In Case You Missed It
This month, tech-related coverage included a deep dive into Billboard's new digital-first award show format, along with a look inside a truly cool anniversary event that featured a reactive light sculpture and an immersive digital water installation. What cutting-edge events or products should we write about next? Let us know.
More Event Technology We're Excited About This Month
For an all-in-one booking and management tool
Event management platform Planned has expanded its product capabilities; in addition to sourcing and booking, the company now offers a full suite of attendee management features. The company is marketing the tool as a simple-to-use alternative to Cvent, with features like an AI room block configurator (which reads the hotel contract and extracts the room information, attrition goal, and cutoff date for planners to monitor through their event dashboard), plus a room reservation website builder, an RSVP email and form builder, and automated tracing and reminders.
“We want to support all event planners in their mission to bring people together. There’s no reason why corporate planning tools shouldn’t be as great as the ones we all use to plan our personal events and trips,” says Marc-Antoine Bonin, CEO and co-founder of Planned. “Anyone in a company can be asked to plan an event, but not everyone knows how to navigate all the steps and policies. We offer a simple tool that guides planners and allows procurement teams to deploy cost-saving-focused processes.”
To manage live, hybrid, and virtual events as large as 100,000 people
RingCentral has launched RingCentral Events, an all-in-one solution for virtual, on-site, and hybrid event needs. Formerly known as Hopin Events, the offering includes native registration, analytics, a mobile app, check-in options, badge printing, and lead retrieval, and has more than 40 app and data integrations. Users can create custom-branded event pages in minutes—no coding experience required—with templates that have customizable and modular blocks. The scalable solution can accommodate more than 100,000 attendees. And coming soon, new AI-based features will be aimed at simplifying and automating the experience. Options will include an AI-driven content generator for event descriptions, email templates, and more; a smart Q&A section; an AI-powered video content editor; and more.
“The world of events has dramatically changed over the past few years, and businesses have an opportunity to approach events in new and inventive ways that deliver unprecedented levels of engagement,” says Kristen Koenig, the company's head of channel and business partnerships. “With RingCentral Events, we’re giving customers an incredibly frictionless experience—with flexibility to host either a single- or multi-track event and advanced customization options."
For a smoother ticketing experience
Lyte—a technology platform that makes it easy for fans to buy, sell, and exchange tickets to live events—has launched the Lyte Returnable Ticket, an end-to-end ticketing platform that integrates returnability and fair market pricing into a simplified ticket-buying experience. Lyte’s platform, which is powered by SmartPricing and Smart Fulfillment, features dynamically priced tickets at fair market rates, and empowers event creators to decide which fans are fulfilled first (like group orders, repeat buyers, local fans, etc.). Lyte’s platform also includes a Subscribe and Request buying interface, enabling fans to request tickets months in advance. The new experience helps creators sell out earlier, notes the company, with 95.7% of requested tickets converting to tickets sold.
“Event creators equipped with data intelligence and pricing solutions don’t just increase their revenue potential—they also pave the way for more fans to have richer, more transparent ticketing experiences,” explains Ant Taylor, Lyte CEO and founder. “With the Lyte Returnable Ticket, we’re putting fans first by providing a world-class experience, and generating more demand for creators.”
For an easy gift-giving solution
Sommsation—a wine experience platform and online marketplace—has launched a new corporate gift-giving concierge service in time for the holidays. The company can book both tasting experiences and wine-by-the-bottle gifts; hosts or gift-givers can go online and select a tasting flight, a preferred date, and guest list count, and Sommsation’s concierge team takes care of the logistics, working closely with the winery to ensure on-time delivery, tracking from the time of the order through delivery. Each gift includes information such as tasting notes and the origins of the winery and wines, chilling and food pairing recommendations, and the option for a personalized gift message.
For a new event app solution
Event management solutions company Eventsforce, powered by Simpleview, has released a new mobile app with an upgraded technology stack designed with attendee engagement in mind. The scalable offering can integrate with all major AMS/CRM and event management systems, and allows for mobile and desktop access. It features advanced QR scanning features; gamification and engagement options; and the ability for attendees to create personalized schedules, connect with other attendees and sponsors, and get live updates. For planners, it offers lead scanning for exhibitors and sponsors, analytics reporting, and more.
“The future of event tech is all about creating personalized and engaging experiences for attendees,” says Eventsforce's vice president of growth, Andrius Remeikis. “Our newly launched mobile app is designed to help event planners do just that, by providing them with the tools needed to connect with attendees on a deeper level and drive business outcomes."
The Latest Updates, Funding, and Merger News
Malou—an all-in-one, AI-powered restaurant platform—has raised more than $10 million in funding led by investors including software as a service (SaaS) B2B experts henQ, Bleu Capital, Bertrand Jelensperger (founder of TheFork), Jim Texier (former CPO of Lightspeed), and several restaurant clients. The female-founded company, launched in 2021, integrates a restaurant’s Google page, social media profiles, and listing and delivery platforms all into one centralized hub, then utilizes AI and automation to efficiently analyze and generate responses to customer reviews, generate social media posts, and maintain consistent information.
One10—which offers enterprise-level performance improvement solutions through travel, events, experiential, and marketing services—has announced a strategic partnership with carbon intelligence platform Cedara to power its path to net zero. Through the new partnership, One10 has comprehensively mapped its corporate carbon footprint with Cedara Enterprise and verified its GHG inventory with KERAMIDA, a CDP Gold Accredited Solutions Provider. As a supplier for Microsoft, One10 was also able to submit these verified results through Microsoft’s Supplier Portal to meet their Supplier Code of Conduct, which requires annual carbon reporting along with reduction commitments.
Sustainable textile supplier Valley Forge Fabrics has revamped its operations via a partnership with PwC. The company’s new platform is powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations and hosted on the Azure cloud platform; it allows for streamlined operations that can adapt swiftly to market changes. The platform also featured cutting-edge automation options, enhanced visibility, and real-time data insights.
Krowden, a software tool for event organizers, has rebranded; the Amsterdam-based company was previously named NetworkTables.com. Krowden is designed to help event organizers save time and money by providing smart event matchmaking, agenda-booking tools, and an always-on community platform to increase event efficiency and reduce costs.
