The Evergreen Classic Benefit Horse Show jumped out of the gate with Microsoft Tag. The charity event, which benefits the Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center and the Washington Hunter-Jumper Foundation, used Tag at most of its 30 plus vendor booths. The event is the largest horse show in the State of Washington with more than 425 horses and exhibitors, six show rings and close to $100,000 in prize money.
Attendees strolling down vendor row or relaxing in the lounge areas could scan Tags to get more info about the various vendors. Each of the six show rings also displayed a Tag for the business that sponsored it and the show program even had some of its pages Tagged providing additional information about various businesses and organizations.
The response from the vendors was quite positive. Although many were not familiar with Tag, most took to it immediately and a few vendors even asked for more Tags to be created to link to additional related websites.
Shelly Campf, a trainer and owner from Oz Inc. in Oregon, became so excited about Tag she dubbed herself a “Tag geek.” She even suggested a great use for Tag at horse shows: Tagging horse sales flyers where the Tag resolves to a video of the horse for sale.
Next year the show management team plans on Tagging every page in both the show prize list (a publication that goes out to exhibitors prior to the show describing all the classes being offered) and the show program. Now that makes perfect horse sense.
What other types of events would benefit from Tag? Let us know with your comments below or on Facebook or Twitter.