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Explosive Growth in the Eventtech Industry & Hopin Goes on a Buying Spree

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We’ve now officially passed the one-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdowns in Germany. These 12 months have taught us quite a lot, pushing us to grow, innovate and connect in new ways.  For event organizers, the growth of the learning curve when it comes to online events has been steep. And continues to grow! Especially as more and more eventtech platforms are created to solve every problem (real or imagined) that event organizers face. What an impressive growth of the eventtech industry! For a look at how things have changed, have a look at what the “Godfather” of Marketing Technology Scott Brinker had to say about the explosive growth in eventtech companies. He even references PIRATEx! This week, we’ve added 35 new platforms to the Eventtech Directory (I know, there are still more out there…) and more to come!

The growth in eventtech industry is both a help and a hindrance for event organizers looking to produce incredible experiences. And as Katrin Taepke notes in her good article this week at MICEstens Digital, the “best” platform will be different for everyone.  For organizers, it means we can’t become complacent. Technology can’t save a weakly designed and poorly conceived online event. We must continue to adapt our event concepts for this increasingly digital world, one that doesn’t seem to be going back to physical very soon. Let’s continue to grow, and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Here’s what I’ve been checking out lately:

What’s happening:

Hopin Keeps Making Headlines: This week, Eventtech unicorn Hopin has announced two new acquisitions to further their video capabilities. Streamable and Jamm provide video collaboration and streaming services. The company also disclosed that they have 90,000 event organizers using the platform, a growth of 6% in less than a month.

Germany looks to return to live exhibitions: This week the German exhibition industry have announced a new 8 step plan to get back to business. AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry has called on the government to back their plan to re-start. The Association shared that 35 exhibitions have been cancelled in Germany since March 3, extending until the end of May.
German exhibitions present service package for re-start
Germany’s politicians urged to find solutions for the long term planning of exhibition industry
IBA trade fair shelved until October 2023
SCHWEISSEN & SCHNEIDEN announces new date in September 2023

This week, Frankfurt’s Formnext event announced it would go forward as a hybrid event, running in person November 16-19 and online November 30-December 1, 2021. This is one of the biggest fairs in Germany to formally announce a hybrid event concept.
Formnext 2021 to take place with in-person and digital elements

Elsewhere, fairs are moving forward in person. In Madrid, the Hospitality Innovation Planet Expo fair began at the Ifema Conference center, a convention center that was used to treat Covid-19 patients early in the pandemic. Next month, in-person fairs return to Las Vegas.
Courageous or insane: Madrid to open trade fair to visitors
Las Vegas Market exhibitors to make April debut in new expo facility

 

Image for the Online Event Exhibitors hate online events blog article

#EventTech Industry:

How to do it:

Not to be missed:

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!

Explosive Growth in the Eventtech Industry & Hopin Goes on a Buying Spree

The Lookout Newsletter #18

Written by:
Felix Josephi
PIRATEx Managing Director