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Join us on February 16th for our Valentine’s Day special event. We’ll whisk you to Paris, the city of love, to show and meet in Room3D with Stefanie Palomino and Felix Zeltner. Then we’ll talk with Joe Federbush of Evolio Marketing about our love-hate relationship with data. Sign up today! |
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It’s Time for Event Platforms to Widen Their View |
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Image credit: Make a Meme |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Solve the data ownership problem. The data should belong to the client you serve. End of story.
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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? |
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Layoffs, Schmayoffs, It’s Bigger Than That |
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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. |
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Music Concerts: The North Star for Virtual Events |
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The music events world is proving to be the perfect litmus test for monetizing virtual events. Roblox’s Travis Scott concert brought in 20 million dollars; Arianna Grande’s brought in 78 million. The Grammy Awards just had its virtual event in Roblox. And the Super Bowl
will feature Saweetie in a special Super Bowl Concert presented by Intuit on Roblox.
Fortnite raised $3 billion to expand its efforts to innovate within the metaverse with events like the one at Coachella. iHeartRadio is following suit with its launch of virtual
worlds in Fortnite. Kid Laroi’s concert is an experiment for a video experience that rewards viewers with exclusive experiences.
On the gargantuan level, Warner Music Group, Gamefam and Roblox announced the launch of Rhythm City, a music-themed social roleplay experience. Rhythm City will introduce Roblox audiences to new artists and music through group social roleplay, granting them access to exclusive digital items. |
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Rhythm City, Roblox. Image Credit: WMG, Roblox Corporation. |
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Surveys back the phenomenon. According to UTA IQ, three in four people said they attended a virtual event during the pandemic, including 90% of Gen Z respondents. 88%
said they will continue to tune into virtual events even after live events are fully up and running, citing the comfort, affordability and absence of crowds for making the virtual experience such a win.
All of this shifting has helped accelerate artists’ and music labels’ efforts to monetize virtual events. Consumers seem willing to shift spending to virtual reality music experiences. The recent survey from Morning Consult adds an extra oomph, revealing that 56% of Gen Z and 61% of millennials are
interested in attending a virtual concert. We’ve all gulped at the ridiculous prices of live concert tickets thanks to middlemen, ticketing monopolies, and the over-the-top effects and theatrics that these shows involve, all adding fuel to the virtual fire. |
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AwakenHub Empowering Irish Entrepreneurs |
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AwakenHub is an incubator/accelerator fostering opportunities for Irish woman-founded startups. Mary Ann Pierce, founder and CEO of MAP Digital and one of our Board Members, is one of the leaders of AwakenHub.
At Mary Ann’s event we learned:
- St. Bridget was super cool. (The event took place on St. Bridget’s day. She’s the multi-talented patroness of everything from poetry, learning, healing, protection, blacksmithing, livestock and dairy production. Spare time hobbies included illumination and brewing beer.)
- Always remember to include "the ask" in your pitch. For women, the ask does not always come naturally, but with practice it will feel baked into the natural conversation.
- We met the founder of Giyst, which is a great AI app for making mincemeat out of your video-editing chores by producing automated video using AI.
- Breathing time is critical. You may have the burning need to keep your event controlled, but the audience wants free time to meet each other. That’s where the business happens. The pitches at AwakenHub were three minutes long, the ask was there, and there was plenty of time left over for networking.
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Mary Ann Pierce, VEG Board Member, presenting at AwakenHub. |
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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. |
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Photo credit: Phoenix.gov |
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AI For Communicators
ChatGPT has the fastest-growing user base in history. But how will communicators use Generative AI (images, video, text and social media) to get their jobs done with panache and
efficiency? We're about to create the definitive course on Generative AI for events and would love your input. All ideas and expertise are welcome. |
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Welcome to our newest member Plannernet, an agile talent network for all your event needs. Stay tuned for more.
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Watch the CES Retail Sections we created. You’ll see a parallel between running a good event and running a good retail business. |
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The End of Events, The Dawn of Engagements |
March 15 | 11:30AM-12:303PM CT |
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To succeed in the new world of data, experiential gatherings, and the element of delight, traditional events are due for re-invention. We have come not to praise Caesar, but dust him off a bit. |
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Build Your Brand Like a Creator |
March 23 | 3PM EST |
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“Meet the Creators Session” on March 23rd. By learning how young creators build their brands, you’ll learn something too. |
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Want to talk to us? Book a meeting. |
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