Sandy Hammer is the CMO and co-founder of Allseated, a digital floorplan and seating design tool based in San Francisco.
How I got my start in event technology: I was a corporate planner for 15 years in the high-tech space, and I always found myself expressing my frustration over the fact that I just knew we could digitize our industry and build it into something amazing. I was surrounded by startups and was breathing in the energy to understand how we could in fact make a difference for our industry of planners! So, once Uber digitized the taxi industry, that was officially it for me. I knew then and there that it was time to make a change for the better in the event industry, so I found myself an incredible technology partner, and off we went. The rest, as they say, is history.
Why I'm passionate about event tech: Event tech just makes our life easier, and people don’t get that, so when I started Allseated, one of my main passions became education and breaking the fear that we are considered a low-tech industry. I wanted to break the stigma, and today our industry has thousands of tech companies working for them. It’s been incredible to watch the huge shift take place over the last eight years. The shift in tech for our industry has made us more professional and helps us to save hours of time. The new technology gave us insight into the working habits we had and now have broken free from. We are not scared or considered low-tech anymore.
Where I see event tech in the future: Technology isn’t the luxury that it was in previous years. Especially due to the pandemic, tech is now a part of our daily lives, which means clients are demanding it as a critical part of the event planning process. Event professionals are starting to understand that they must not only stay ahead of trends but adapt to the needs of their clients. And, even as live events make a return, the ability to offer a virtual extension to a live event will remain an important component of event strategies going forward. Hybrid is the way of the future and already becoming a critical event solution.
My advice to other women breaking into the field: Don’t underestimate the power of belief. I am somewhat of an unusual entrepreneur in that I did go into things a bit blind, but I did so with such a deep passion that I could make a change. I believed in it and it all just felt right. I knew it would be difficult, and it still is, but that never discouraged me. In fact, the challenge only fed me more energy. Everyone has it in themselves to become an entrepreneur if you believe it hard enough.
Back to the full list of Most Influential Women in Event Tech 2021
