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NEWSLETTER 160
 
VIRTUAL EVENTS GROUP
 
Convene reports a 35% increase in client spending for large in-person meetings and events. The average contract value for the hybrid meeting, event, and workspace provider has seen a 79% increase compared to 2019. More on Skift.
 
 
 
 
 
 
FEATURED STORY
 
In Trade Show News
 

On LinkedIn Danica Tormohlen reported on five trade-show-related public companies that released Q3 financials. Cvent, Viad, Caesars, and MGM reported Q3 growth over 2021, while Emerald reported a decline due to the impact of the temporarily increased number of events that were staged in Q3 2021 (late in the pandemic).

 

TED, one of the most iconic and innovative conference brands, is expanding and launching new virtual and in-person events.

 

Two global mega-events, the SEMA Show in Las Vegas and the Web Summit in Lisbon, both grew in attendance significantly over last year.

 

In case you missed our last VEG meeting of 2023, Tracy Judge of Soundings gave us a look at their company’s survey of the changing world of the events workforce. Chris Bent took us on an amazing adventure with Piccles, a collaborative drawing app that let us create our holiday mood board. 

 
 
 
At our December meeting, Tracy Judge shared her findings on the future of the workplace. 
 
 
 
And later, Chris Bent let us draw together with Piccles.
 
 
 
 
AI Actors Rise to Fame
 
 
 
Image credit: Worth magazine.
 
 

This month’s Worth Magazine featured my story on AI actors. Living actors are rushing to have their likenesses mo-capped, facial recognized, and fully synthesized so that they can be everywhere all at once. Actors who are long gone are being brought back to virtual life. Makeup artists who age and de-age celebrities may grow some gray hairs looking at how well AI can do the same. Check out Hyperreal and Metaphysic for some wild examples.


And then there’s the “who needs real actors anyway” issue. Companies like Hour One are powering newscasts and streaming shopping channels with purely synthetic humans. And on the voice side of AI clones, ninety-one-year-old James Earl Jones just signed with Respeecher, a voice cloning tool, so that we can have him forever. Jimmy Stewart, now 26 years gone, is being brought back to life by Respeecher to read bedtime stories for kids in that “It's a Wonderful Life” voice. Digital rights management systems for managing these digital identities and tracking the royalties are springing forth. So, even if you’re only quasi-famous, it might be worth reading up on this and getting in line to be digified. 

 
 
The Pew Research Center: Facebook Plummets, YouTube Remains King
 
 
 
Image Credit: Pew Research Center.
 
 

The Pew Research Center just came out with its Teens, Social Media and Technology study. The non-shocker is that most teens admitted to using social media constantly. The other non-shocker was that most teens aren’t on Facebook. 


YouTube still reigns supreme as the platform most often used, with TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram jockeying for distant seconds. 


Jim Louderback
of Inside the Creator Economy had a few other valuable takeaways:

  • YouTube and Instagram are plenty habit-forming, with 3 of 5 users checking multiple times a day. But when it comes to addictively swiping, TikTok and Snapchat rule, as TikTok has 60% more multi-daily users than YouTube - and Snapchat has 50%.
  • The data also paints a picture of maturity. None of the platforms increased or decreased in share compared to 2022. (TikTok's 5% decline looks impressive but is within the margin of error).
  • TikTok's opportunity: increase casual users. It has less than half the occasional users compared to the other big ones.

What does it all mean? The next generation of teens, coming fast on this generation’s heels, may pivot to platforms such as Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft, which weren’t included in the study but whose numbers of new users are still climbing. 

 
 
WEEKLY
 
Scuttlebutt
 
 
 
 
VEG EVENTS
 
Mark your calendars
 
 
 
JANUARY 18 | 3PM | ZOOM
 
New Year, New Tools.
 
Joining us are Conor Eliot of Opus Clip, Jeremy Toeman of Aug/X Labs, and Nick Morolda of Hive Streaming. Three great products to add to your arsenal.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JAN 9-12, 2024 | LAS VEGAS, NV
 
CES 2024
 
 

January 10
VENETIAN LEVEL 4
MARCELLO 4404
1:00 – 4:40 PM

 
 
 
 
 
 

January 11
VENETIAN LEVEL 4
MARCELLO 4404
9:00 – 11:40 AM

 
 
 
 
 
 

January 11
LVCC WEST LEVEL 2
W219
1:00 – 3:40 PM

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thank you for your continued support of Virtual Events Group. And remember — keep those meetings merry and bright. The world will be a better place for it.
 
 
 
 
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Robin Raskin | Founder
917.215.3160 | robin@virtualeventsgroup.org

Gigi Raskin | Sales/Marketing

917.608.7542 | gigi@virtualeventsgroup.org