As Covid recedes (and we don’t diminish its ravages), we've been thinking about how event-tech companies can spread their wings and make themselves more useful. 

What’s happening to the virtual events part of the events industry as it comes off the high from having a captive Covid audience is troubling, but it was inevitable. The Covid bump produced an influx of cash and the ability to create some great technology. Now what? 

A couple of things come to mind. 

1. Stop calling them Event Platforms and pigeonholing them as a one-trick ponies. Virtual events can be used for everything from school classroom meetups to weekly corporate check-ins. Heck, they can even organize protests. Like Salesforce, whose model has always been to “skin” its basic platform for specific sectors, event platforms can begin to do the same. Hubilo does a bit of this with its education program, but there’s more that can be done. It also requires a different kind of sales and marketing with a foray into new sectors. 

2. Associations and shows should have favored partners. Create a marriage with solid associations, trade shows or hotels. Each of them should be able to supply their event planners with a list of recommended products and a plan for reaching a wider, year-round audience. 

3. Solve the data ownership problem. The data should belong to the client you serve. End of story. 

4. Build community with data. Event platforms should have a strategy to leverage the data they generate to build communities.

What are some of your cures for what’s ailing the virtual events industry? 

Layoff, schmayoff — this is not your typical closing of a single business. Layoffs, quiet firings, resignations, quiet hirings, these are all new terms describing the very fluid job situation that has arrived with a vocabulary, scale, and ferocity not seen before. 

A part of it is that the tech industry needs differently-skilled talent. And it needs cash to fund these next-gen efforts. This is not the first time we've seen the tech industry ditch workers because they need fresh blood.  

Microsoft is pumping billions into ChatGPT. Google is prepping its salvo into AI with Antrhopic. Nearly every tech company, like lemmings on a cliff, has reduced its staff count (6% seems to be the magic average number). Regardless of what they say to their shareholders, we’re seeing something much more revolutionary that we’re calling the Great Reshuffle. The end result will be companies with more gig workers and a workforce with fresh skills. It will focus heavily on AI skills and also on emerging climate-tech startups.

The Supreme Court Might Change Social Media Forever
You’ll be reading a lot about “Section 230” over the next few months. That’s because the Supreme Court will be revisiting the law that protects social platforms from being responsible for content on their platforms. It might just cause a few algorithmic changes – but it could also drastically impact everything from Reddit upvoting to Wikipedia community updates, Yelp reviews, and Discord communities. 

Superbowl Goes Green 
Shout out to Glendale, Arizona, for greening the Super Bowl event. Attendees should start studying what gets composed where at all events, and we’re glad the Super Bowl is leading the way.