entered Jaarbeurs, the organisation was in the midst of a digital transition. "In my application, they told me not to assume that I would end up in a well-spread bed. But I actually like building so that was music to my ears. Figuring out new digital gadgets in collaboration with my team is what makes me immensely happy."
Dynamic character
One of the reasons Rogier chose Jaarbeurs is the digital transformation the organisation is in the midst of. "Jaarbeurs has several brands and platforms, and I find the idea of contributing to them incredibly interesting. These include exhibition websites, hubs, online communities, apps, registration and matchmaking applications, customer data platform and marketing automation tooling. There are so many different platforms, which makes my work nice and dynamic."
"I am at heart digital"
Rogier's personal mission: 4J's principle
With the 4J's principle, Rogier is trying to achieve Jaarbeurs 's ambition: to be Europe's most smart venue. "I have a personal mission, which I call the '4J's principle'. Offering the right content to the right person, in the right place, at the right time. This forms the core of what we want to achieve at Jaarbeurs from the digital team. My colleagues can also dream the 4Js by now." The biggest challenge for Rogier is to motivate people to keep absorbing Jaarbeurs 's content. "At 24Kitchen, we shared daily recipes with our target audience. But in the event world, you only have contact with the target group before, during and after the event. So it makes it extra challenging for us to keep engaging with our target audience."
Rogier and his team, consisting of eight colleagues, are constantly working to improve the digital customer experience. Rogier: "One of the important things we do is to develop tools that help improve the customer experience. For instance, we are working on optimising our registration system and improving marketing automation. With marketing automation, you can approach customers with automated messages via e-mail, internet and social media."
New Jaarbeurs App: indoor floor plan
Jaarbeurs 's digital team recently developed the Jaarbeurs App. This is the follow-up to the Jaarbeurs Live app, which allowed visitors to 'navigate indoors' during exhibitions and events. What is so different about this app? "The app now looks much sleeker and we have a dynamic floor plan where you can track yourself. It's a replacement with some new features. Currently, we are still working on further developing the app. For instance, we have a desire to include parking tickets and notifications from exhibitors in the app."
"Entrepreneurship within Jaarbeurs"
Digital is playing an increasing role in traditional trade fair concepts. Thus, hybrid events (events that take place both online and offline) are a big step forward, according to Rogier: "Digital meetings are a valuable addition to our live events. This allows anyone, regardless of location, to participate and connect. This makes our events more accessible and relevant. I find that I can make an important contribution to this with my team. With all these digital developments, together with my team, I feel like a true entrepreneur within Jaarbeurs."
