Unfortunately, I did not make it to Adam Parry and teams' Event Tech Live in Las Vegas last week. I hate reporting on things I wasn’t there to witness, but it’s an important show at an important moment for the events industry and it’s the first time the show was held in the US. 

The event drew 80 exhibitors from the events industry including Hubilo, Haia, SparkUp, vFairs, and Virbela. It was free to attend and conference sessions included implementing community, rebuilding event tech, reducing cost and managing operational overhead. And yes, how AI is changing everything. 

Event Tech Live comes at a critical time in the life cycle of the events industry. Many of the companies that were born of the pandemic, when audiences could not meet in person, are redefining their roles in the events ecosystem. New companies are helping live events tech up their pre-COVID offerings. Still others are going full speed on incorporating AI or looking for new niches such as the metaverse or badging systems. 

First, a big shout out to the organizers. These are brave new times and new times need new events. From perusing social media, talking to folks, eyeballing photos, and checking press reports, the crowd seemed a bit thin and the spirit of the exhibitors felt, in many cases, a tad deflated. But I’m guessing that next year’s show will cast a wider net to include everything from more AI to more about corporate meetings and work from home. 

Julius Solaris writes in LinkedIn “I witnessed depression and excitement. The show is a snapshot of what is happening at the industry level. Two exhibitors next to each other, one visibly sad because they are losing ground. Another is incredibly excited because they are about to close a massive round.”

Dahlia El Gazzar and Michelle Bruno reported from the show (well, at least from the hotel room at The Golden Nugget.) Their observation was that folks attending the show mostly represented brands (buyers) and technologies (sellers) but there’s a clear reason for event planners to join the party and get educated. 

MAP Digital launched its Fast Pass Badging System 
Picking up your badge at the show is not the sexiest topic, but it sure can be a painfully slow experience. Fast Pass Badging Systems from MAP Digital uses a single QR code to let attendees check-in, print their badges, and even get their personal schedule printed. “Badging is not the newest thing in the world, but it is still the bane of most planners and most event experiences,” said Mary Ann Pierce, Founder and CEO of MAP Digital in an interview with Meetings Today.

Cinamaker Presents
Cinamaker is an ingenious software product that produces your live streams or conference sessions without requiring anything more than your PC or tablet, plus a few mobile phones as cameras. It can make any meeting look great. At this year’s NAB Show, we were lucky enough to have Jim Louderback (moderator), Alex Lindsay (Head of Office Hours Global), Andy Carluccio (Zoom), storyteller Marc Angelo Coppola, and Benjamin Nowak (Cinamaker) talk about live production while using Cinamaker to record it all. Watch it here.

Grammarly Plus AI 
Maybe AI gets a little dicey when you’re asking it about ethics, but grammar? Other than a fight about the use of semicolons or the Oxford comma, Grammarly has been my grammar go to for years. It makes perfect sense for the company to announce grammarlyGO to give you an intelligent smidgeon of help when it comes to things like tone, simplification, and yes, keeping it short.

Creative Budgeting
“Constraints breed creativity” quotes Gianna Gaudini, Head of Events at AirTable, a platform for connected apps. It was all part of a practitioner-led session called “Cost Saving Strategies: How To Do More With Less,” produced by Expo Logic. Lots of tips on those eternal questions like re-thinking swag and some great tips on managing food and negotiating speaker fees.

Consensus Happened
You’d think this might be a quieter year for the scandal-infested crypto economy, but true believers tackled tough subjects at this year’s Consensus (Austin, April 26 and 27th), the largest gathering of decentralized and digital currency acolytes. And the video production gets two thumbs up as you can see by this trailer. 

Real or Fake?
I’ve been watching this initiative for a while, so I was happy to see that the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) is coming to fruition. With 1,000 companies signed on as part of its coalition, they are crafting a set of standards that they claim could guarantee the authenticity of digital content. The fake versus real arms race will probably never end but at least there’s a unified effort. 

Calling Zoom Developers
If you have any hopes of being a full-fledged platform you’ve got to really embrace your developer community. Just ask Adobe or Unity. The upcoming Zoom Developer Summit gives a clear indication that Zoom wants to make sure its developers can build for and service its platform. Wise move.