Event tech expert Jack Geddes asks eight founders and CEOs about their thoughts on the event tech industry.
During the pandemic, many event tech solutions popped up like mushrooms and the in-person solutions that couldn’t pivot fast enough to virtual, struggled to survive.
We can still see the aftermath of the pandemic on many in-person events and event tech solutions. One thing is for certain – adoption of event tech by event organisers has grown ten-fold.
“In the context of 2019 vs 2022, we have seen massive adoption. This growth has obviously slowed down compared to 2021, but the market is much bigger and healthier than pre-pandemic,” says Bob Vaez, CEO, EventMobi.
The event tech landscape has completely changed in the span of two years. Big names in the event tech industry like Boomset or Attendify are gone, bought by Hopin; they seem to have disappeared completely from the consideration of event organisers.
“The lightspeed growth of the event tech industry in the past two years has pushed planners way past their comfort zone. In the next phase of event tech evolution is a pace much slower allowing us to normalize the adoption of digital in the event and marketing mix.The event tech industry needs to continue to educate and prove its worth while keep up with innovation,” says Rachel Stephan, founder and CEO of Snoball.
The growth models have changed completely and once unviable marketing channels have become profitable during the pandemic for event organisers. Of course, every event has a unique set of considerations. However, the pandemic did open many avenues for growth for events that were once a shadow of their former selves.
The events industry: a new era
The pandemic has also changed the way events are run. We might plan differently, and be more metrics-driven.
“The industry is moving from one where we provided a physical platform for buyers and sellers to meet and then more or less let them get on with it, to one where we can predict, measure and help to analyse business relationships and outcomes before, during and after the event,” says Tanya Pinchuk, founder and CEO of Expoplatform.
Companies are having more and more to take into account the carbon footprint of their events; many events that were in-person only prior to the pandemic will continue to be virtual.
“I believe that virtual events, although a temporary buzz word within the industry, will not continue to form a major priority for the delivery of Events, but will in fact form part of the corporate narrative in ensuring that they continue to provide sustainable services by reducing their carbon footprint by providing a hybrid events solution, minimising the demands of hospitality costs in hotels, catering and transportation,” says Cem Kocu, founder and CEO of Eventogy.
What’s changed?
The hard reality of in-person events is slowly coming back to bite those who reckoned that we would be in for a long pandemic, or an endlessly-expanding virtual landscape at the same rate as during the pandemic.
Many of the event tech solutions that appeared during the pandemic had to do large rounds of layoffs. Hopin did multiple rounds of layoffs, and it seems that their event solution is at a standstill. Hubilo and Bizzabo had to do layoffs of more than 10% each.
“For years, event tech companies have been scaremongering organisers that they should invest in digital to make sure that in-person pounds don’t become virtual pennies.
“What seems to be happening is the opposite case for event tech companies. Their virtual pounds are becoming in-person pennies as corporates and commercial organisers alike are re-shifting budgets to venues, catering and other vital needs with event tech significantly lower down the priority list compared to where it stood during the pandemic,” says Tim Groot, founder and CEO of Grip.
Will in-person fully return?
Was there a clear misunderstanding of where virtual events were going? Webinars before the pandemic were not considered proper events and engagement metrics were not even being looked at; only the attendee count was king.
Many virtual companies that have been in the industry for a long time planned very carefully, not knowing what event format would be prefered after the pandemic. However, it truly seems that in-person events have not fully revived.
“We are seeing all events, including in-person, becoming digital first. In 2019, securing your hotel was the priority. In 2022, priorities are online and in-person audiences, digital touchpoints and success metrics. We see event tech poised to stay at the top of every marketer’s mind,” says Pierre Metrailler, CEO of SpotMe.
Are the requirements of in-person or virtual events the same as prior to the pandemic? Is it business as usual now that we have mostly walked away from travel bans and lockdowns?
“InEvent has seen customers become more considerate in the event tech industry, with more complex requirements and requesting suppliers with five years or more of experience. We see that requirements are shifting to in-person first, and we are seeing less competition in the market as many players have consolidated/are consolidating recently. Virtual is still a component in the offer, but part of a larger ecosystem of our EventHub and V&H offering,” says Pedro Goes, founder and CEO of InEvent.
During the pandemic, we often heard that event tech made 10 years of progress in only a few months. The hard reality is that event tech continued to evolve slowly, even during the pandemic. However, event organisers were more astute and receptive to event tech solutions than ever before.
“But,10 years of progress in two years has rolled back to four years of progress in two instead,” says Humphrey Chen, founder and CEO of CLIPr.
I still believe we have a long way to go in many aspects. Event technology is just starting to get somewhere. True innovation is around the corner, I can feel it.
A reassuring sign is that all the founders interviewed believed that events and event tech have a bright future whatever the format.
Now that the event tech investment fever has cooled down, it would be exciting to see real creative innovation.
