The BIG Eventtech Landscape Is Here!
Welcome back to The Lookout! I hope you’re having a great week. This week PIRATEx was proud to unveil our latest edition of the 2021 Eventtech Landscape Map for Online Experiences.
Since the pandemic’s pivot to entirely online events, our team has been working hard to keep up with the latest eventtech developments. What initially was a list of software solutions to add to our tech stack, grew and grew with each new introduction. As things grew bigger and bigger, we wanted to share it with the #eventprof community to help everyone find the right tool for their online events.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing individual blog posts on each of the sections, to give greater detail about the companies within (stay tuned!). We hope it helps you narrow down your choices when it comes to choosing your online event. If you would like any advice or have any suggestions, some members of the PIRATEx team will be talking more about the platform overview in Clubhouse next week!
When it comes to the technical providers we use, as an agency, PIRATEx is supplier agnostic. We believe every event is unique, and in using the right tech tools for the job. There’s no one-size-fits-all software for every event. When clients come to us looking to bring their digital events to life, we love that there’s such a diversity of tools and software available, a list that keeps growing.
As the industry continues to grow, this list is not yet complete. If there’s something we’ve missed, let us know! I really appreciate all the eventprofs who have reached out to us to add to the list. We’ll keep it continually updated, and would appreciate any suggestions to help make this resource more useful for you!
For more details on the Eventtech landscape, check out the post here.
What’s happening:
Evolve 2.0: Swapcard’s Evolve gathering 2.0 has been a huge highlight of the week. Swapcard has brought nearly 5,000 eventprofs together on their platform this week and the energy is electrifying! I was proud to speak at the Evolve gathering last Summer, and so much has changed in the online event landscape since then.
During the kickoff, Swapcard had some exciting updates to share, including a new social feed on the horizon, a backstage area, and improved networking features. Other features are planned for hybrid event check-in, monetized content subscriptions as well as advanced analytics for event organizers.
Next week, Swapcard will roll out a new roundtable and social feature as well as an on-demand video library “Similar to Netflix”. The company is working to be an asset for event organizers 365 days a year.
Our team has been enjoying connecting with the community and learning how to optimize our events better. One of the top takeaways from Day 2 of the event? From Explori’s Sophie Holt: Always leave an open response box in your post-event survey. Give your attendees space to vent! Couldn’t agree more with that.
Evolve 2.0 [Swapcard]
Traditional Design Fairs are over?: Really nice overview piece from many exhibitors how they experienced the newly digital Stockholm Design Week. The event is traditionally an in-person fair, which allows prospective buyers to get up close and personal with designers and their products. The upclose look, feel and emotion in a design fair is important, and many of the big ones have been postponed. Stockholm decided to go digital, and in some cases, socially distanced, and exhibitors’ impressions to the digital format is quite illustrative. Well worth a read.
“The old way of producing a physical fair is gone” says fair organiser [Dezeen]
UK Plans Return to Live Events: The UK Government has expressed a commitment to returning to live events this summer, with a tentative date set at the end of June.
APPG statement on the government’s roadmap for leaving lockdown [Event Industry News]
Outdoor events without social distancing could return on June 21 [Access All Areas]
#EventTech:
- Big updates from Hubilo: One of the biggest platforms adds to their warchest and also to their feature list, as Hubilo announces new funding and some updates. Some of the new features? Broadcasting studio, more customization options, landing pages and more.
- VCs are chasing Hopin upwards of $5-6B valuation [TechCrunch]
- Google Meet is fixing the worst thing about video calls [Tom’s Guide]
- Video conferencing with Aruliden’s Google Meet Series One is “as close as possible to being in the same room” [Dezeen]
- Bramble Is a Zoom Alternative That Makes Remote Learning Fun [Gizmodo]
How to do it:
- Virtual Speaker Gear: The Backdrop Edit! [Endless Events]
- How to organize online events on a low budget ? [Veertly]
- A Guide to Virtual Exhibits [Derse]
- Loyale Communities: Die Triebfeder für Ihr Event-Business Interview mit Thomas Wickart [Xing]
- 7 Tips for Running a Truly Engaging Webinar [Slido]
- From Zoom fatigue to broadcast nirvana: a B2B marketers guide to virtual events [B2B Marketing]
Not to be missed:
- Netflix Vs Virtual Event Dan Ram is one of our favorite speakers, don’t skip this one
- Stanford study into “Zoom Fatigue” explains why video chats are so tiring [New Atlas]
- Warning on security risk from virtual events platforms [ComputerWeekly]
- Join a conversation and AMA with Run The World on virtual events now and post COVID [TechCrunch]
- Virtual work parties: the good, the bad and the plain peculiar [Reuters]
- Berliner Datenschutzbeauftragte warnt vor gängigen Videokonferenzdiensten [Event Partner]
- So gelingen hybride Konferenzen und Events [Upload Magazin]
- The Race to Fix Virtual Meetings [New York Times]
That’s it for this edition of The Lookout! Don’t forget, you can subscribe to our weekly newsletter to always be updated on the news from the online event world! Read more edition of our newsletter here.
The Lookout Newsletter #14
Written by:
Felix Josephi
PIRATEx Managing Director
