The Event Tech Lab pavilion at International Confex was a big success this year. Whilst the weather may be impacted on numbers, the quality of buyers at the show looking to update their technology stacks was impressive. The international start up pavilion saw 14 new technology companies from around Europe showing off their wares. The pavilion offered technology buyers products for event logistics and production, event management and marketing as well as attendee engagement tech.
Probably the cutest bit of technology for attendee engagement was Mio the robot. The Lithuanian based company provides robots for live events to create an interest and interactivity to promote brands. Mio is an autonomous robot that roams around an event and dispenses merchandise, drinks or snacks. Attendees can even challenge Mio to a game of Tic Tac Tow. Another great engagement product on show was another Lithuanian start up Interactio; a mobile system that fully replaces audio streaming hardware for live events. With only a laptop and internet access, any kind of audio can stream to listeners’ phones or tablets via event-branded mobile apps. You can be at an event in the other room or be on the other side of the world and be listening in to a speaker or panel.
But what if your attendees need a translation? Also on show was Swiss start up Interprify. The platform provides a cloud-based service for the remote interpreting of conferences, workshops and similar events. The platform uses standard IT equipment. Interpreters work remotely from laptops translating sound and video from the event back to on their smartphones.
But what about planning events? There were quite few new event marketing and management applications exhibiting at International Confex. These included UK-based Symposia, the self-build event website and event app platform; Eventbuizz a Danish platform that enables self-build branded event app and event registration websites and a Swedish start up Event Logic – an event booking tool where organisers can plan events. The platform allows, the sending and receiving of quotes, handling of logistics bookings and invite your delegates.
Launching at International Confex was Event Folio, a multi-event management platform that plans to bridge the gap between current systems and hyper-personalised attendee marketing. Features include personalising the online attendee experience based on data such as ticket type and historic attendance as well as registration flows that stayed within the event website and zero transaction fees for organisers. Another full event-management platform on show was UK-based Firebird. This conference-focused event management software manages both back-office planning functions as well as marketing an event.
Also featuring at the show were platforms that were aimed at exhibition organisers and those attending exhibitions. UK-based IOT start up Rabbit Global with their innovative ‘Rabbit Reader’ utilises a contactless card system. The platform allows delegates to tap on readers and receive digital content shared by exhibitors, speakers and sponsors; whilst exhibitors can gather leads. Rabbit can operate continuously without Wi-Fi, mobile networks or if the power grid is down. Swiss-based Balluun is a technology platform that partners with trade show organisers in specific industry sectors to launch bespoke and white-label digital marketplaces. It’s a dating service, where brands and buyers can connect with each other.
Another exhibition organisers platform, US-based Meet Max allows show organisers to offer 1on1 meetings/appointments to be pre-scheduled. The platform MeetMax includes tools that allow individual exhibitors to manage multiple different exhibitor booth diaries. MeetMax also enables tradeshow exhibitors to log in search on delegates by profile and invite the delegates to meetings or demos. Finally, Kayo is an exhibitor dedicated application. With Kayo, exhibitors can digitise and share their documents via any touch screen device. Kayo also integrates a fully customisable question form that is turned into a statistical report after each event. This gives exhibitors valuable information that can be used to do targeted business follow ups and optimise future events.
Finally, Krowdthink – a social platform – that combines a secure social-engagement app, with features to enhance safety and security operations within high footfall spaces that are Wi-Fi enabled. It enables threat, event, venue and safety information to be shared via mobile devices, transforming ‘the crowd’ into a ‘virtual sensor’ to effectively identify threats and easily respond via alerts.
Interestingly, the expansion of the Event Tech Lab pavilion this year demonstrates both the importance of the events sector in the world of technology development and of the need for continuous innovation that the sector requires to improve planning efficiencies as well as the quality of events.
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
