February 27, 2024 • 41 mins
Industry events should be the golden standard for other events and organizers, but more often, that’s not the case.
Think about it.
If we don’t walk the talk, then how can we expect others to do it? ;)
So, how can we set the bar higher?
In this episode, Bogdan Maran and Merijn van Buuren will dive deeper into:
✅ The importance of having high-quality technology on display at industry events
✅ Considerations for selecting and showcasing tech solutions that are innovative, user-friendly, and capable of enhancing the event experience
✅ Examples of successful tech implementations and their impact on attendee engagement and satisfaction
✅ Bogdan's magic data visualization on LinkedIn content engagement around the #eventprofs and #eventtech (find the visualization here)
And more!
For those who would like to get an assessment of their event technology, we're temporarily offering free consultations to those who watched this episode.
Schedule your free 45-minute consultation here: https://www.bit.ly/eventtechcheck
Last but not least, we announced next week's episode topic: Small Details Matter: Fine-Tuning Your Event with Tech and Behavioral Insights (with our first guest: Ade Allenby!)
We're looking forward to seeing you on the next one!
🗓️ Weekly Rendezvous: Mark your calendar! "Ctrl+Alt+Event" will be live on LinkedIn every Tuesday at 3:00 PM GMT to answer all your burning questions.
🔄 Host Rotation: Bogdan and Merijn will alternate hosting the live event each week, so make sure to follow them both to receive notifications.
🔗 Connect with Us: Bogdan Maran, Merijn van Buuren
👥 Get more involved: reserve your spot here
🎙️ Become a guest on our show: apply here
It's not just a podcast; it's a tech-forward experience you won't want to miss!
See you next Tuesday at 3:00 PM GMT! 🎉✨
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Merijn van Buuren (00:09):
Welc ome everyone.
We're doing well.
I hope everyone who's joiningin is also doing well.
You're listening toCtrl+Alt+Event, th e show where
we navigate the future of eventswith practical insights and
real solutions.
Not just talking tech, butshowcasing practical examples
and delivering real solutionsfor the event industry.
Today, we'll be diving into thecritical role of high- quality,
(00:30):
innovative technology inenhancing industry events,
whilst also discussing theselection, implementation and
impact of advanced techsolutions on event experiences.
I'm thrilled to be joined bysomeone who transitioned from
photo journalism to masterfuldata storyteller, a creator of
bespoke platforms, captivatingdata visualizations and seamless
(00:53):
integrations, also known as thedriving force behind visual
hive and AI- driven marketingengine tailored for marketers
and event professionals.
And if you're seeking expertisein video and data strategy,
personalized solutions oranything related to AI, look no
further, because he's the manBogdan Maran.
Bogdan Maran (01:13):
Thank you very much for the kind intro and yes,
of course, I'm joined by mylovely cohost, who has worked
with hundreds of eventsprofessionals and hundreds of I
think, hundreds of eventplatforms working around
integration, his integrations.
He's the founder of EventMender.
If you're looking for any kindof platforms online, that's
(01:37):
where you need to go and he isif and, also, if you're looking
for somebody to help you withany integrations across your
tech stack or how to build yourstats tech stack, if you want to
start there and make it betterbecause we've talked about that
last week Merijn is here andhe's your man.
Merijn van Buuren (01:52):
Absolutely, and I'm excited for today
because, as many of you know,tomorrow is this nice industry
event called Confex.
Actually, Bogdan is going to bethere.
So from all of you who arejoining, let the Bogdan know in
the comments.
I am fortunate they have toskip this one, but make sure to
meet up with Bogdan in person.
I'm sure he would love that aswell.
(02:12):
Yeah, curious to see who isgoing.
But because of that we thoughtwhy not dive a bit deeper into
industry events and whattechnology can do for that?
Bogdan Maran (02:23):
Absolutely, and because it's Confex in this,
please reach out either on theConfex app, because they do have
an app, so they do havetechnology, so we can set up a
meeting there, or just look forme around there or around the on
the show floor or at Fox afterthe event, technically speaking,
because that's the go togathering of everybody, that is,
anybody.
And today, as you said, you'regoing to look at why it's
(02:46):
important as a show organizer,why the events are important for
us, why do we go there and weshould be setting up kind of the
platform and where we are goingsend and what is the standard
for event technology.
And that's that's what we'regoing to discuss today.
What do?
What is the standard for eventtechnology for you, Merijn, and
you've been to a few eventsbefore, bar Confex.
Merijn van Buuren (03:10):
Very good question.
Just quickly to answer toRobert's question, this will be
recorded, robert, and we'll behappy to share you the link.
It's both on Spotify, applepodcast, youtube, so wherever,
however, you would like toconsume our content, we are
there for you and also for theothers who might be wondering.
But if you are sticking aroundfor today, you have the
(03:32):
possibility to obviously asksome questions.
We highly recommend you to putthem in the chat.
But yeah, the question youanswer.
You asked, Bogdan, in terms ofhigh quality tech, what is the
definition of high quality tech?
I like to break it down intodifferent segments.
I think a very important partof high quality technology is
(03:54):
this user friendliness, and youcan think of having an intuitive
interface.
Accessibility, maybe the factthat it's multilingual, so it
includes everyone, but also thereliability.
I think that's especially whenyou talk about high quality.
It needs to be something youcan rely on as an event
professional.
The fact that it's scalable.
You have support, you havetechnical support, so even if
(04:17):
something seems to be goingwrong, there's someone in the
background being able to helpyou to pull it off, because when
you're talking about highquality technology, you want to
make sure that it allows theaudience, but it works.
I think that's the mostimportant thing right there.
How is that for you, Bogdan?
Bogdan Maran (04:34):
I don't know exactly what to add to that,
because reliability, friendly UXis key For me also something
that you don't see, and becauseI'm a geek, I'm looking for it.
But something that you usuallydon't see is how well is
integrated within the other,within the tech stack, and
because that's reflected in howgood of an experience I have
(04:55):
with that tech.
So take, for example,registration and networking,
because those are the first twothat you encounter, technically
speaking.
At any event, from thatperspective, If they're not
integrated well, that means thatthe recommendations that I get
for networking are not there,and I do have to say that I'm
based in London and London isnot famous for its best internet
(05:16):
in the world and it might go upand down for me, so hopefully
it will hold on for half an hourat least.
But talking about technology,the other thing is you always
need a good internet connection,because people do talk, people
do work and people do do all ofthose things.
It's vital to have that,considering my home internet is
not that good.
But, as you said, high qualitymeans a good experience.
(05:39):
That's how it's translated,regardless how you look, how you
look, how big the backend is,how big the front end is how
friendly the UX is.
Merijn van Buuren (05:47):
If it's not reliable and it doesn't create
me, doesn't give me a goodexperience and doesn't add value
to what I do, then thestandards are low, very low, and
in line with that, I think myidea behind what we're talking
about today is, I think industryevents have the possibility to
really be, you know, thepinnacle of what is possible
(06:07):
within any industry, whetherit's the event industry.
When you talk about eventindustry events, but also if you
organize industry events forother verticals, the industry
events are, in my opinion, theplace where you can show
everything that's possiblewithin your industry for your
industry, to really make surethat that also trickles down to
the other industries.
(06:27):
For us, I think the eventindustry, in that regards, is
the first step, because we havethe possibility, through an
industry event, to showcase toother event professionals how
they could organize theirindustry events.
And there an important part isalso the innovation aspect that
you try something new, that youexperiment in a way where it's
(06:48):
still reliable, it still offersquality, but you do something in
a new way.
And I think that also for me,coming back to the definition,
is an important part of thathigh quality technology, that it
has an innovation factor to it.
Bogdan Maran (07:04):
Absolutely and to segue into our kind of next
topic in terms of how do weselect the right technology.
It's in.
I'm just want you to understandthat is not about the
technology, that is not justabout the technology that you
find on the show floor, so fromthe exhibitors, which are
absolutely fine, it's about thetechnology that you use and how
you use it, because when youlook at the experience you're at
(07:27):
and these have, it's not justthe experience, it's about the
education is all.
Because most of us go to therefor education and, yes, you have
the keynote, absolutely fine.
Yes, you have the meetings, yes, you have the workshops around
tables and everything that youare there.
But enhancing that andshowcasing the best possible use
cases is fantastic.
(07:48):
Because when you go and I'mgoing to the selecting the right
technology now when you go inselecting the right technology,
apart from and I'm sure you Ilet you go through the user
experience and journey and howyou map that out, I'm just going
to touch upon the idea ofpartnerships, because at an
industry event like Confex,Event Tech Live or IMEX, or
anything like that from ourperspective, I mean Left out
(08:10):
IBTM by accident and I do loveBarcelona, but when you go there
, you have the chance toprototype, which is something
that I haven't really seen inthe in any of the shows, maybe
the exceptions with of EventTech Live, which Adam really
does a good job aboutprototyping and taking that
(08:31):
selection towards a partnership,having that conversation and
having that relationship withyour suppliers to the point of
how can we best showcase yourproduct, how can we make this
unforgettable and educativeexperience.
But that and that is somethingthat you need to talk to them.
You need to have a goodcommunications case and you have
(08:53):
to understand something that iswhat do your attendees want?
A nd what do you?
What do you usually want fromfrom here in terms of how do you
select an event technology Forif you would host an industry
event?
Merijn van Buuren (09:07):
Well, I actually, just before this got
started, posted about kind ofthe framework I like to to look
at in terms of a step by stepprocess, how you can determine
which technology you should use.
And the first step, as youmentioned, is who are you
organizing this?
For Innovation is very relative.
(09:28):
It can be.
You have a very mature audiencethat may be wowed by a very
relatively simplistic approach,compared to a very young
audience that has seeneverything already on tick tock
a billion times.
So you need to step out of yourcomfort zone a bit more in
order to wow them and reallybring that innovation.
So the first step for me isalways to start with, who is it
(09:55):
for and what do you want toachieve?
Look at your event goals, butalso specifically look at your
attendees, your audience.
Where are they at?
Because, as we often say, justadding technology for the sake
of adding technology is notgoing to work.
It needs to be on purpose andit needs to align with both your
attendees, with their wants,their needs, their situation,
and also with your event goals,because you want to achieve
(10:16):
something, especially in anindustry event.
Me as an attendee.
When I come to an industry event, I expect the top of the top of
the top, the best of the best.
Obviously, I'm also a huge techfan, so that does make me a bit
more biased, but still, I thinkeven someone who's not focused
on technology or has nothing todo with technology still wants
(10:38):
to see what's new.
How is the industry innovating?
And that is where, especiallyfor industry events, if you
start there and you look at whatkind of things would they like
to see, then you can go to thenext step, which is OK.
What level of that userfriendliness that we just spoke
about Does it have to have?
(10:59):
And that ties back to theaudience what capabilities do
they have?
How comfortable are they aroundspecific innovations and
technologies that you're usingin your event and making sure
that it's easy to understand?
I think it was one of our firstepisodes where someone
(11:21):
mentioned like a big issue isthe fact that we have 50 plus
people who don't really knowwhat's going on, who don't
really know how to use thetechnology to its fullest
potential.
Bogdan Maran (11:30):
So then, you have to make sure that you understand
it.
Yes, yes, we are targeting theold people.
Technically speaking, I'm old,so I'm getting close to it.
Merijn van Buuren (11:39):
Ok, I can do that, but age is also relative,
just like innovation.
So it means you really have toget a better understanding of
your audience to see how you canactually adapt the technology
that you're using In a way thatit's easy, accessible for them
and they can actually use it andthey feel comfortable using it.
And, if it is a bit out oftheir comfort zone, that you
(11:59):
take their hand and help themuse that technology.
Because that's kind of the nextstep is the innovation
potential.
How far can you make it?
Next level something out ofabsolutely something, anything
we've ever seen, absolutely.
Bogdan Maran (12:16):
And the innovation I think it has.
It has two, two different ways,you two sides to it Technically
speaking, because, as you said,you need to look at your
stakeholders and you need tolook at your internal
stakeholders, because it's abusiness plan.
By the end of the day, thisshows need to exist.
They need to be financiallyviable, need to be everything
from from a business perspectiveneeds to be correct and, of
(12:38):
course, you're going to selectpartners based on that, based
based on your business plan,based on your resources, based
on what you have.
But that doesn't stop you to onshowcasing innovation.
That shouldn't stop you onsaying, ok, we've got this
nailed, I know it's going towork.
We've ticked our boxes from thebusiness case to what the users
(12:59):
want to, who are the users,agent, so on and so on.
But now let's, let's pick upthis, let's let's take, take it
to the next step.
And you have to understand thata technology in events, it's
not a simple, it's the samething, like everybody says.
What do you do?
I work in events.
What do you do?
I work in technology.
So, what do you do?
You do weddings?
(13:19):
Do you do AI?
What exactly are you there?
Are you there for?
And, of course, on the showfloor.
You've always seen that thesexiest and most engaging things
are the like, the robot armswho take pictures and all this
kind of stuff, which are Takeyour eye away and it's OK, but
that's one type of technologyand you showcase, showcase that.
So having something like thetechnology corner doesn't mean
(13:43):
that you've covered technologyin your show and innovation,
because it can be anything.
So I would I would personallylook at Understanding where the
pain points are, what peoplewant to learn and, yes, bring
those people, sell the standsand everything else.
But going back to one of thesubjects you wanted to cover in
terms of how do you showcaseinnovation Is, for me, it's not
just showcasing, is curating.
(14:04):
So where are we now?
How we're in time, are you know?
What are the pain points?
What are the technologies thatreally influence the industry?
How do we take advantage ofthose?
How do we educate people onthose?
Everything from and also one ofthe subjects that have been
discussed on LinkedIn, forexample, quite a lot has been
facial recognition, facialdetection, those two
(14:25):
technologies that can help onanything from the Entrance and
scanning people all the way tounderstanding the sentiment, and
you've got a few companiesfighting there on what one?
At least a few companiesfighting there on that realm.
And you have Zinnus and Iforgot the other name I remember
by the end of the show becauseI really like them who map out
(14:46):
Anything from sentiment to whatpeople do on your stand.
But that's one thing.
The other thing is the robotarms, for example, in the
engagement thing.
Then you have a talking up now.
So curating that experiencerather than showcasing it, and
making it a engaging demo,strong arm of your part of your
(15:07):
show, I think would beabsolutely crucial at this point
, because one of my pain pointsand I'll shut up on that,
technically speaking is thatyou've got like you've got ETL
Event Tech Live, for example.
It's very much okay, this istechnology, and they curate the
show so that you can have anexperience across all the
various verticals within there.
(15:29):
But you have startups, you haveregistration, you have various
corners, so it's a curatedexperience from that perspective
, something that you don't seeat Confex, where you have two
big shows, because it's not justConfex.
You've got the production showas well next door, which again
should have technology in it,but you have the concept of the
(15:51):
show.
At least last year wasrelatively disappointing because
you had I know you had Shocklogic next to the magician guy,
which is fantastic, because tosee John in a bubble of soap, it
was very funny and I wouldreally recommend that if there
is a clip anywhere of him doingthat.
But from an attendanceperspective, I need to know
(16:13):
where I'm going, so save me time.
I need to go and don't missanything.
I need to go where I am becauseI'm not interested, for example
, with my hat from the Allenbyadvisory where we work on
integrations or what we dotogether on helping people build
tech stacks.
I'm not interested in themagician.
He's fantastic.
When I used to be aphotographer I would go and take
(16:33):
some pictures of him becauseit's way nicer than a couple of
screens on a stand, but I wouldlike to have a curated
experience Absolutely and, inthat regards, so many things I
want to say about that, butlet's boil it down to kind of
the basics.
Merijn van Buuren (16:50):
I think it should be an integral part of
your event experience and notjust like, hey, this is a small
site on where you can experienceit, but actually make people
experiences as part of the event, where, in this case, where you
said like, yeah, I would liketo know exactly where I have to
go, their event technology can.
Actually there's quite somesolutions that can help you,
(17:11):
from AR route through the eventwhere you can actually see, like
, oh, walk two steps further andyou get to your preferred
destination, which then can bematched to a personalized AI
suggestion in terms of where youactually should go.
There are so many ways how you,as an event organizer, can use
(17:32):
the technology in a way thatenhances the event experience,
makes you your event look better, but also for people to
experience what's possible andwhat they could integrate in
their events, which then can adda lot of value to the companies
, the technologies you are using, which means you could, as you
said in the beginning, startwith a partnership sponsorship,
(17:53):
say like, hey, the fact that youcan now easily walk through
this boot and find exactly whatyou need, is brought to you by
company XYZ, and that's whereyou start to create synergies in
a way that it enhances not justyour return on investment, your
attendee satisfaction, but alsothe relationship you have with
different providers oftechnology, which then will help
you in the future when you wantto keep expanding and keep
(18:16):
coming up with new technologiesand innovations.
Bogdan Maran (18:20):
You're absolutely spot on and I always kind of
start on the because we want tomove towards how do we implement
and how, if we have someexamples towards the success
stories.
And I would always think aboutit the other way around, maybe
because I'm not a trade showorganizer and maybe I'm wrong,
so hopefully somebody can teachus better if we are wrong.
(18:42):
But I would look at I'm alwaysable to look at a trade show and
say let's make this fantasticand fantastic experience first,
and then you bolt on thebusiness plan on it because
you'll always find and you'llfind more revenue streams if you
look at it from thatperspective.
And of course our instinct isto go to technology doesn't have
(19:02):
to be technology all the time.
It can be something else.
It can be like a quite cornercorner, it can be the pods,
because you have problems likeand that's kind of technology as
well, because internet istechnology.
So without internet we don'treally have good technology.
So do I have a good internetconnection at the show?
Do I have those lovely pods andpeople can take meetings?
Because it's a two day event, Imight have a couple of calls I
need to take.
I don't want to go outside.
(19:22):
The Excel is quite big in thiscase and usually quite loud as
well.
So it's I always look at itlike from that perspective and I
think it opens new avenues.
It always opens new avenues,the way I found it.
Merijn van Buuren (19:36):
Absolutely Well, you said it correctly.
Let's move to the actual partof examples of things we've seen
in industry events.
I know you mentioned Event TechLive already a little bit, but
you have a very good examplethere as well, so maybe you
would like to share it.
Bogdan Maran (19:54):
Yes.
Merijn van Buuren (19:54):
Before we dive in, quick question to the
audience.
If you have had a very goodexperience of technology, please
let us know in the comments.
Maybe we can dissect it.
Maybe you can share yourexperience.
It's good for other people toknow that as well.
We'd love to share ourexperience, but we're not alone
and would love to hear yourinput there as well.
With that said please, please,jump in.
Bogdan Maran (20:18):
Yes, no, as you know, or a bad experience.
It doesn't have to be a goodexperience.
We need to learn.
There are always mistakes andwe need to learn.
And I keep saying about EventTech Live because it's one of my
favorite shows, simply becauseI'm a geek, because I love the
organizers, I love the teamthere, I love the crowd and it's
my thing, so it's normal,because we work in Even Tech, so
it's our show.
One of the things that I reallyliked at ETL across the last
(20:44):
nine years because I've missedthe first year, I think that was
the only year I missed, I wasjust a quick visitor for about
half an hour was the fact thatAdam and the team have always
looked at integrations andbringing new things that you can
take with you From Even TechLive and when they had the
awards as well, separately fromanother venue, where you had the
(21:06):
simplest engagement things withtaking the pictures and making
it with the arm and robot armand making it a very nice
momentum of what's happened.
But one of my favorite examplesis something that we worked on
because, of course, I like thework I do technically speaking
(21:26):
when I used to run a photographytech photography company and we
had the photographers whoretargeted the whole spectrum of
stakeholders, from the speakersto the organizer with pictures,
and we've managed to wrap upquite some good numbers because
they did some good datavisualizations on that as well.
So that was something that Ireally liked at Even Tech Live
(21:47):
in terms of their openness tointegration to a certain degree,
so they don't want to put toomuch pressure on their vendors,
but it's that openness to dothat, and I've seen that across
shows, so it's not just me.
Last year they had a photographycompany that would take
pictures and you can scan yourface and you can find your
pictures, your photosspecifically for speakers and I
(22:08):
think there were some of thecrowds as well, so you can find
your photo as well there.
And the other one that I wasreally thinking of, sorry, was
when GES had the wholeregistration bit and lead
(22:29):
capture.
They were sponsors for it, sothey provided the registration
and they've started working withthe on-site printing and they
were working with all theexhibitors to enhance their and
educate and enhance theirexperience in terms of adding
content to their stands andeverything, something that their
technology did.
But it was a very much apartnership where there was a
(22:50):
lot of education in place.
There was a lot of added valuefrom all sides, which I really,
really enjoyed.
Merijn van Buuren (22:57):
I love that example and Bob Toovey mentioned
he's glad to see that Confexapp slash website now allows you
to sync with calendars.
Yes, well, I'm not in the appat the moment, but I know it was
quite a hassle every now andthen last year.
Bogdan, have you alreadyexperienced the Confex app?
Bogdan Maran (23:19):
I did play around with it.
I'm very happy to discover Ihad a little bit of a rant ready
that I couldn't actuallynetwork with people,
specifically if you want to payfor the ticket, but either I
missed it or it appeared in themeantime, and if I'm not sure if
Grip is supporting this yearswith networking, it seems to be
working quite fine and quitenice.
Again, let's do the good andbad things.
(23:42):
So I really like the app.
You can find the people and youcan network with them.
I would really love to see, forexample, who the people
attending are, because I cansend requests as many times as I
want but, as you can imagine, alot of people are not going to
show up right.
I don't know which day they'regoing to show up on the day,
apart from the calendars andthat can be done through the
sync with calendars that Bobsaid, which I really enjoyed and
(24:03):
the other thing that I thinkneeds to be improved is,
especially at our industry'sevents, is the way we look at
what people are interested in,what they're doing, because you
have a whole list of what youwant to do there, in this case,
specifically focused on venues,which is absolutely fine because
it is a show that is centric tovenues to a certain degree, way
(24:29):
more than technology from thataspect, and you do have
technology there, but it needsto be better filtered because
there are lots of questions andpeople just tick 20 boxes just
to go for registration and youwant to understand that.
So I'm very curious if theylook at the data in terms of
behavior and understandingafterwards.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to itto see again from a geeky
perspective to see how good thatis.
Merijn van Buuren (24:49):
Absolutely, and for those of you who have
just tuned in actually Bogdan isgoing to Confex, so make sure
to meet him there in person.
Still haven't seen anyexperiences from the attendee or
from our visitor viewer pointof view in the comments, so if
you have had a good or badexperience, please let us know.
(25:11):
We would love to dive in andmaybe dissect that as well.
But yeah, I think those werealready some very good examples.
I see time is also running out,so for those of you who have,
as usual, indeed too much totalk about, but happy to make a
follow-up on this one, and forthose of you who have a question
(25:31):
now, you have still threeminutes of our time where we
love to answer any questions,whether that's.
Where can I find you, bogdan?
I would love to meet.
Bogdan Maran (25:40):
Or you can find me on the app Technology.
Yeah, you can definitely findme on the app and if we can
network, ping me on LinkedIn oragain at the Fox afterwards
would be any other the excellent.
Merijn van Buuren (25:53):
The best place for networking is still
the Fox.
Bogdan Maran (25:56):
I think we've met it because, if I'm not mistaken,
the first time when is the IBTM?
I think Fox was the first timewe've met.
Merijn van Buuren (26:04):
Ooh, now you're taking me back a while
ago.
Yes, Anyway, I think it wasEvent Tech Live, probably at the
Fox.
The Fox, 99 procent sure.
Anyway, yes, let's slowly work.
Oh, look awesome.
(26:24):
Well, thank you, Jan.
Great to see you here as well,are you?
Bogdan Maran (26:29):
going to Confex yourself.
Merijn van Buuren (26:32):
Or will it not be the case?
I also see a Bob has a question.
What can an app do to helpvisitors get fine exhibitors?
Very good question.
Would you like me to take thisone, or?
Bogdan Maran (26:45):
you want to Go for it, go for it.
I think I won't stop.
Merijn van Buuren (26:49):
All good.
No, I'll keep it short to thepoint.
An app obviously can have justa simple overview of exhibitors,
but especially with that quoteunquote AI matchmaking more or
less just figuring out whatyou're interested in, who's
offering that and making sureyou meet that people.
A lot of apps also give yousuggestions of which exhibitors
(27:12):
to find and, if they have mostof them, do a nice floor map to
go with that and give you aroute.
Make sure that you can actuallymake it.
Let's say in your agenda you'vebooked a session that you
really want to attend, that youhave enough time to go from one
side of the floor to the otherto actually visit the exhibitor
at a suggested time that matchesyour agenda the right way.
(27:35):
That really enhances yourexperience as an attendee,
because you don't feel like, ohsh*t, I'm gonna miss my
appointment.
You can still do everything youwant to do, but you also know
that this exhibitor is the rightmatch for what you're
specifically looking for.
Obviously, you'll have to fillin some additional data fields
for that, but it goes when doneright.
(27:57):
It goes a lot further than justshowing exhibitors in a list,
because I've had experienceswhere there were about.
I think it was the web summitabout 5,000 exhibitors or so In
terms of startups.
Every day you had thousand newstartups and you just had a huge
(28:19):
list.
You had to keep scrolling andscrolling and by the end of the
day you still hadn't seen allthe exhibitors.
It was not very user-friendly.
So you have those as well,where it actually makes it more
complicated and you just have tokind of hope to run into the
right exhibitor at the righttime.
But you do have apps thatactually help in a way where it
benefits you as well.
(28:39):
Anything to add there?
Bogdan Maran (28:41):
Two very quick things I've seen so recently.
I was really talking to afriend, nadio, and he pointed
out the again I'm bad with namesa free six experience with a
very nice free interactive mapthat you can interact with
before the event so you knowwhere you're going.
One of the things I reallywanted to add before you said
the list story was I would loveto see and I've never seen it
(29:04):
before in terms of you can havea lovely map of the venue.
You have the lovely things thatyou can see where you are.
In some cases where you don'thave lists, I would love to see
a filter, Literally.
I want to see technology justcolor the technology once in red
, in anything.
Let me know where we are so Ican go there, color the venue
once, color the hotel once, orthe DMCs or the magicians or
(29:25):
anything.
From that perspective, thatmakes my life easier.
Have I missed anything?
Because I might have gone thatway and I might not have time to
walk the whole show floor,especially in big cases like Web
Summit.
From that, I think it has itsengagement just to kind of move
towards the end because we arehitting the half an hour mark.
(29:45):
It does enhance, I think itwould enhance engagement because
it just helps me manage my timeand where I am way quicker,
especially if you have.
Web Summit is a good example.
You've got Mobile WorldCongress, which is another good
example because it's huge and ithas satellite events around you
(30:06):
.
You need to have some kind ofinteractivity and some kind of
filtering on it so you can gothere.
On the idea of engagementthrough innovation and how you
enhance that engagement withtech, and because I'm looking
also at the time and I keepgoing on and on without getting
to the point, it's, for me, oneof the big pain points is the
(30:31):
education side and, of course,the video content side and the
accessibility side.
Accessibility I don't mean ifyou have wheelchair
accessibility or anything likethat we should have in there, or
if you have subtitles forpeople who cannot hear, or if
you have interpreters oranything like that that are
there.
Accessibility andsustainability also means giving
(30:55):
people access that cannotattend the event.
We are working in an industrythat is severely understaffed,
severely stressed by definition,and we want to bring in new
talent.
All of these events have,theoretically, a lot of the key
people that know what they'retalking about on stage.
(31:15):
Talking about it.
If you are not lucky enough tolive across the street from
Excel or can afford to come toExcel and you live somewhere
that is unfeasible for you tocome, or you're a student and
you can't really access itsimply because you don't have
the time or you're near or youdon't have the money for the
train to come down fromManchester, you should have
access to this afterwards.
Technology allows you to dothat.
(31:36):
Technology can allow youspecifically around video and
specifically around educationand specifically around courses,
and sharing that and caringabout other people should be
crucial to how you plan yourevent.
Merijn van Buuren (31:53):
Preaching to the choir here.
That is my, my pet peeve, so tospeak.
Yes, there should always be apossibility for people to access
.
At least the content doesn'thave to be all simultaneously.
You can do it asynchronously aslong as they have the
possibility to access thatcontent.
Bogdan Maran (32:12):
Absolutely.
You don't have to do the livestream, but at least record it
and share it afterwards, even ifyou want to do a data gathering
exercise and grab their emailsif they want to see a specific
show.
Which kind of leads us into thefeedback and adaptation as well,
because I'm going to saysomething annoying to lots of
people forms don't work.
(32:33):
Feedback forms after the eventdon't work anymore, because we
need another 10 episodes tounderstand about the behavior of
how we share our thoughts nowonline and how the whole world
works.
They don't work that accurate.
But the data that you capturefrom the engagement at your
event works and that is betterfeedback that anybody can give
(32:53):
you, unless you want to sit downeverybody and interview them
face to face and talk to them,which is very accurate and very
nice feedback their actions atthe event, after the event, the
way they engage with the ondemand content, for example, and
who engages if they're ondemand content and who scanned
who and where they went and howthey did it.
It's absolutely crucial and itshould give you more feedback
(33:18):
and more accurate feedback thananything else if you do it
correctly, alright awesome.
Merijn van Buuren (33:25):
Well, I think let's keep it to the point that
.
Make sure that people canactually prepare also a typo, if
, don't worry about it, we know# MakeE ventsA ccessibleF orA ll
.
That definitely resonates withus, and good to see you here as
well, Vanessa.
Very, very grateful foreveryone joining today.
(33:48):
Let's keep it short, straightto the point, because actually
next week we're gonna be hereagain.
So for those of you who can'tget enough of this conversation,
make sure to join in next weekas well.
We actually have our firstguest, which is very exciting.
Maybe you would like to give avery short introduction of
(34:09):
what's coming.
Bogdan Maran (34:10):
We're really keen to have our first guest and
we're really keen on the firstguest as well because it's,
apart from being a friend, he'sabsolutely fantastic individual
when it comes to eventtechnology and events in general
.
Do we say names or just keep itfor tomorrow, when we launch
the event on something like that?
(34:30):
He won't listen to us becausehe's on site with crowd
connected and a few other justacross the street from Excel, I
told too.
So he's fun and he's his lovelyname by, known by Ade, and
we'll see him and we'll talkabout integrations and it should
be very fun and I will need toget ready, because I always
(34:53):
flustered when I talk to him andI'm always happy and I'm
giggling because I love him tobits and I yes, we do have a
data visualization thing thatI've prepared, actually for last
week when I had to jump offrelatively quickly because I was
on site and we talked aboutdata and feedback and I don't
know if we have time for that,but we should have two minutes
(35:15):
just to go very quickly for that, if that's okay.
Merijn van Buuren (35:17):
Show it real quick, because I think, now that
you mentioned it, it is quiteimportant to also showcase, in
this case, technology in a way,mainly focus on data how you can
add another layer to the dataanalytics you just mentioned in
terms of really understandingwhat's happening in your event.
Getting the data is wanting,but visualizing it and making it
(35:40):
actionable is another, and thisis a great example in this case
about LinkedIn.
Bogdan Maran (35:45):
But feel free to yes, so we'll keep it relatively
short, so I've managed tosomehow man get my hands on a
lot of the editing I've done.
I've looked a little bit ofLinkedIn on data and
specifically around to hashtagsin terms of event profs, event
text, event tech, so only allthose posts and articles and
everything else, and we havefive pages here which I'll go
(36:08):
through very quickly.
But the interesting bit is thatthis are the engagement bits.
So which one?
And we're doing a driftLinkedIn, because you're all
professionals and we're live onLinkedIn now.
So you've got comments here,likes and shares and you'll see
it.
Actually that it's very nicethat actually you have a few
comments on the on the articlebit, which I really like.
(36:28):
You've got quite a lot of likes.
Of course, my dog decided tostart barking now because why
not?
And?
But when it comes to shares,articles are at top by far.
Again, this is looking just atthe two hashtags.
I'm not looking at any othercontent and when you start
spreading around it's going toprobably look differently.
But when you talk about eventtech and event profs,
(36:49):
specifically on this hashtag,this is the case, what you talk
about.
That see if I, my internetholds on, because it's kind of a
more of a live thing.
So you'll should see a whitepage and now it just populated
with words.
So this is the word cloud whenit comes to post content on the
left hand side and post titleson the right hand side and, as I
said, we'll try to share thisso you have access to them
afterwards and you can look intoit.
(37:10):
But it's very nice to see wordslike experience coming up in a
lot and around experience, when.
What data allows you.
But these things allow you todo is when you click on one of
them power bi to show you what'shappening around experience,
what to do around experience,and all these kind of things,
which is quite nice.
Of course, you've got engagementby weekdays, which Wednesday
(37:33):
seems to be the biggest one interms of engagement, not posting
just to online.
So people are really engagingon Wednesday closer to Thursday
and Tuesday.
Of course, midweek, becauseFriday people are off it should
be, and but it's always nice tolook at.
Sorry, let me go back.
It's always nice to look atthese things from two
perspectives.
So this is an engagement basedon cumulative likes, shares and
(37:56):
everything else.
So, for example, the Wednesday,you have a lot of comments and
you have a lot of shares.
But it's always nice to look atit from two perspectives.
And this is the same thingengagement in terms of days, and
you'll see Tuesday is here witha sorry, you have comments on
the bottom and likes here on thetop.
And you see Tuesday is kind ofa nice comments, likes and
(38:21):
shares.
So the share account is thebubble.
I forgot how I did this.
It's got a lot on Tuesday bywhen, but Wednesday goes very
nice because it doesn't have.
It's not big but it gets a lotof comments and a lot of likes
as well.
So, like, for example, sunday,where people do are actually
kind of engaged on Sunday, butthey are on the other top of the
(38:42):
graph.
And the last one was engagementby content type, which again
very nice to see that actuallyarticles are the most engaged
bits of.
As we said in the first one,this is more of a cumulative
thing around it.
So if there are many ways to dodata and if I'm trying to do as
much as possible, a datavisualization once a week so we
(39:04):
can talk about this because it'skind of my passions at this
point, but I'll shut them.
Shut them now and I'll try toshare this with you guys after
the after the absolutely, we'llput it in the show notes.
Merijn van Buuren (39:17):
For those of you who already want access,
just comment in the sectionbelow.
Then, I think, bogdan can justshare you the link right away.
Otherwise, when the recordingswill be live, then you can also
access it there.
Yeah, then we've talked aboutthe episode next week.
(39:37):
We've done a great show and, yes, a visualization for those of
you who would like to have helpin terms of understanding which
technologies you should use andgo through that kind of
step-by-step plan, the the oneto seven steps that we briefly
touched upon in this session.
We would love to help you outand we decided that, at least
(40:00):
for temporarily, we offer a freeconsult to those that would
like to get additional help withtheir event technology, which
means that you get 45 minutes ofour time where we make a
personalized consulting sessionfor you.
It's not going to be like oh,these are the standard steps,
good luck.
We actually look at your usecase, we see where your problems
(40:21):
are, we see where you are as anevent professional, what your
goals are we were idealaudiences what you would like to
achieve and help you go throughthose steps in those 45 minutes
.
It's free, it is going to helpyou.
I can guarantee you that much.
So take a chance.
Bogdan Maran (40:38):
Just, it's definitely definitely added
value, judging by how far, anddefinitely not limited to 45
minutes, because, as we do ourepisodes, it's never kind of
finished on time.
Merijn van Buuren (40:49):
So it's a lot of value added there if we, if
we need to go a bit later thanthem, no problem, but we'll make
sure that you get out of ithaving actionable ideas and a
step-by-step plan how you canactually implement technology,
where you should look whichtechnology is the right one for
you.
So make sure to to hit us up.
(41:11):
We're more than happy to helpyou out, and with that I would
say that let's wrap it up.
Well, yes, please, thank youone more to put in the pocket.
Thank you, Evan.
He loves your data, just likeme, actually.
It was a very nicevisualization book then, so
thank you for sharing that.
And yeah, that's.
I'm already looking forward tothe next one.
(41:33):
Again, first guest, so makesure to jump in.
It's gonna be all aboutautomation and integration and,
with that, looking forward tonext week thank you and see you
next week happy days.
Welc ome everyone.
We're doing well.
I hope everyone who's joiningin is also doing well.
You're listening toCtrl+Alt+Event, th e show where
we navigate the future of eventswith practical insights and
real solutions.
Not just talking tech, butshowcasing practical examples
and delivering real solutionsfor the event industry.
Today, we'll be diving into thecritical role of high- quality,
(00:30):
innovative technology inenhancing industry events,
whilst also discussing theselection, implementation and
impact of advanced techsolutions on event experiences.
I'm thrilled to be joined bysomeone who transitioned from
photo journalism to masterfuldata storyteller, a creator of
bespoke platforms, captivatingdata visualizations and seamless
(00:53):
integrations, also known as thedriving force behind visual
hive and AI- driven marketingengine tailored for marketers
and event professionals.
And if you're seeking expertisein video and data strategy,
personalized solutions oranything related to AI, look no
further, because he's the manBogdan Maran.
Bogdan Maran (01:13):
Thank you very much for the kind intro and yes,
of course, I'm joined by mylovely cohost, who has worked
with hundreds of eventsprofessionals and hundreds of I
think, hundreds of eventplatforms working around
integration, his integrations.
He's the founder of EventMender.
If you're looking for any kindof platforms online, that's
(01:37):
where you need to go and he isif and, also, if you're looking
for somebody to help you withany integrations across your
tech stack or how to build yourstats tech stack, if you want to
start there and make it betterbecause we've talked about that
last week Merijn is here andhe's your man.
Merijn van Buuren (01:52):
Absolutely, and I'm excited for today
because, as many of you know,tomorrow is this nice industry
event called Confex.
Actually, Bogdan is going to bethere.
So from all of you who arejoining, let the Bogdan know in
the comments.
I am fortunate they have toskip this one, but make sure to
meet up with Bogdan in person.
I'm sure he would love that aswell.
(02:12):
Yeah, curious to see who isgoing.
But because of that we thoughtwhy not dive a bit deeper into
industry events and whattechnology can do for that?
Bogdan Maran (02:23):
Absolutely, and because it's Confex in this,
please reach out either on theConfex app, because they do have
an app, so they do havetechnology, so we can set up a
meeting there, or just look forme around there or around the on
the show floor or at Fox afterthe event, technically speaking,
because that's the go togathering of everybody, that is,
anybody.
And today, as you said, you'regoing to look at why it's
(02:46):
important as a show organizer,why the events are important for
us, why do we go there and weshould be setting up kind of the
platform and where we are goingsend and what is the standard
for event technology.
And that's that's what we'regoing to discuss today.
What do?
What is the standard for eventtechnology for you, Merijn, and
you've been to a few eventsbefore, bar Confex.
Merijn van Buuren (03:10):
Very good question.
Just quickly to answer toRobert's question, this will be
recorded, robert, and we'll behappy to share you the link.
It's both on Spotify, applepodcast, youtube, so wherever,
however, you would like toconsume our content, we are
there for you and also for theothers who might be wondering.
But if you are sticking aroundfor today, you have the
(03:32):
possibility to obviously asksome questions.
We highly recommend you to putthem in the chat.
But yeah, the question youanswer.
You asked, Bogdan, in terms ofhigh quality tech, what is the
definition of high quality tech?
I like to break it down intodifferent segments.
I think a very important partof high quality technology is
(03:54):
this user friendliness, and youcan think of having an intuitive
interface.
Accessibility, maybe the factthat it's multilingual, so it
includes everyone, but also thereliability.
I think that's especially whenyou talk about high quality.
It needs to be something youcan rely on as an event
professional.
The fact that it's scalable.
You have support, you havetechnical support, so even if
(04:17):
something seems to be goingwrong, there's someone in the
background being able to helpyou to pull it off, because when
you're talking about highquality technology, you want to
make sure that it allows theaudience, but it works.
I think that's the mostimportant thing right there.
How is that for you, Bogdan?
Bogdan Maran (04:34):
I don't know exactly what to add to that,
because reliability, friendly UXis key For me also something
that you don't see, and becauseI'm a geek, I'm looking for it.
But something that you usuallydon't see is how well is
integrated within the other,within the tech stack, and
because that's reflected in howgood of an experience I have
(04:55):
with that tech.
So take, for example,registration and networking,
because those are the first twothat you encounter, technically
speaking.
At any event, from thatperspective, If they're not
integrated well, that means thatthe recommendations that I get
for networking are not there,and I do have to say that I'm
based in London and London isnot famous for its best internet
(05:16):
in the world and it might go upand down for me, so hopefully
it will hold on for half an hourat least.
But talking about technology,the other thing is you always
need a good internet connection,because people do talk, people
do work and people do do all ofthose things.
It's vital to have that,considering my home internet is
not that good.
But, as you said, high qualitymeans a good experience.
(05:39):
That's how it's translated,regardless how you look, how you
look, how big the backend is,how big the front end is how
friendly the UX is.
Merijn van Buuren (05:47):
If it's not reliable and it doesn't create
me, doesn't give me a goodexperience and doesn't add value
to what I do, then thestandards are low, very low, and
in line with that, I think myidea behind what we're talking
about today is, I think industryevents have the possibility to
really be, you know, thepinnacle of what is possible
(06:07):
within any industry, whetherit's the event industry.
When you talk about eventindustry events, but also if you
organize industry events forother verticals, the industry
events are, in my opinion, theplace where you can show
everything that's possiblewithin your industry for your
industry, to really make surethat that also trickles down to
the other industries.
(06:27):
For us, I think the eventindustry, in that regards, is
the first step, because we havethe possibility, through an
industry event, to showcase toother event professionals how
they could organize theirindustry events.
And there an important part isalso the innovation aspect that
you try something new, that youexperiment in a way where it's
(06:48):
still reliable, it still offersquality, but you do something in
a new way.
And I think that also for me,coming back to the definition,
is an important part of thathigh quality technology, that it
has an innovation factor to it.
Bogdan Maran (07:04):
Absolutely and to segue into our kind of next
topic in terms of how do weselect the right technology.
It's in.
I'm just want you to understandthat is not about the
technology, that is not justabout the technology that you
find on the show floor, so fromthe exhibitors, which are
absolutely fine, it's about thetechnology that you use and how
you use it, because when youlook at the experience you're at
(07:27):
and these have, it's not justthe experience, it's about the
education is all.
Because most of us go to therefor education and, yes, you have
the keynote, absolutely fine.
Yes, you have the meetings, yes, you have the workshops around
tables and everything that youare there.
But enhancing that andshowcasing the best possible use
cases is fantastic.
(07:48):
Because when you go and I'mgoing to the selecting the right
technology now when you go inselecting the right technology,
apart from and I'm sure you Ilet you go through the user
experience and journey and howyou map that out, I'm just going
to touch upon the idea ofpartnerships, because at an
industry event like Confex,Event Tech Live or IMEX, or
anything like that from ourperspective, I mean Left out
(08:10):
IBTM by accident and I do loveBarcelona, but when you go there
, you have the chance toprototype, which is something
that I haven't really seen inthe in any of the shows, maybe
the exceptions with of EventTech Live, which Adam really
does a good job aboutprototyping and taking that
(08:31):
selection towards a partnership,having that conversation and
having that relationship withyour suppliers to the point of
how can we best showcase yourproduct, how can we make this
unforgettable and educativeexperience.
But that and that is somethingthat you need to talk to them.
You need to have a goodcommunications case and you have
(08:53):
to understand something that iswhat do your attendees want?
A nd what do you?
What do you usually want fromfrom here in terms of how do you
select an event technology Forif you would host an industry
event?
Merijn van Buuren (09:07):
Well, I actually, just before this got
started, posted about kind ofthe framework I like to to look
at in terms of a step by stepprocess, how you can determine
which technology you should use.
And the first step, as youmentioned, is who are you
organizing this?
For Innovation is very relative.
(09:28):
It can be.
You have a very mature audiencethat may be wowed by a very
relatively simplistic approach,compared to a very young
audience that has seeneverything already on tick tock
a billion times.
So you need to step out of yourcomfort zone a bit more in
order to wow them and reallybring that innovation.
So the first step for me isalways to start with, who is it
(09:55):
for and what do you want toachieve?
Look at your event goals, butalso specifically look at your
attendees, your audience.
Where are they at?
Because, as we often say, justadding technology for the sake
of adding technology is notgoing to work.
It needs to be on purpose andit needs to align with both your
attendees, with their wants,their needs, their situation,
and also with your event goals,because you want to achieve
(10:16):
something, especially in anindustry event.
Me as an attendee.
When I come to an industry event, I expect the top of the top of
the top, the best of the best.
Obviously, I'm also a huge techfan, so that does make me a bit
more biased, but still, I thinkeven someone who's not focused
on technology or has nothing todo with technology still wants
(10:38):
to see what's new.
How is the industry innovating?
And that is where, especiallyfor industry events, if you
start there and you look at whatkind of things would they like
to see, then you can go to thenext step, which is OK.
What level of that userfriendliness that we just spoke
about Does it have to have?
(10:59):
And that ties back to theaudience what capabilities do
they have?
How comfortable are they aroundspecific innovations and
technologies that you're usingin your event and making sure
that it's easy to understand?
I think it was one of our firstepisodes where someone
(11:21):
mentioned like a big issue isthe fact that we have 50 plus
people who don't really knowwhat's going on, who don't
really know how to use thetechnology to its fullest
potential.
Bogdan Maran (11:30):
So then, you have to make sure that you understand
it.
Yes, yes, we are targeting theold people.
Technically speaking, I'm old,so I'm getting close to it.
Merijn van Buuren (11:39):
Ok, I can do that, but age is also relative,
just like innovation.
So it means you really have toget a better understanding of
your audience to see how you canactually adapt the technology
that you're using In a way thatit's easy, accessible for them
and they can actually use it andthey feel comfortable using it.
And, if it is a bit out oftheir comfort zone, that you
(11:59):
take their hand and help themuse that technology.
Because that's kind of the nextstep is the innovation
potential.
How far can you make it?
Next level something out ofabsolutely something, anything
we've ever seen, absolutely.
Bogdan Maran (12:16):
And the innovation I think it has.
It has two, two different ways,you two sides to it Technically
speaking, because, as you said,you need to look at your
stakeholders and you need tolook at your internal
stakeholders, because it's abusiness plan.
By the end of the day, thisshows need to exist.
They need to be financiallyviable, need to be everything
from from a business perspectiveneeds to be correct and, of
(12:38):
course, you're going to selectpartners based on that, based
based on your business plan,based on your resources, based
on what you have.
But that doesn't stop you to onshowcasing innovation.
That shouldn't stop you onsaying, ok, we've got this
nailed, I know it's going towork.
We've ticked our boxes from thebusiness case to what the users
(12:59):
want to, who are the users,agent, so on and so on.
But now let's, let's pick upthis, let's let's take, take it
to the next step.
And you have to understand thata technology in events, it's
not a simple, it's the samething, like everybody says.
What do you do?
I work in events.
What do you do?
I work in technology.
So, what do you do?
You do weddings?
(13:19):
Do you do AI?
What exactly are you there?
Are you there for?
And, of course, on the showfloor.
You've always seen that thesexiest and most engaging things
are the like, the robot armswho take pictures and all this
kind of stuff, which are Takeyour eye away and it's OK, but
that's one type of technologyand you showcase, showcase that.
So having something like thetechnology corner doesn't mean
(13:43):
that you've covered technologyin your show and innovation,
because it can be anything.
So I would I would personallylook at Understanding where the
pain points are, what peoplewant to learn and, yes, bring
those people, sell the standsand everything else.
But going back to one of thesubjects you wanted to cover in
terms of how do you showcaseinnovation Is, for me, it's not
just showcasing, is curating.
(14:04):
So where are we now?
How we're in time, are you know?
What are the pain points?
What are the technologies thatreally influence the industry?
How do we take advantage ofthose?
How do we educate people onthose?
Everything from and also one ofthe subjects that have been
discussed on LinkedIn, forexample, quite a lot has been
facial recognition, facialdetection, those two
(14:25):
technologies that can help onanything from the Entrance and
scanning people all the way tounderstanding the sentiment, and
you've got a few companiesfighting there on what one?
At least a few companiesfighting there on that realm.
And you have Zinnus and Iforgot the other name I remember
by the end of the show becauseI really like them who map out
(14:46):
Anything from sentiment to whatpeople do on your stand.
But that's one thing.
The other thing is the robotarms, for example, in the
engagement thing.
Then you have a talking up now.
So curating that experiencerather than showcasing it, and
making it a engaging demo,strong arm of your part of your
(15:07):
show, I think would beabsolutely crucial at this point
, because one of my pain pointsand I'll shut up on that,
technically speaking is thatyou've got like you've got ETL
Event Tech Live, for example.
It's very much okay, this istechnology, and they curate the
show so that you can have anexperience across all the
various verticals within there.
(15:29):
But you have startups, you haveregistration, you have various
corners, so it's a curatedexperience from that perspective
, something that you don't seeat Confex, where you have two
big shows, because it's not justConfex.
You've got the production showas well next door, which again
should have technology in it,but you have the concept of the
(15:51):
show.
At least last year wasrelatively disappointing because
you had I know you had Shocklogic next to the magician guy,
which is fantastic, because tosee John in a bubble of soap, it
was very funny and I wouldreally recommend that if there
is a clip anywhere of him doingthat.
But from an attendanceperspective, I need to know
(16:13):
where I'm going, so save me time.
I need to go and don't missanything.
I need to go where I am becauseI'm not interested, for example
, with my hat from the Allenbyadvisory where we work on
integrations or what we dotogether on helping people build
tech stacks.
I'm not interested in themagician.
He's fantastic.
When I used to be aphotographer I would go and take
(16:33):
some pictures of him becauseit's way nicer than a couple of
screens on a stand, but I wouldlike to have a curated
experience Absolutely and, inthat regards, so many things I
want to say about that, butlet's boil it down to kind of
the basics.
Merijn van Buuren (16:50):
I think it should be an integral part of
your event experience and notjust like, hey, this is a small
site on where you can experienceit, but actually make people
experiences as part of the event, where, in this case, where you
said like, yeah, I would liketo know exactly where I have to
go, their event technology can.
Actually there's quite somesolutions that can help you,
(17:11):
from AR route through the eventwhere you can actually see, like
, oh, walk two steps further andyou get to your preferred
destination, which then can bematched to a personalized AI
suggestion in terms of where youactually should go.
There are so many ways how you,as an event organizer, can use
(17:32):
the technology in a way thatenhances the event experience,
makes you your event look better, but also for people to
experience what's possible andwhat they could integrate in
their events, which then can adda lot of value to the companies
, the technologies you are using, which means you could, as you
said in the beginning, startwith a partnership sponsorship,
(17:53):
say like, hey, the fact that youcan now easily walk through
this boot and find exactly whatyou need, is brought to you by
company XYZ, and that's whereyou start to create synergies in
a way that it enhances not justyour return on investment, your
attendee satisfaction, but alsothe relationship you have with
different providers oftechnology, which then will help
you in the future when you wantto keep expanding and keep
(18:16):
coming up with new technologiesand innovations.
Bogdan Maran (18:20):
You're absolutely spot on and I always kind of
start on the because we want tomove towards how do we implement
and how, if we have someexamples towards the success
stories.
And I would always think aboutit the other way around, maybe
because I'm not a trade showorganizer and maybe I'm wrong,
so hopefully somebody can teachus better if we are wrong.
(18:42):
But I would look at I'm alwaysable to look at a trade show and
say let's make this fantasticand fantastic experience first,
and then you bolt on thebusiness plan on it because
you'll always find and you'llfind more revenue streams if you
look at it from thatperspective.
And of course our instinct isto go to technology doesn't have
(19:02):
to be technology all the time.
It can be something else.
It can be like a quite cornercorner, it can be the pods,
because you have problems likeand that's kind of technology as
well, because internet istechnology.
So without internet we don'treally have good technology.
So do I have a good internetconnection at the show?
Do I have those lovely pods andpeople can take meetings?
Because it's a two day event, Imight have a couple of calls I
need to take.
I don't want to go outside.
(19:22):
The Excel is quite big in thiscase and usually quite loud as
well.
So it's I always look at itlike from that perspective and I
think it opens new avenues.
It always opens new avenues,the way I found it.
Merijn van Buuren (19:36):
Absolutely Well, you said it correctly.
Let's move to the actual partof examples of things we've seen
in industry events.
I know you mentioned Event TechLive already a little bit, but
you have a very good examplethere as well, so maybe you
would like to share it.
Bogdan Maran (19:54):
Yes.
Merijn van Buuren (19:54):
Before we dive in, quick question to the
audience.
If you have had a very goodexperience of technology, please
let us know in the comments.
Maybe we can dissect it.
Maybe you can share yourexperience.
It's good for other people toknow that as well.
We'd love to share ourexperience, but we're not alone
and would love to hear yourinput there as well.
With that said please, please,jump in.
Bogdan Maran (20:18):
Yes, no, as you know, or a bad experience.
It doesn't have to be a goodexperience.
We need to learn.
There are always mistakes andwe need to learn.
And I keep saying about EventTech Live because it's one of my
favorite shows, simply becauseI'm a geek, because I love the
organizers, I love the teamthere, I love the crowd and it's
my thing, so it's normal,because we work in Even Tech, so
it's our show.
One of the things that I reallyliked at ETL across the last
(20:44):
nine years because I've missedthe first year, I think that was
the only year I missed, I wasjust a quick visitor for about
half an hour was the fact thatAdam and the team have always
looked at integrations andbringing new things that you can
take with you From Even TechLive and when they had the
awards as well, separately fromanother venue, where you had the
(21:06):
simplest engagement things withtaking the pictures and making
it with the arm and robot armand making it a very nice
momentum of what's happened.
But one of my favorite examplesis something that we worked on
because, of course, I like thework I do technically speaking
(21:26):
when I used to run a photographytech photography company and we
had the photographers whoretargeted the whole spectrum of
stakeholders, from the speakersto the organizer with pictures,
and we've managed to wrap upquite some good numbers because
they did some good datavisualizations on that as well.
So that was something that Ireally liked at Even Tech Live
(21:47):
in terms of their openness tointegration to a certain degree,
so they don't want to put toomuch pressure on their vendors,
but it's that openness to dothat, and I've seen that across
shows, so it's not just me.
Last year they had a photographycompany that would take
pictures and you can scan yourface and you can find your
pictures, your photosspecifically for speakers and I
(22:08):
think there were some of thecrowds as well, so you can find
your photo as well there.
And the other one that I wasreally thinking of, sorry, was
when GES had the wholeregistration bit and lead
(22:29):
capture.
They were sponsors for it, sothey provided the registration
and they've started working withthe on-site printing and they
were working with all theexhibitors to enhance their and
educate and enhance theirexperience in terms of adding
content to their stands andeverything, something that their
technology did.
But it was a very much apartnership where there was a
(22:50):
lot of education in place.
There was a lot of added valuefrom all sides, which I really,
really enjoyed.
Merijn van Buuren (22:57):
I love that example and Bob Toovey mentioned
he's glad to see that Confexapp slash website now allows you
to sync with calendars.
Yes, well, I'm not in the appat the moment, but I know it was
quite a hassle every now andthen last year.
Bogdan, have you alreadyexperienced the Confex app?
Bogdan Maran (23:19):
I did play around with it.
I'm very happy to discover Ihad a little bit of a rant ready
that I couldn't actuallynetwork with people,
specifically if you want to payfor the ticket, but either I
missed it or it appeared in themeantime, and if I'm not sure if
Grip is supporting this yearswith networking, it seems to be
working quite fine and quitenice.
Again, let's do the good andbad things.
(23:42):
So I really like the app.
You can find the people and youcan network with them.
I would really love to see, forexample, who the people
attending are, because I cansend requests as many times as I
want but, as you can imagine, alot of people are not going to
show up right.
I don't know which day they'regoing to show up on the day,
apart from the calendars andthat can be done through the
sync with calendars that Bobsaid, which I really enjoyed and
(24:03):
the other thing that I thinkneeds to be improved is,
especially at our industry'sevents, is the way we look at
what people are interested in,what they're doing, because you
have a whole list of what youwant to do there, in this case,
specifically focused on venues,which is absolutely fine because
it is a show that is centric tovenues to a certain degree, way
(24:29):
more than technology from thataspect, and you do have
technology there, but it needsto be better filtered because
there are lots of questions andpeople just tick 20 boxes just
to go for registration and youwant to understand that.
So I'm very curious if theylook at the data in terms of
behavior and understandingafterwards.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to itto see again from a geeky
perspective to see how good thatis.
Merijn van Buuren (24:49):
Absolutely, and for those of you who have
just tuned in actually Bogdan isgoing to Confex, so make sure
to meet him there in person.
Still haven't seen anyexperiences from the attendee or
from our visitor viewer pointof view in the comments, so if
you have had a good or badexperience, please let us know.
(25:11):
We would love to dive in andmaybe dissect that as well.
But yeah, I think those werealready some very good examples.
I see time is also running out,so for those of you who have,
as usual, indeed too much totalk about, but happy to make a
follow-up on this one, and forthose of you who have a question
(25:31):
now, you have still threeminutes of our time where we
love to answer any questions,whether that's.
Where can I find you, bogdan?
I would love to meet.
Bogdan Maran (25:40):
Or you can find me on the app Technology.
Yeah, you can definitely findme on the app and if we can
network, ping me on LinkedIn oragain at the Fox afterwards
would be any other the excellent.
Merijn van Buuren (25:53):
The best place for networking is still
the Fox.
Bogdan Maran (25:56):
I think we've met it because, if I'm not mistaken,
the first time when is the IBTM?
I think Fox was the first timewe've met.
Merijn van Buuren (26:04):
Ooh, now you're taking me back a while
ago.
Yes, Anyway, I think it wasEvent Tech Live, probably at the
Fox.
The Fox, 99 procent sure.
Anyway, yes, let's slowly work.
Oh, look awesome.
(26:24):
Well, thank you, Jan.
Great to see you here as well,are you?
Bogdan Maran (26:29):
going to Confex yourself.
Merijn van Buuren (26:32):
Or will it not be the case?
I also see a Bob has a question.
What can an app do to helpvisitors get fine exhibitors?
Very good question.
Would you like me to take thisone, or?
Bogdan Maran (26:45):
you want to Go for it, go for it.
I think I won't stop.
Merijn van Buuren (26:49):
All good.
No, I'll keep it short to thepoint.
An app obviously can have justa simple overview of exhibitors,
but especially with that quoteunquote AI matchmaking more or
less just figuring out whatyou're interested in, who's
offering that and making sureyou meet that people.
A lot of apps also give yousuggestions of which exhibitors
(27:12):
to find and, if they have mostof them, do a nice floor map to
go with that and give you aroute.
Make sure that you can actuallymake it.
Let's say in your agenda you'vebooked a session that you
really want to attend, that youhave enough time to go from one
side of the floor to the otherto actually visit the exhibitor
at a suggested time that matchesyour agenda the right way.
(27:35):
That really enhances yourexperience as an attendee,
because you don't feel like, ohsh*t, I'm gonna miss my
appointment.
You can still do everything youwant to do, but you also know
that this exhibitor is the rightmatch for what you're
specifically looking for.
Obviously, you'll have to fillin some additional data fields
for that, but it goes when doneright.
(27:57):
It goes a lot further than justshowing exhibitors in a list,
because I've had experienceswhere there were about.
I think it was the web summitabout 5,000 exhibitors or so In
terms of startups.
Every day you had thousand newstartups and you just had a huge
(28:19):
list.
You had to keep scrolling andscrolling and by the end of the
day you still hadn't seen allthe exhibitors.
It was not very user-friendly.
So you have those as well,where it actually makes it more
complicated and you just have tokind of hope to run into the
right exhibitor at the righttime.
But you do have apps thatactually help in a way where it
benefits you as well.
(28:39):
Anything to add there?
Bogdan Maran (28:41):
Two very quick things I've seen so recently.
I was really talking to afriend, nadio, and he pointed
out the again I'm bad with namesa free six experience with a
very nice free interactive mapthat you can interact with
before the event so you knowwhere you're going.
One of the things I reallywanted to add before you said
the list story was I would loveto see and I've never seen it
(29:04):
before in terms of you can havea lovely map of the venue.
You have the lovely things thatyou can see where you are.
In some cases where you don'thave lists, I would love to see
a filter, Literally.
I want to see technology justcolor the technology once in red
, in anything.
Let me know where we are so Ican go there, color the venue
once, color the hotel once, orthe DMCs or the magicians or
(29:25):
anything.
From that perspective, thatmakes my life easier.
Have I missed anything?
Because I might have gone thatway and I might not have time to
walk the whole show floor,especially in big cases like Web
Summit.
From that, I think it has itsengagement just to kind of move
towards the end because we arehitting the half an hour mark.
(29:45):
It does enhance, I think itwould enhance engagement because
it just helps me manage my timeand where I am way quicker,
especially if you have.
Web Summit is a good example.
You've got Mobile WorldCongress, which is another good
example because it's huge and ithas satellite events around you
(30:06):
.
You need to have some kind ofinteractivity and some kind of
filtering on it so you can gothere.
On the idea of engagementthrough innovation and how you
enhance that engagement withtech, and because I'm looking
also at the time and I keepgoing on and on without getting
to the point, it's, for me, oneof the big pain points is the
(30:31):
education side and, of course,the video content side and the
accessibility side.
Accessibility I don't mean ifyou have wheelchair
accessibility or anything likethat we should have in there, or
if you have subtitles forpeople who cannot hear, or if
you have interpreters oranything like that that are
there.
Accessibility andsustainability also means giving
(30:55):
people access that cannotattend the event.
We are working in an industrythat is severely understaffed,
severely stressed by definition,and we want to bring in new
talent.
All of these events have,theoretically, a lot of the key
people that know what they'retalking about on stage.
(31:15):
Talking about it.
If you are not lucky enough tolive across the street from
Excel or can afford to come toExcel and you live somewhere
that is unfeasible for you tocome, or you're a student and
you can't really access itsimply because you don't have
the time or you're near or youdon't have the money for the
train to come down fromManchester, you should have
access to this afterwards.
Technology allows you to dothat.
(31:36):
Technology can allow youspecifically around video and
specifically around educationand specifically around courses,
and sharing that and caringabout other people should be
crucial to how you plan yourevent.
Merijn van Buuren (31:53):
Preaching to the choir here.
That is my, my pet peeve, so tospeak.
Yes, there should always be apossibility for people to access
.
At least the content doesn'thave to be all simultaneously.
You can do it asynchronously aslong as they have the
possibility to access thatcontent.
Bogdan Maran (32:12):
Absolutely.
You don't have to do the livestream, but at least record it
and share it afterwards, even ifyou want to do a data gathering
exercise and grab their emailsif they want to see a specific
show.
Which kind of leads us into thefeedback and adaptation as well,
because I'm going to saysomething annoying to lots of
people forms don't work.
(32:33):
Feedback forms after the eventdon't work anymore, because we
need another 10 episodes tounderstand about the behavior of
how we share our thoughts nowonline and how the whole world
works.
They don't work that accurate.
But the data that you capturefrom the engagement at your
event works and that is betterfeedback that anybody can give
(32:53):
you, unless you want to sit downeverybody and interview them
face to face and talk to them,which is very accurate and very
nice feedback their actions atthe event, after the event, the
way they engage with the ondemand content, for example, and
who engages if they're ondemand content and who scanned
who and where they went and howthey did it.
It's absolutely crucial and itshould give you more feedback
(33:18):
and more accurate feedback thananything else if you do it
correctly, alright awesome.
Merijn van Buuren (33:25):
Well, I think let's keep it to the point that
.
Make sure that people canactually prepare also a typo, if
, don't worry about it, we know# MakeE ventsA ccessibleF orA ll
.
That definitely resonates withus, and good to see you here as
well, Vanessa.
Very, very grateful foreveryone joining today.
(33:48):
Let's keep it short, straightto the point, because actually
next week we're gonna be hereagain.
So for those of you who can'tget enough of this conversation,
make sure to join in next weekas well.
We actually have our firstguest, which is very exciting.
Maybe you would like to give avery short introduction of
(34:09):
what's coming.
Bogdan Maran (34:10):
We're really keen to have our first guest and
we're really keen on the firstguest as well because it's,
apart from being a friend, he'sabsolutely fantastic individual
when it comes to eventtechnology and events in general
.
Do we say names or just keep itfor tomorrow, when we launch
the event on something like that?
(34:30):
He won't listen to us becausehe's on site with crowd
connected and a few other justacross the street from Excel, I
told too.
So he's fun and he's his lovelyname by, known by Ade, and
we'll see him and we'll talkabout integrations and it should
be very fun and I will need toget ready, because I always
(34:53):
flustered when I talk to him andI'm always happy and I'm
giggling because I love him tobits and I yes, we do have a
data visualization thing thatI've prepared, actually for last
week when I had to jump offrelatively quickly because I was
on site and we talked aboutdata and feedback and I don't
know if we have time for that,but we should have two minutes
(35:15):
just to go very quickly for that, if that's okay.
Merijn van Buuren (35:17):
Show it real quick, because I think, now that
you mentioned it, it is quiteimportant to also showcase, in
this case, technology in a way,mainly focus on data how you can
add another layer to the dataanalytics you just mentioned in
terms of really understandingwhat's happening in your event.
Getting the data is wanting,but visualizing it and making it
(35:40):
actionable is another, and thisis a great example in this case
about LinkedIn.
Bogdan Maran (35:45):
But feel free to yes, so we'll keep it relatively
short, so I've managed tosomehow man get my hands on a
lot of the editing I've done.
I've looked a little bit ofLinkedIn on data and
specifically around to hashtagsin terms of event profs, event
text, event tech, so only allthose posts and articles and
everything else, and we havefive pages here which I'll go
(36:08):
through very quickly.
But the interesting bit is thatthis are the engagement bits.
So which one?
And we're doing a driftLinkedIn, because you're all
professionals and we're live onLinkedIn now.
So you've got comments here,likes and shares and you'll see
it.
Actually that it's very nicethat actually you have a few
comments on the on the articlebit, which I really like.
(36:28):
You've got quite a lot of likes.
Of course, my dog decided tostart barking now because why
not?
And?
But when it comes to shares,articles are at top by far.
Again, this is looking just atthe two hashtags.
I'm not looking at any othercontent and when you start
spreading around it's going toprobably look differently.
But when you talk about eventtech and event profs,
(36:49):
specifically on this hashtag,this is the case, what you talk
about.
That see if I, my internetholds on, because it's kind of a
more of a live thing.
So you'll should see a whitepage and now it just populated
with words.
So this is the word cloud whenit comes to post content on the
left hand side and post titleson the right hand side and, as I
said, we'll try to share thisso you have access to them
afterwards and you can look intoit.
(37:10):
But it's very nice to see wordslike experience coming up in a
lot and around experience, when.
What data allows you.
But these things allow you todo is when you click on one of
them power bi to show you what'shappening around experience,
what to do around experience,and all these kind of things,
which is quite nice.
Of course, you've got engagementby weekdays, which Wednesday
(37:33):
seems to be the biggest one interms of engagement, not posting
just to online.
So people are really engagingon Wednesday closer to Thursday
and Tuesday.
Of course, midweek, becauseFriday people are off it should
be, and but it's always nice tolook at.
Sorry, let me go back.
It's always nice to look atthese things from two
perspectives.
So this is an engagement basedon cumulative likes, shares and
(37:56):
everything else.
So, for example, the Wednesday,you have a lot of comments and
you have a lot of shares.
But it's always nice to look atit from two perspectives.
And this is the same thingengagement in terms of days, and
you'll see Tuesday is here witha sorry, you have comments on
the bottom and likes here on thetop.
And you see Tuesday is kind ofa nice comments, likes and
(38:21):
shares.
So the share account is thebubble.
I forgot how I did this.
It's got a lot on Tuesday bywhen, but Wednesday goes very
nice because it doesn't have.
It's not big but it gets a lotof comments and a lot of likes
as well.
So, like, for example, sunday,where people do are actually
kind of engaged on Sunday, butthey are on the other top of the
(38:42):
graph.
And the last one was engagementby content type, which again
very nice to see that actuallyarticles are the most engaged
bits of.
As we said in the first one,this is more of a cumulative
thing around it.
So if there are many ways to dodata and if I'm trying to do as
much as possible, a datavisualization once a week so we
(39:04):
can talk about this because it'skind of my passions at this
point, but I'll shut them.
Shut them now and I'll try toshare this with you guys after
the after the absolutely, we'llput it in the show notes.
Merijn van Buuren (39:17):
For those of you who already want access,
just comment in the sectionbelow.
Then, I think, bogdan can justshare you the link right away.
Otherwise, when the recordingswill be live, then you can also
access it there.
Yeah, then we've talked aboutthe episode next week.
(39:37):
We've done a great show and, yes, a visualization for those of
you who would like to have helpin terms of understanding which
technologies you should use andgo through that kind of
step-by-step plan, the the oneto seven steps that we briefly
touched upon in this session.
We would love to help you outand we decided that, at least
(40:00):
for temporarily, we offer a freeconsult to those that would
like to get additional help withtheir event technology, which
means that you get 45 minutes ofour time where we make a
personalized consulting sessionfor you.
It's not going to be like oh,these are the standard steps,
good luck.
We actually look at your usecase, we see where your problems
(40:21):
are, we see where you are as anevent professional, what your
goals are we were idealaudiences what you would like to
achieve and help you go throughthose steps in those 45 minutes
.
It's free, it is going to helpyou.
I can guarantee you that much.
So take a chance.
Bogdan Maran (40:38):
Just, it's definitely definitely added
value, judging by how far, anddefinitely not limited to 45
minutes, because, as we do ourepisodes, it's never kind of
finished on time.
Merijn van Buuren (40:49):
So it's a lot of value added there if we, if
we need to go a bit later thanthem, no problem, but we'll make
sure that you get out of ithaving actionable ideas and a
step-by-step plan how you canactually implement technology,
where you should look whichtechnology is the right one for
you.
So make sure to to hit us up.
(41:11):
We're more than happy to helpyou out, and with that I would
say that let's wrap it up.
Well, yes, please, thank youone more to put in the pocket.
Thank you, Evan.
He loves your data, just likeme, actually.
It was a very nicevisualization book then, so
thank you for sharing that.
And yeah, that's.
I'm already looking forward tothe next one.
(41:33):
Again, first guest, so makesure to jump in.
It's gonna be all aboutautomation and integration and,
with that, looking forward tonext week thank you and see you
next week happy days.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.