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VIRTUAL EVENTS GROUP
 
Think about it. Is the singularity of events near? Is hybrid the hypothetical point in time where technological growth becomes uncontrollable? Meet you in the metaverse.
 
 
 
 
 
 
VEG EVENT | September 23 | 3pm EDT | ZOOM
 
NEXT VEG EVENT
 

Phil Libin made video conferencing a lot more fun and a lot more engaging by thinking through every detail of mmhmm. Sherry Huss, Innovator-in-Residence at Freeman, will moderate our romp with Phil. Next we'll hear from Michael Kolowich of Open Exchange. He'll tell us how he built a platform that's become the darling of the finance industry.

 
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Cancel Culture Continues
 
 
 
 
Well, at least they got to see Barry Manilow. And also see a safe and dry Anderson Cooper who helped make the best of a watery situation. But watching a drenched crowd of 60,000 fleeing the We Love New York concert in Central Park was a sorry sight and possible omen for a city holding a live concert to announce its comeback.
 
 
 
VidCon announced that its US convention, scheduled in late October, has been canceled. The good news? VidCon 2022 is still scheduled for June 22nd-25th of next year. Non single-day tickets for the 2021 event will automatically transfer to the new event. In the meantime you can experience VidconNow, the company’s virtual events program.
 
 
 
 
Bad news for the 40.8 million-strong BTS ARMY. The K-pop group that became a worldwide phenomena is cancelling its upcoming world tour. So is country star Garth Brooks. And car fans lamented The New York International Auto Show, which had been scheduled for this week.  
 
 
 
Meanwhile two big industry events—NAB in October and CES in January 2022—have both announced that they’ll require vaccinations for all attendees, exhibitors and staff. Bonnaroo is going ahead with its annual live music and festival in September but you'll need your jab to get into the site, too.
 
 
Mergers and Acquisitions
 

Informa’s Fan Expo HQ is taking over six of Wizard World’s best-attended events. Intrado’s acquisition of Hubb gives Intrado some superpowers in managing speakers, registrations and sponsor/exhibitors whether they be online, physical or hybrid events. Coupled with other partnerships like the one they announced with Encore events, Intrado wins this week’s most aggressive award as we march towards a hybrid world.

 
 
 
B2B News
 

Shows that connect buyers and suppliers are seeing some great success in the virtual world. According to its CFO Lauren Cooks Levitan, Faire has seen 300,000 online orders placed this year. “Our sense is that in-person shows are really good forms for community-building, so we think there will always be a role for them,” but “the efficiency of being able to shop online and have access to thousands and thousands of brands, the catalog deck that you get, just can’t be matched.”

Our own virtual marketplace is open for business and boy does it look sweet! If you want to set up shop, contact Julie Sylvester

 
 
 
Wearing Your Quest to Work?
 

If you think hours on a Zoom call sucks, think about donning your less than comfortable and a lot less stylish Oculus Quest to head to the office. Last week Facebook announced Horizon Workrooms, a virtual-reality service that’s free for Quest 2 owne You and your Quest-wearing compatriots can join in a virtual meeting room where people gather as if they were at an in-person work meeting. You’ll see cartoon avatars of all the participants (thankfully not wearing their headsets and only a torso view so pants are still optional), plus a virtual whiteboard for doodling—I mean brainstorming. Watch the press conference with cartoonish Mark Zuckerberg, it has all the makings of a Comedy Central series. If you’re not a member of the Oculus club, there are other services like MootUp, Virbella, and Room that provide similar experiences with no hardware requirements. Even Zoom has an immersive view. My bet is that we’re going to play in these spaces for a long while before we get any real work done.

 
 
 
Scuttlebutt
 

In his blog Goodly, Robert James asks which two industries have remained unchanged for 2,000 years. The first is the sex industry. Can you guess the second? 

 

GoLiveTogether is an industry group working to ensure we can head back to live events safely. Nearly 3,000 associations are now members. 

 

Working from home? Friend of VEG and entrepreneur Walter De Brouwer tweets: “There are a lot of letters left in the Greek alphabet to name variants. Most of us will never go back to the office. The longer people stay at home, the more challenging it will be to bring them back.”

 

Want to build your own room in the metaverse at Burning Man 2021. Topia, a metaverse company on a roll, is supplying the kits

 
 
Pulse of the Week?
 
 
 
 
 
Missed our last event?
 
featuring Zoom Events, Twyli and MootUP. You can relive the moment here.
 
 
 
Feel the need to stay up on the virtual events scene but have a few other to-dos on your list?
 
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Contact Us
 
Robin Raskin  | Founder
917.215.3160 | robin@robinraskin.com

 

Julie Sylvester | Sales & Marketing

917.868.7160 | Juliesylvester@gmail.com