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In Case You Missed It
On BizBash last month, we took a deep dive into how hybrid events have evolved in the past year—and how to prepare for what’s next. We also learned some tips for getting the most out of virtual breakout rooms and took a behind-the-scenes look at the buzzy Metaverse Fashion Week.
Spotlight On
Event management technology company Hubilo recently hosted an expansive hybrid event that drew thousands of people from three continents and 25 time zones. The gathering, called Mastering Immersive Experiences (MIX) 2022, aimed to showcase what’s working in hybrid events now and how Hubilo’s platform can help event planners achieve results. The event’s own stats helped prove the lasting power of hybrid events—according to Hubilo, more than 1,600 messages were exchanged during the event, 18% of attendees engaged in lounge conversations, and all partner and sponsor booths had over 100 visits each.
Missed the event? Click here to watch full sessions on demand. 
“Events are evolving to become the epicenter of marketing strategies,” Hubilo's CEO Vaibhav Jain (pictured) said during MIX 2022. “Brand interest, loyalty, leads, and revenue are the objectives. Engaging audiences and the valuable data that results from their interaction at Hubilo events drives the demand that our clients say meet their goals. ROI can be achieved by combining next-level experiences with careful nurturing of the audience post-event. This is the future of audience- and community-building around brands.”Photo: Courtesy of Hubilo
Event Technology We're Excited About This Month
To streamline the planning process for large-scale events and exhibits:
After their headline-grabbing merger earlier this year, MeetingPlay + Aventri have unveiled their first major product launch: ExpoPRO. The task management platform aims to solve major pain points for event planners and exhibitors in the large-scale exhibition market, whether they’re working onsite or virtually. ExpoPRO offers centralized and automated communication and task management solutions; planners can track exhibitor progress, streamline asset collection, deliver detailed progress reports, and more through the product, which is also fully integrated with MeetingPlay + Aventri’s event management platform. (Bonus: Click here to get behind the scenes details on MeetingPlay + Aventri's new partnership.)
To host an impromptu team coffee break—virtually:
Virtual conference and event platform Shindig has launched Watercoolr, a 24/7, secure virtual lounge where remote teams can casually congregate to take a break, catch up, gather for team announcements, or collaborate on projects. Employees can all see each other in the virtual space and socialize by moving from one private video conversation grouping to another. Each team gets a custom Watercoolr URL, and access can be secured via SSO integrations including Teams, Zoom, and Google. Employees can then have round-the-clock access to the digital space, which can accommodate groupings of two to 12 people.
To host and moderate engaging virtual discussions:
Sales and marketing platform ON24 has debuted ON24 Forums, a live engagement experience that aims to drive interactive, moderated discussions that deepen audience participation. Planners can use the tool to bring attendees together for two-way, video-based group networking, conversations, roundtables, and trainings, complete with “hand-raising” options and detailed analytics on attendee interactions. The service—which offers custom branding and more than 25 engagement and conversion tools—can host a wide range of experiences, including hands-on product demos, focus groups for instant feedback, expert-led trainings, and more.
To try out one of the newest virtual options:
Everytale has debuted its new online event platform, which offers end-to-end services for virtual event planning, promotion, broadcast, and monetization, along with 24/7 customer support and optional event marketing and entertainment add-ons. The platform offers a few standout features, including the ability to create customized, animated backgrounds, along with integrated presentations and real-time polling, gifs, and other fun effects produced by Everytale’s in-house team. The platform also allows for multisession events and breakout sessions, pre-recorded content uploads, and post-event analytics; it also automatically keeps all event recordings, making them easily available for rebroadcast.
The Latest Promotion, Funding, and Merger News
In April, the Los Angeles Rams football team announced a new partnership with event platform 6Connex to create a year-round virtual gathering space. The offering, called Virtual Rams House, bills itself as the first virtual venue in the sports industry; it provides a place for fans, corporate partners, and other stakeholders to engage with the team via custom content, community chats, message boards, and more. One fun feature? Season ticket holders can connect with other fans in their specific seating section, building a year-round community. The “house” can be found here.
Sophie Ahmed has been named senior vice president of market strategy at Hubilo. Ahmed brings more than 20 years of experience in the media and events industry to the role, having led global events for brands such as Informa, Reed Exhibitions, Cannes Lions, and Money 20/20. Most recently, Ahmed was the CEO and co-founder of the Virtual Events Institute (VEI), a platform designed to bring virtual and hybrid communities together to share best practices and spark innovation.
ON24 has acquired Norwegian cloud video software company VIBBIO to help integrate video across its platform. VIBBIO marks ON24’s first-ever acquisition. Through the new offering, planners and marketers can easily create, splice, and publish short- and long-form videos, no experience needed. They can also reuse content by creating highlight clips available on-demand, produce assets for social media engagement, or deliver personalized messages for landing pages, email, and ABM campaigns.
Tripleseat—a web-based event management platform for restaurants, hotels, and other venues—has announced a new integration with restaurant reservations company OpenTable. The extended partnership will allow event managers to easily share event details with front-of-house staff to streamline the event booking process, eliminate manual data entry errors, keep the floor space flexible, and provide a more cohesive guest experience.
Interpretation platform Interprefy has created a new division aimed at providing language and interpretation services to the audiovisual market. Headed by Mark Breakspear, former project manager at DLC Events in Dubai, the new division aims to open up new avenues for AV providers and their customers by providing access to remote language interpreters for any event—whether live, virtual, or hybrid—on any platform.
