# The hidden layer of event intelligence

- Link: https://eventengine.net/the-hidden-layer-of-event-intelligence/
- Published: 2025-05-16T08:27:58+00:00
- Author: rondayvoo

What can truly tell you how attendees move through your event space? In this episode,
Caroline McGuckian, CEO of Meshh, joins Lee to explore how spatial analytics is 
revolutionising event measurement. Learn how anonymous WiFi tracking provides crucial
insights beyond traditional guesswork and observation, revealing attendee journeys,
engagement patterns, and ROI metrics that event professionals have traditionally
struggled to capture.

### About Caroline

Caroline McGuckian is the CEO of Meshh, a WiFi analytics company specialising in
measuring attendee movement and behaviour at live events. With a digital agency 
background spanning over 20 years and now eight years at the helm of Meshh, Caroline
has helped global brands like Formula One and Johnnie Walker understand the previously
unmeasurable aspects of physical events.

### Key takeaways

 * **Anonymous tracking enhances privacy while delivering insights**: Meshh’s technology
   uses mobile phone signals to track movement patterns without collecting any personally
   identifiable information, turning MAC addresses into anonymous “Meshh numbers”
   that can’t be traced back to individuals.
 * **Measure with intent, not for data’s sake**: Caroline emphasises the importance
   of clarifying what success looks like before deploying measurement tools, “What
   information will help you on Monday morning after the event?”
 * **Beyond simple counting**: The real value lies in understanding relationships
   between spaces and attendee behaviours, like how many people who attended a sponsor’s
   keynote later visited their stand, and how long they stayed compared to those
   who didn’t see the keynote.
 * **Indoor and outdoor flexibility**: Meshh’s portable, battery-powered sensors
   can be deployed virtually anywhere, from traditional conference spaces to fields,
   campsites, and temporary structures, allowing for measurement where people actually
   go rather than just where infrastructure exists.
 * **Context matters more than raw numbers**: Eight years of accumulated benchmark
   data allows Meshh to tell clients not just what their metrics are, but whether
   they’re good compared to similar events in their vertical.

### More highlights

Caroline shared that while the technology itself isn’t the most complex part of 
their offering, the real “magic” is in interpreting the data properly. About 80%
of measurements validate what experienced event professionals already suspect, but
the remaining 20% can reveal surprising insights about attendee behaviour.

For event organisers struggling with ROI calculations, Meshh can reveal that while
100,000 attendee days might sound impressive, the actual number of unique individuals
at a three-day event might be closer to 40,000, and no single exhibitor can expect
to capture everyone’s attention.

The company’s journey accelerated dramatically after a serendipitous moment when
Formula One management called asking, “How do you know more about what’s happening
in our fan zone than we do?” after seeing Meshh’s work for Johnnie Walker’s F1 sponsorship.

### Connect with Caroline

 * **Website:** [meshh.com](https://www.meshh.com/)
 * **LinkedIn:** [Caroline McGuckian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-mcguckian-3595561/)